Science NECAPs For EGHS, Cole Highest In State

Results for science NECAP tests taken last spring by Cole Middle School 8th graders and EGHS 11th graders showed marked improvement over year-before scores. The Rhode Island Department of Education released the 2013 results (seen here) last week.

Eleventh grade students at EGHS in 2012 scored 64.1 percent proficiency on the science NECAPS. In 2013, EGHS eleventh graders scored 67.4 percent proficiency. The next best score was from Barrington High School, which scored 65.6 percent proficiency.

Eighth graders at Cole went from a score of 55.5 percent proficiency to 76.4 percent, a whopping increase. That score, too, was the top score for all Rhode Island middle schools.

The scores are based on results from two different groups of students.

“I think a number of factors have coalesced to help generate such strong scores at each school. In addition to the hard work and dedication of every science teacher at Cole, I think the boost in scores can be attributed to the proximal nature of the team arrangement in the new building, the new Discovery Education Techbook, a streamlined and focused curriculum, the writing in science initiative in the 7th grade, and the exposure to practice questions in the 8th grade,” said Nicholas Rath, the head of the science department for East Greenwich schools.