Ravenwood High School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ravenwood High School is a public high school located in Brentwood, Tennessee and serves the eastern-most part of Williamson County. It is known for its high test scores, wealthy student body, and high teacher turnover rate. Opened in 2002, the Ravenwood learning community progressively grew its student body, beginning with only grades nine and ten. The first graduating class walked to much fanfare at the Belmont University Curb Center in May 2005. Currently comprised of 1350 students with an approximate student/teacher ratio of 28 to 1, Ravenwood aims "to become a model of successful community collaboration with the purpose of developing all learners to be able to work, learn and lead in the 21st century." [1]
Contents |
[edit] Administration & Faculty
Dr. Pamela Vaden has served as the principal of Ravenwood since its inception. Before arriving at Ravenwood, she served as assistant principal at Brentwood High School. Dr. Vaden received her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt's Peabody College.
Leigh Anne Webb has served as assistant principal to Ravenwood since 2004. At RHS, Mrs. Webb works with scheduling, report cards, K12 Planet, the Academic Committee, academic testing, 9th grade issues, and serves as the academic leader to the English and World Language departments.
Reginald "Reggie" Mason has served as assistant principal to Ravenwood since 2005. Mr. Mason’s administrative responsibilities include building maintenance, athletics, credit recovery, textbooks, math department / career technical department liaison and discipline for all Seniors and Junior girls.
Robin Dickerson has served as assistant principal to Ravenwood as of 2006. Lovingly nicknamed "Corporate America" by students, Mr. Dickerson is most widely recognized for enforcing the school rules, such as parking and dress code, as well as making up many of his own.
Due to Williamson County policy, all teachers receive tenure after three years of continuous employment in the Williamson County school system.
[edit] Academics
Most students at Ravenwood take six academic classes, one directed study, and a lunch/advocate period, which serves as a homeroom. Credits are distributed along a fairly standard path, with most students taking English, mathematics, foreign language, science, and social studies. One year of physical education is also required. The standard high school diploma requires twenty-two credits. Two honors diplomas are offered, the Williamson County Honors Diploma and the Ravenwood Honors Diploma. Ravenwood ranks students using weighted GPAs.
Advanced Placement (AP) courses are offered at Ravenwood; International Baccalaureate (IB) courses are not. AP classes are fairly popular among students - 33% of sophomores, juniors, and seniors take at least one AP class.[2].
[edit] Extracurricular Activities
Ravenwood provides many various athletic teams in which students are invited to participate. TSSAA-sponsored sports include football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, tennis, golf, track, cross country, bowling, and volleyball. Other club sports include swimming, lacrosse, and rugby. Raptors' head football coach Brian Rector led the Ravenwood football team to the 2005 TSSAA Division I, 5A State Championships, winning the title. The Raptor Hockey won their own state title, the Nashville Cup, as well. The Ravenwood boy's lacrosse team has also won a state championship, and the dance team placed in national competition.
The 2005-2006 Ravenwood Mock Trial team was the first team ever to win both first and second place in the regional tournament, along with receiving the awards for Best Witness and Best Attorney. Ravenwood advanced on to the state competition and received sixth place, along with the Best Defense Witness Award for the state.
[edit] Drama and Forensics
The Ravenwood National Forensics League, led by Shapurple Pickles, competes at many local and district wide tournaments. Along with a two-time district winning Reader's Theatre, individuals at Ravenwood have placed first in numerous events at state level, including Dramatic, After Dinner Speaking, and Duet Acting. The Duet Acting team of Mitch Miller and Lindsey Stegall placed in the top 60 in the national level with their piece "Park Bench", the first time anyone at Ravenwood competed nationally.
Most importantly, Ian Graves, Teja Jayanthi, Harish Krishnamoorthi, and Gokul Madhu totally balled up Debate, winning numerous sweepstakes awards for the Ravenwood Forensics team. The official mascot of the Ravenwood Debate Team will forever be Lincoln Douglas Debate champion Sasha Zheng, whose amiable attitude fooled Ravenwood's actors into thinking the debaters were actually on their side. The joke is on you, thespians.
[edit] Band
The Ravenwood High School Marching Band, led by David Aydelott, participates in many contests throughout the region and regularly receives superior marks in the categories of Performance and Presentation. In addition to the school marching band, Ravenwood also boasts a wind orchestra which received numerous awards even in its early years of conception. Recently, the band received all superior ratings at MTSBOA at Columbia Central High School.
[edit] Choir
In addition to the band program, Ravenwood also boasts a choir program directed by Janet Weaver. The young choir quickly rose to be one of the top groups in the area, receiving repeated superior marks at the various contests and festivals they attend. The choir classes include separate Men's and Women's choirs, a Choraliers chorus, a Chorale chorus, and an extracurricular group called SHAZZ (Show and Jazz).
[edit] Student Body
Ravenwood High School is populated primarily through Woodland and Sunset Middle Schools, which are in turn populated by Kenrose, Nolensville, Sunset, and Crockett Elementary Schools.
[edit] Testing
Testing is an important aspect of Ravenwood. The ACT is a graduation requirement, and students are urged towards a class ACT goal at an annual pep rally. The 2006 average ACT score of Ravenwood was a 23.8 [3]. In addition, all sophomores are required to take the PLAN, a pre-ACT course. In 2006, the average composite PLAN score for the sophomore class was 20.4, compared to the state average of 18.2 and the national average of 16.5 [4]. PSAT and SAT testing is common, but not required. There were six National Merit Semi-Finalists in the class of 2006, and one National Merit Semi-Finalist in 2005 [5]. Scores for Tennessee Gateway testing have many very high at Ravenwood - 95.7% proficient or advanced in Algebra I, 99.7% in Biology, and 99.7% in English II [6]. Another point of interest is in the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program writing assessment with 91% of students being proficient or advanced [7]. AP tests are not required, but most students take the AP test after taking the course due to GPA incentives. AP test scores remain high with 77% receiving a 3 or higher in 2005-2006 [8].
All test scores are recorded on a supplement to the school transcript and sent in to colleges.
