Columbus City Schools (Franklin: neighborhood, school districts, college)

[streetcreed]

Columbus City Schools is Ohio's largest school district. The district covers the central city of Columbus and many areas further out, in the city limits. However, it does not cover all areas of the city. Some sections attend suburban school districts.

Because Columbus is such a large district it is often misunderstood and some fail to realize the very strong, excellent schools that are in the district. Because it is a large district (and city) some look at the district's overall rankings.

Instead one should look at the rankings of the schools in the neighborhood they are looking to move/or the specific local or magnet schools your child would be attending.

Within the district there are schools that offer more in the form of the arts, languages, and AP classes than many suburban and rural schools. You just have to know where to look for the right schools.

I have started this thread as a place for people to put information on the district and collect it in one central location. Questions about the city schools often come up and having one thread would help to understand a complex district.

To start here is a piece on 8 Columbus City High Schools that were ranked the best in the nation. If you notice, only a few of the suburb's are represented in the ranking.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a time when many public schools are struggling to meet state federal test score standards, this city's large, urban school district is celebrating a major accomplishment.

Eight of Columbus' 17 high schools were recently listed in U.S. News and World Report as some of the best in the nation, NBC 4's Mikaela Hunt reported.

The Columbus schools picked by the magazine are diverse, ranging from Fort Hayes High School, with a specialized arts program, to Briggs High School, an impoverished school on the West Side.

It's an honor for the district and for the students. NBC 4

Here is a link to a video showing the state of the art Columbus Fort Hays High School and the other Columbus area schools ranked highly.

FHMEC In The News NBC 4

[Buckeye 89]

Where is the list of the 8 schools? And fort hayes you have to apply and selected in the lottery

[streetcreed]

If you click the link it shows all schools, columbus and other suburbs, in the video. Fort Hays and Columbus Alternative were both the highest rankings, on par with suburban schools. Both Fort Hays and Columbus Alternative are lottery schools.

Columbus Alternative requires a 3.0 GPA for entrance and Fort Hays allows students until space fills. If you look at the programs and class offerings, at both, it is quite outstanding for a large, urban district. Columbus Alternative has a huge selection of AP classes. Columbus' Centennial, Whetstone, Columbus Alternative, and Fort Hays have a class A scale arts programs. All offer Symphony, Jazz Bands, multiple levels of choir, Band, Marching Band, etc..

[ExCMHer]

8? I only saw 6 -- Columbus Alternative, Fort Hayes, Whetstone, Centennial, Briggs, and Eastmoor -- on the list.

Best High Schools Search - US News and World Report

Anyway, US News' methodology basically ranks the schools while factoring in the notion that because some schools have higher minority enrollments, the rating should be "normalized" (rated on some sort of curve) to reflect that enrollment. Now, some may think that's perfectly valid, but I think you need to consider what you are implicitly endorsing with that philosophy.

You're basically saying that you expect minority kids to not achieve the same average college entrance test scores as non-minority kids. That's nifty as a political exercise, but if I moved to Columbus tomorrow, that's not how I'd choose where to send my kid.

I'd choose to send my kid, generally-speaking, where ever I thought he would be best prepared to go to college period, and I wouldn't consider "poverty-adjusted performance." To be honest, I don't think life is graded on a curve (despite what they try to teach you in college), and I wouldn't evaluate where to send my child on a curve either.

[mrb69]

Did Linden or South HS make it?

[streetcreed]

No, South HS is now in continuous improvement. Linden I am not sure, but they are not ranked effective I do know that.

The schools that are ranked well by the state department and this US ranking are:
Columbus Alternative High School (ranked Excellent by the state and the US ranking)
Fort Hays Academic & Arts High School
Centennial High School (NW Side) ranked excellent by the state
Whetstone High School
Beechcroft High School
Northland High School
Eastmoor Academy (a district wide magnet school since 1999 that infuses strong academics with athletics) Eastmoor's football team went to the state championship this year.

New to the rankings are: Briggs High School

[mrb69]

Originally Posted by streetcreed

No, South HS is now in continuous improvement. Linden I am not sure, but they are not ranked effective I do know that.

The schools that are ranked well by the state department and this US ranking are:
Columbus Alternative High School (ranked Excellent by the state and the US ranking)
Fort Hays Academic & Arts High School
Centennial High School (NW Side) ranked excellent by the state
Whetstone High School
Beechcroft High School
Northland High School
Eastmoor Academy (a district wide magnet school since 1999 that infuses strong academics with athletics) Eastmoor's football team went to the state championship this year.

New to the rankings are: Briggs High School

What about West HS? I heard they had like a 80% dropout rate back in the 90s.

I live right by Linden HS and I didn't want to go since people started talking about gang murders inside the school.......So I just went to Northland.