The top reported proficiency rate is 23% in Science. The lowest is 7% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Beacon Charter School
Beacon Charter School operates as a charter district in Rhode Island serving grades six through twelve, with two schools under its umbrella: Beacon Charter School and Founders Academy. For a district covering seven consecutive grade levels, the enrollment is small, which points to a close-knit setting where students and families likely know one another across grades. The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller Black and multiracial groups. A few students identify as Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
On state assessments, the picture is mixed and, in one subject, plainly concerning. In English language arts, proficiency is very low, with only a handful of tested students reaching the proficient threshold. This is a soft spot a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly to understand how the curriculum and instructional approach connect to state standards and what supports exist for students reading below grade level. Math proficiency results were suppressed in the data we received, so we cannot characterize where students stand in that subject. The average scale scores in both ELA and math were close to one another, which at least suggests consistency in how students performed across the two tested areas, but without the proficiency rate for math, any fuller comparison is not possible. In eighth-grade science, roughly a quarter of tested students reached proficiency, with full participation. Participation rates across all tested subjects were high, which means the results reflect nearly the entire tested population rather than a skewed subset.
Several pieces of information a parent might want were not available. Free or reduced-price lunch data was missing, so we cannot speak to the economic makeup of the student body or how the school's population compares to other Rhode Island charters on that measure. Individualized education program rates and English learner rates were also missing, leaving an incomplete picture of how the school serves students with disabilities and multilingual learners. No locale brief, community context, or housing data was provided, so we cannot describe the surrounding area, commute patterns, or what it costs to live nearby. Program offerings such as Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, career pathways, or arts and athletics were not included in the data, so we have no basis to describe what Beacon offers beyond the standard curriculum. Civil rights data covering discipline, access, and staffing was absent as well. We searched for recent district-level changes that might affect families and found nothing parent-relevant reported in publicly available sources, so the record on that front is quiet rather than active.
What a family can take from this is a charter district of modest size with a diverse enrollment and strong test participation, but with English language arts results that warrant direct conversation with school leadership. The missing data across economics, special populations, programs, and community context means this profile is incomplete, and a parent considering Beacon would benefit from asking the school directly about those areas before making a decision.
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