The Metropolitan
Regional Career and Technical Center, “The Met,” is
celebrating its tenth year anniversary. It has expanded from a
single school in the Shepard Building to a network of six small
schools across three campuses in Providence, Rhode Island. The
Met personalizes each student’s education and prepares all
700 students for collegiate and professional success.
State
Report Card Data taken from Rhode Island’s state report card, Information
Works! 2005
State Testing Data,
2004
• The Met’s math
scores jumped from a three-year average of 38 to 68, a 79% increase.
The Met’s English/Language Arts scores rose from a
three-year average of 64 to 79, a 23% increase.
•The Met exceeded the No Child Left Behind goals set for
Rhode Island in 2007.
•The Met is an “improving”
school and scored just shy of being named a “high performing”
school (3 points in English/Language Arts and 6 points in Math).
• On average,
The Met had 18% more students proficient in math and 14% more
students proficient in English/Language Arts than the three largest
Providence high schools.
Graduation Rate
94.6% Graduation Rate (one of
the highest in the state)
The state average is 81.3% and the Providence average is 54% for
the city’s three largest high schools.
Attendance Rate
92.1% Attendance Rate
The state average is 89.8% and the Providence average is 80% for
the city’s three largest high schools.
State
SALT Surveys 2005 Rhode Island’s School Accountability for Learning and
Teaching (SALT) Surveys
For the past five years, The Met has consistently ranked among
the state’s top high schools for attendance, graduation
rates, parent involvement, school climate, and quality of instruction.
#1 in
the state Parent Involvement
(NOTE: Highest possible score = 100; all information from Infoworks!2005)
•The Met: 84 State Average: 42
Measures how involved parents feel in the school and how comfortable
they are with teachers and school environment
#1 in the state School
Climate
•The Met: 85 State Average: 68
Measures school safety, respect between teachers and students,
student behavior in class
#1 in the state Instruction
•The Met: 63 State Average: 40
Measures teachers’ skills and support from school
#1 in the state Teacher
Availability (academic)
•The Met: 76% High School State Average:
46%
% of students who feel they can talk to a teacher about academic
issues
#1 in the state Teacher
Availability (personal)
•The Met: 63% High School State Average:
18%
% of students who feel they can talk to a teacher about personal
or family problems
#2 in the state Drugs
•The Met: 15% High School State Average:
30%
Second lowest percentage of students reporting that someone tried
to sell them drugs in school (only second to the RI School for
the Deaf)
Gina
Rodriguez
The Met ‘03, Brown University ‘08
For her Senior Thesis Project at The Met, Gina traveled
to Cuba and made a document-ary on political organizing.
Now she is a freshman at Brown, studying developing countries
with a focus on Latin America.
“What really motivates students is being interested
in what they are learning. At The Met, everybody is so engaged
in their work that they will stay late to finish a project
or go home and continue working or even come in on weekends.
Everything becomes your own. You really push yourself and
set high standards for success.”
College
Data
“No comprehensive high school in Providence or the state,
nor even Providence’s exam-entry “college prep”
high school, can boast this [The Met’s] universal college
acceptance at a comparable array of colleges for all enrolled
students.” Letter from RIDE to the RI legislature, June
2004
The following data tracks
all Met graduates of the past five years:
»» 98% College Acceptance, 80% College Enrollment
(in college or post-secondary education)
»» 75% are the first in their families to
go to college
»» For four of the past five years, at least one Met
graduate has won the prestigious and highly competitive Gates'
Millennium Scholarship (full tuition for six years of
higher education). In spring of 2005, two Met seniors were named
Gates' scholars.
(NOTE: According to the national average, 50% of all college students
drop out, while only 6% of students from the lowest socioeconomic
quartile graduate with a 4 year degree.)
College
Acceptances include…
Antioch Collegem - Beloit College - Benedict College - Bennet
College - Bennington College - Brown University - Community
College of RI - Concordia College - Dean College - Emerson
College - Hampshire College - Howard University - College
of the Holy Cross - Johnson & Wales University - Mount
Holyoke College - New England Institute of Technology - New
York University - Northeastern University - Oberlin College
- Parsons School of Design - Providence College - Reed College
- Rhode Island College - Rhode Island School of Design - Roger
Williams University - Salve Regina University - Sarah Lawrence
College - Tufts University - University of Chicago - University
of Rhode Island
“Most
[Met] graduates have multiple acceptances, many at competitive
private colleges, state higher education institutions, nationally
recognized art and design schools as well as Ivy League
schools.”
Letter from RI Department of Education to the state legislature,
June 2004
The
Student Body
The Met has
700 students from Providence (75%) and the rest of Rhode Island
(25%).
On average, 68% of Met students qualify for the free/reduced
federal lunch program.
Eric
Oliveras
The Met ‘00,
Anna Maria College ‘04
As a Met student, Eric painted a mural at the school’s
Peace Street campus and then studied art and criminal justice
in college. After graduating, he returned to The Met as a
literacy specialist.
“This school gave me opportunities and experiences
people dream of having. I came back to The Met to help other
students have the same chance.”
Ellen
and Uri Bar-Zemer, parents “The freshman class entered The Met with hostility
towards each other, the staff and to education in general.
Now this same group is actively involved in learning, passionate
about what they are doing, supportive of each other, respectful
and grateful to their teachers and excited about pursuing
a college education.”
three-year average of 64 to 79, a 23% increase. 
