CA does exceptionally well in US News Ranking of Best Math & Science High Schools (Los Angeles: homes)

[18Montclair]

41 of the Top 207 are located in CA.

* indicates an open enrollment high school.

4 Oxford Academy, Cypress
7 Pacific Collegiate School, Santa Cruz
10 Mission San Jose High School, Fremont* Highest ranked open enrollment high school in the nation.
20 Monta Vista High School, Cupertino*
21 Whitney High School Cerritos
29 Lynbrook High School, San Jose*
30 San Marino High School, San Marino*
31 Henry M Gunn High School, Palo Alto*
37 Saratoga High School, Saratoga*
48 Lowell High School, San Francisco

52 Diamond Bar High School, Diamond Bar*
54 Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto*
56 Troy High School, Fullerton
58 Campolindo High School, Moraga*
66 Miramonte High School, Orinda*
76 California Academy of Math & Science, Carson
78 Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, Rolling Hills Estates*
81 La Jolla High SChool, La Jolla*
81 Piedmont High School, Piedmont*
90 Mira Costa High School, Manhattan Beach*

94 Arcadia High School, Arcadia*
99 Homestead High School, Cupertino*
100 La Cañada High School, La Cañada*
107 University High School, Fresno
108 Northwood High School, Irvine*
116 Acalanes High School, Lafayette*
127 Corona Del Mar High School, Newport Beach*
131 Walnut High School, Walnut*
141 Mountain View High School, Mountain View*
141 Summit Prepatory Charter High School, Redwood City

145 Redwood High School, Larkspur*
155 Tamalpais High School, Mill Valley*
157 Davis Senior High school, Davis*
161 San Ramon Valley High School, Danville*
164 Temple City High School, Temple City*
169 Foothill High School, Pleasanton*
172 Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, Los Angeles
176 Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton*
193 Crescenta Valley High School, La Crescenta*
197 Foothill High School, Santa Ana*

201 Poway High School, Poway*

Best High Schools for Math and Science | US News Best High Schools

[rimmerama]

Huh, where are the LAUSD schools?

[NewToCA]

I know this is going a bit too "off the rails" for the types of discussions folks like in the California Forum, but I read a really interesting analysis last week done by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) concerning a country by country evaluation of academic proficiency.

They measured how well each country did overall in educating kids by age 15, in the areas of reading, math and science.


http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/12/46643496.pdf


Overall, the US did fairly poorly. However, I thought the deeper analysis as to how countries have successfully taught kids, and improved their overall scores through the decades gave some interesting insights.

Basically, the study found that kids have significant differences in how they best learn. Those countries scoring highest, and those which have improved the most the past few decades, have these things in common:

- decentralization (handing power back to schools)

- focus on underachieving pupils

- choice of different sorts of schools

- high standards for teachers, releasing those who have repeatedly bad performances

[Justcall]

Hi,

It's Cool to see so many Silicon Valley schools high on the list, especially Lynbrook, Monta Vista and Saratoga.

[hsw]

Perhaps 95+% of world's smartest and wealthiest engineers live and work in PaloAlto/Woodside area, not SF, not Berkeley, not Redmond, not Bos, not Germany/Japan, not Chindia

Suspect vast majority attended HS at some mediocre HS in US suburbia (or poor India) somewhere socio-economically far, far from today's PaloAlto or Woodside

And many of richest of all are college dropouts or had attended crappy state engineering undergrads (like the goog co-founders who presumably couldn't gain entry to Stanford undergrad from their HS in MI/MD)

And even those who attended Stanford CS (and subsequently attained wealth and career success) often admit they are largely self-educated (Stanford, like any elite college, is a great prestige "brand" for getting an interview for that first job but not useful for much else in career advancement or serious earnings)

Even pre-Net, pre-Kindle, the smartest, highest achievers on planet (like 65+yo Ellison or 56yo Jobs...or ~45yo Bezos or ~40yo Page/Brin) were self-educated engineers who had attended various crappy public (and private) K-12 and/or undergrads...but seemed to do OK in real world, arguably far better than those with lots more costly, formal, elite schooling (and wealthier parents)

[majoun]

Originally Posted by rimmerama

Huh, where are the LAUSD schools?

There is an LAUSD school on that list, LACES. It's at #172.

But LAUSD definitely skews California's total scores and rankings downward.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

41 of the Top 207 are located in CA.

* indicates an open enrollment high school.

4 Oxford Academy, Cypress
7 Pacific Collegiate School, Santa Cruz
10 Mission San Jose High School, Fremont* Highest ranked open enrollment high school in the nation.
20 Monta Vista High School, Cupertino*
21 Whitney High School Cerritos
29 Lynbrook High School, San Jose*
30 San Marino High School, San Marino*
31 Henry M Gunn High School, Palo Alto*
37 Saratoga High School, Saratoga*
48 Lowell High School, San Francisco

52 Diamond Bar High School, Diamond Bar*
54 Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto*
56 Troy High School, Fullerton
58 Campolindo High School, Moraga*
66 Miramonte High School, Orinda*
76 California Academy of Math & Science, Carson
78 Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, Rolling Hills Estates*
81 La Jolla High SChool, La Jolla*
81 Piedmont High School, Piedmont*
90 Mira Costa High School, Manhattan Beach*

94 Arcadia High School, Arcadia*
99 Homestead High School, Cupertino*
100 La Cañada High School, La Cañada*
107 University High School, Fresno
108 Northwood High School, Irvine*
116 Acalanes High School, Lafayette*
127 Corona Del Mar High School, Newport Beach*
131 Walnut High School, Walnut*
141 Mountain View High School, Mountain View*
141 Summit Prepatory Charter High School, Redwood City

145 Redwood High School, Larkspur*
155 Tamalpais High School, Mill Valley*
157 Davis Senior High school, Davis*
161 San Ramon Valley High School, Danville*
164 Temple City High School, Temple City*
169 Foothill High School, Pleasanton*
172 Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, Los Angeles
176 Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton*
193 Crescenta Valley High School, La Crescenta*
197 Foothill High School, Santa Ana*

201 Poway High School, Poway*

Best High Schools for Math and Science | US News Best High Schools

Just our of curiosity, do you depend on charts and studies for all your information?

Nita

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Just our of curiosity, do you depend on charts and studies for all your information?

Nita

As far as schools, the most important metrics imo is the results of standardized tests because that's how we compare schools to each other and the percentage of students who wind up going to college or receive vocational training. There are some others that are important as well.

I take all personal opinions with a grain of salt, whether they be glowing recommendations or complaint-filled rants.

Show me the numbers. That's all I care about.

Does this answer your query?

[bhcompy]

It's not the best I'm concerned about, it's the average, and we suck on average, which is really unfortunate.