America's Top High Schools

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I'll let someone else figure out how many are in red states or blue states, how many are charter schools, private, church, whatever....

http://www.newsweek.com/high-schools/americas-top-high-schools-2015

 

[torbee]

My kids' school made the top 400.

Not sure I'm believing that New Jersey really leads the nation in best high schools, though.

 

[thewop]

These lists always seem to be heavy in the northeast, yet when I was growing up, the midwest always did incredibly well in terms of test scores. It always made me skeptical of what the lists were actually measuring, and how much money and clout influenced the list.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

These lists always seem to be heavy in the northeast, yet when I was growing up, the midwest always did incredibly well in terms of test scores. It always made me skeptical of what the lists were actually measuring, and how much money and clout influenced the list.

Elsewhere I saw this:

This year’s rankings were weighted by:

• 
  
• Enrollment Rate—25 percent
  
• Graduation Rate—20 percent
  
• Weighted AP/IB/Dual Enrollment composite—17.5 percent
  
• Weighted SAT/ACT composite—17.5 percent
  
• Change in student enrollment between 9th-12th grades, to control for dropout rates—10 percent
  
• Counselor-to-Student Ratio—10 percent

I confess I don't know how to interpret any of that.

 

[Hawkeyemc]

Pleasant Valley.....369.

 

[torbee]

Elsewhere I saw this:

This year’s rankings were weighted by:

• 
  
• Enrollment Rate—25 percent
• Graduation Rate—20 percent
• Weighted AP/IB/Dual Enrollment composite—17.5 percent
• Weighted SAT/ACT composite—17.5 percent
• Change in student enrollment between 9th-12th grades, to control for dropout rates—10 percent
• Counselor-to-Student Ratio—10 percent

I confess I don't know how to interpret any of that.

Found this definition of enrollment rate:

Enrolment rates are expressed as net enrolment rates, which are calculated by dividing the number of students of a particular age group enrolled in all levels of education by the number of people in the population in that age group.

 

[naturalmwa]

Elsewhere I saw this:

This year’s rankings were weighted by:

• 
  
• Enrollment Rate—25 percent
• Graduation Rate—20 percent
• Weighted AP/IB/Dual Enrollment composite—17.5 percent
• Weighted SAT/ACT composite—17.5 percent
• Change in student enrollment between 9th-12th grades, to control for dropout rates—10 percent
• Counselor-to-Student Ratio—10 percent

I confess I don't know how to interpret any of that.

Does this mean 35-52.5% of the result is just for the students showing up at the building? I guess participation ribbons do count. It look like the 47.5% are pulling the weight for the slacker stats. I bet that's what Romney was talking about.

 

[GarryO37]

I don't think enrollment should be given that much weight. It should probably flip flop with graduation rate. Just my opinion.

 

[torbee]

I don't think enrollment should be given that much weight. It should probably flip flop with graduation rate. Just my opinion.

Agreed.

Seems like it awards schools for just being large. I'm not sure that's always a great indicator of success.

 

[denmar81]

stupid list. Enrollment should have no bearing on how good a school is. Smaller class sizes are an advantage to the student.

 

[theIowaHawk]

Ankeny is not the second best school in the state.

 

[dgordo]

I'll let someone else figure out how many are in red states or blue states, how many are charter schools, private, church, whatever....

http://www.newsweek.com/high-schools/americas-top-high-schools-2015

None are private schools.

 

[CJBauer]

My kids' school made the top 400.

Not sure I'm believing that New Jersey really leads the nation in best high schools, though.

My son goes to #111...

THOSE schools in NJ are legit top schools...but the state also has the bottom of bottom feeders...Camden.

 

[LifelongHawk]

CR Wash's administration: What, schools can be ranked on something other than AP courses? Get out. We still get to keep our banners, right?

 

[N_fuego]

My son goes to #111...

THOSE schools in NJ are legit top schools...but the state also has the bottom of bottom feeders...Camden.

I was surprised how many of the top 100 were in New Jersey. Maybe I watch to much TV, but I'd always kind of thought that was one of the dumber states.

 

[CJBauer]

I was surprised how many of the top 100 were in New Jersey. Maybe I watch to much TV, but I'd always kind of thought that was one of the dumber states.

That would be like judging Iowa based only on trips to Ottumwa and Keokuk...

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

None are private schools.

Is that correct? Did they say that somewhere and missed it?

Some (including Lamar Alexander) suggest that charter schools are properly considered private schools.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/02/04/are-charter-schools-public-or-private/

Charter schools are publicly funded but run independently by nonprofits or for-profit companies. They enjoy strong bipartisan support in Washington, and the federal education department treats them as public schools, but whether they should be called public or private is still a matter of debate. In calling them private, Alexander — a champion of charters and school choice — crossed a semantic battle line.


Charter school critics argue that charters amount to a privatization of public schools because they are run by organizations that don’t answer to the public and in some states aren’t subject to key rules that apply to government agencies, such as open meetings and public records laws. Advocates for charter schools, meanwhile, say that charter schools are unequivocally public schools because they are open to all children and don’t charge tuition.


The debate is over more than language. Though federal and state education regulators refer to public charter schools, courts and other regulators have wrestled with the question of whether charter schools should be treated as public or private institutions. In some cases, charter schools have themselves argued that they are private institutions.


For example, in 2013 the National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of a Chicago charter school and deemed it a private institution. Therefore, teachers at the school must organize under laws governing private-sector rather than public-sector employees.


Despite the legal gray areas, it was unusual to hear a proponent of charter schools like Alexander — who also is a former U.S. Secretary of Education — refer to charter schools as private and insinuate that some aren’t subject to federally mandated testing.

 

[dgordo]

Is that correct? Did they say that somewhere and missed it?

Some (including Lamar Alexander) suggest that charter schools are properly considered private schools.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/02/04/are-charter-schools-public-or-private/

Charter schools are publicly funded but run independently by nonprofits or for-profit companies. They enjoy strong bipartisan support in Washington, and the federal education department treats them as public schools, but whether they should be called public or private is still a matter of debate. In calling them private, Alexander — a champion of charters and school choice — crossed a semantic battle line.


Charter school critics argue that charters amount to a privatization of public schools because they are run by organizations that don’t answer to the public and in some states aren’t subject to key rules that apply to government agencies, such as open meetings and public records laws. Advocates for charter schools, meanwhile, say that charter schools are unequivocally public schools because they are open to all children and don’t charge tuition.


The debate is over more than language. Though federal and state education regulators refer to public charter schools, courts and other regulators have wrestled with the question of whether charter schools should be treated as public or private institutions. In some cases, charter schools have themselves argued that they are private institutions.


For example, in 2013 the National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of a Chicago charter school and deemed it a private institution. Therefore, teachers at the school must organize under laws governing private-sector rather than public-sector employees.


Despite the legal gray areas, it was unusual to hear a proponent of charter schools like Alexander — who also is a former U.S. Secretary of Education — refer to charter schools as private and insinuate that some aren’t subject to federally mandated testing.

This is what they say;

we evaluated the universe of regular public high schools based on their proficiency rates on standardized state-level math and reading/language arts assessments, using the proficiency rates to create a high school achievement index for each school.

 

[Nat Algren]

I like the Worth magazine study from 2002. It ranked the schools by their feeding history. Example: Roxbury Latin in Mass., sent 21% of every graduating class to Harvard, Yale, Princeton over a 5 year period. In addition, they sent another 12% to Dartmouth, Stanford and Georgetown. I'm sure other variables come into play, such as, maybe they are sons of professors at the many elite colleges nearby. Point is, if you can routinely get into those schools, you can get into lesser schools. The admissions depts. don't like risk with border-line schools.

What is more telling is the curriculum. Every student must start learning Latin in 7th grade for a duration of 3 years. If they commit to Greek, they must study it for 2 years. Is it any wonder they do well on the verbal SAT section? Maybe we should emulate them instead of implementing that ridiculous Core Curriculum.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

This is what they say;

we evaluated the universe of regular public high schools based on their proficiency rates on standardized state-level math and reading/language arts assessments, using the proficiency rates to create a high school achievement index for each school.

Thanks. I didn't see that on the front page and have run out of free views from Newsweek for the month. Don't go there enough to be worth paying for it.

I understand why some internet news sites are starting to do this, but there are too many good free sites, so it will be interesting to see if they have to back off.

 

[Hawk-A-Doodle-Doo]

Twin Cities Hawks will be SHOCKED to see Edina HS in the Top 100.

 

[86Hawkeye]

Grayslake Central is NOT better than Grayslake North.

 

[whatsup12579er]

Elsewhere I saw this:

This year’s rankings were weighted by:

• 
  
• Enrollment Rate—25 percent
• Graduation Rate—20 percent
• Weighted AP/IB/Dual Enrollment composite—17.5 percent
• Weighted SAT/ACT composite—17.5 percent
• Change in student enrollment between 9th-12th grades, to control for dropout rates—10 percent
• Counselor-to-Student Ratio—10 percent

I confess I don't know how to interpret any of that.

This is not a very good way to determine if a school is good or not. Most of the time I would say a school with a large enrollment should be penalized not rewarded.

 

[theIowaHawk]

This is not a very good way to determine if a school is good or not. Most of the time I would say a school with a large enrollment should be penalized not rewarded.

That seems like just as poor of an approach. Small schools and large schools aren't the issue, faculty ratios and expenditure per pupil can be identical across both categories.

Simple example: Is IC Regina better than IC West because it has 450 (k-12?) instead of 2,000? Of course not. West, according to wikipedia, has 200 teachers and staff, using just those number puts a ratio of 1/10, is Regina better than that? Certainly doubtful.

 

[dgordo]

This is not a very good way to determine if a school is good or not. Most of the time I would say a school with a large enrollment should be penalized not rewarded.

Enrollment rate isnt about the number of students, it is a % of the number of eligible students that enroll.

 

[whatsup12579er]

That seems like just as poor of an approach. Small schools and large schools aren't the issue, faculty ratios and expenditure per pupil can be identical across both categories.

Simple example: Is IC Regina better than IC West because it has 450 (k-12?) instead of 2,000? Of course not. West, according to wikipedia, has 200 teachers and staff, using just those number puts a ratio of 1/10, is Regina better than that? Certainly doubtful.

I don't disagree. I think you could also argue that really small schools could also be punished because they wouldn't have the resources availible that a large school would. This is a very hard thing to measure IMO.

 

[joelbc1]

Oh, the citizen's of West Des Moines will be upset! Obviously, better criteria should have been used.

 

[LuteHawk]

Many of these suburban high schools have 100% college
bound graduates. This combined with high ACT/SAT scores
makes a great high school. It would interesting to see how
many of these high schools feed into IVY League Universities,
and other top-rated colleges.

 

[dbq hawk 32]

I like the Worth magazine study from 2002. It ranked the schools by their feeding history. Example: Roxbury Latin in Mass., sent 21% of every graduating class to Harvard, Yale, Princeton over a 5 year period. In addition, they sent another 12% to Dartmouth, Stanford and Georgetown. I'm sure other variables come into play, such as, maybe they are sons of professors at the many elite colleges nearby. Point is, if you can routinely get into those schools, you can get into lesser schools. The admissions depts. don't like risk with border-line schools.

What is more telling is the curriculum. Every student must start learning Latin in 7th grade for a duration of 3 years. If they commit to Greek, they must study it for 2 years. Is it any wonder they do well on the verbal SAT section? Maybe we should emulate them instead of implementing that ridiculous Core Curriculum.

You want to waste three years teaching students latin so they can memorize prefixes and suffixes for the SAT?

 

[UNIowaHawk]

I find it hard to believe that 4 of the top 5 are in NJ. People can't even make left turns and don't know how to fill their own gas in that state.

 

[Nat Algren]

You want to waste three years teaching students latin so they can memorize prefixes and suffixes for the SAT?

No... for the root words that comprise 60-75% of the English language. It's no mistake that the feeders to Ivy League all teach Latin.