Summary:
Warren, Rhode Island, has three schools spanning PK through grade 12: Hugh Cole School (PK–5), Kickemuit Middle School (6–8), and Highlander Secondary Charter School (7–12). The schools’ results vary considerably: Hugh Cole and Kickemuit are above state results in all three reported subjects, while Highlander is below. Most importantly, same-grade comparisons show a particularly large divide in grade 8: Kickemuit is 38.3 percentage points higher than Highlander in ELA and 45.8 points higher in science.
Kickemuit leads the schools in all-grades ELA (45.6%) and science (53.6%), while Hugh Cole has the highest math result (41.0%). Their leads over one another are close in ELA and math—1.3 and 0.7 points—while Kickemuit’s science lead is 5.3 points. Highlander has the lowest result in each subject: compared with the leaders, it is behind by 36.2 points in ELA, 27.5 in math, and 43.6 in science. Hugh Cole’s fifth-grade results are also a bright spot, with 50.0% proficient in ELA and math.
Recent results show science rising at all three schools, while ELA declined at all three; math increased at Kickemuit and Highlander but fell 1.8 points at Hugh Cole. SchoolDigger’s 2025–26 statewide rankings place Kickemuit at the 75th percentile, Hugh Cole at the 69th, and Highlander at the 28th; these rankings offer another point of comparison, alongside test results. Reported student–teacher ratios are 12.4 at Kickemuit, 13.2 at Hugh Cole, and 15.4 at Highlander. Highlander also has the highest reported free/reduced-lunch rate (87.35%), an observation about school context, not an explanation for performance.
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