Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't know whats the thing is with newsweek ranking methodologies but I find it almost unbelievable that there are only 2 FFC schools in top 500?
It looks like a very general rating scheme to me and I thought there has to be many high schools that can beat Wilton in those areas but I am impressed with their very humble response on Patch http://wilton.patch.com/articles/wil...ut-by-newsweek
Ranking Methodology: each school’s score is comprised of six components: graduation rate (25%), college matriculation rate (25%), AP tests taken per graduate (25%), average SAT/ACT scores (10%), average AP/IB/AICE scores (10%), and AP courses offered (5%).
Actually the same questioning of how Newsweek developed their ratings mentioned by the Superintendent have been raised here before. Jay
No matter how they develop their ranking, lower FFC schools are very comparable in EVERY metrics no matter how you dice it. I am just very surprised they managed to find a combination of metrics that squeezed only 2 FFC schools in the top 500??? Sounds like Newsweek data is wholly inaccurate or other FFC schools didn't even participate in their survey.
No matter how they develop their ranking, lower FFC schools are very comparable in EVERY metrics no matter how you dice it. I am just very surprised they managed to find a combination of metrics that squeezed only 2 FFC schools in the top 500??? Sounds like Newsweek data is wholly inaccurate or other FFC schools didn't even participate in their survey.
It has been well established that these lists are for the most part, Garbage In, Garbage Out.
But i still don't understand why you seem to get stiff over the idea that Barlow is better than many lower FFC high schools?
It has been well established that these lists are for the most part, Garbage In, Garbage Out.
But i still don't understand why you seem to get stiff over the idea that Barlow is better than many lower FFC high schools?
Many of these rankings weight SAT scores highly. When I was looking to move or stay, the Montgomery County (MD) and Fairfax County (VA) posted their numbers - number of students taking SATs, AP tests, ACH tests and the mean scores. Not so in CT. The MD and VA target schools (6 in all) I looked at all had SATs clustering around 1400 (plus or minus 15 points). The only mention of Staples (Westport) was in a local newspaper. The article cited Staples scores 'improving', with a 'combined average' (???) of 1155. This was circa 2003. I believe the scoring system has changed ? - my children are not in HS anymore, so I don't follow these stats as closely.
The net - I'd rank a high school that has a 250 point SAT advantage higher, also. This is the case with all of the objective indicators, otherwise the ranking entity loses credibility and gets publicly disparaged with charges of cronyism. There is a reason why CT high schools make it hard to dig out their stats - they're nothing to brag about, IMO.
CT high schools exist for the purpose of providing job security to a union that has become an 800 lb gorilla. On the measures used by the rest of the world, they simply aren't 'all that'. Regrettably, many CT HS grads find this out too late, and wind up blowing a year of expensive tuition on remedial courses, or find that they are not accepted into programs with which they can actually make a living when they get out. IMHO, it's our fault as parents for buying into the jingoism, rather than demanding performance from teachers who are unable to deliver.
Many of these rankings weight SAT scores highly. When I was looking to move or stay, the Montgomery County (MD) and Fairfax County (VA) posted their numbers - number of students taking SATs, AP tests, ACH tests and the mean scores. Not so in CT.
I have one child in college, and one that just graduated. I have never heard of a student not taking the SAT in high school. I think most if not all colleges require SAT testing scores when applying, so why would a student not take it? If you look at a high school and something like 85-95+% go on to college/tech schools, it makes sense that at least that percentage took the SAT's. I just don't see why you would need to know specifically how many did.
I have one child in college, and one that just graduated. I have never heard of a student not taking the SAT in high school. I think most if not all colleges require SAT testing scores when applying, so why would a student not take it? If you look at a high school and something like 85-95+% go on to college/tech schools, it makes sense that at least that percentage took the SAT's. I just don't see why you would need to know specifically how many did.
Possible reason #1: This is anecdotal, because I don't remember the source. I read that one of the ivies (?Prin? ?Harvard?) was dropping the SAT. Not the ACH or AP tests, just the SATs. IIRC, other 'good' schools followed suit.
Possible reason #2: The SATs are very much a NE phenomenon. Other areas of the country (left coast, midwest, south, southW) accept either the SAT or the ACT. ETS (the publisher) is based in NJ, so it makes sense that the SAT started out in the NE (AFTER the ACTs had been in existence for years) as a regional booster kind of thing.
Possible reason #3: There are some states that don't require SATs for veterans who return and go to school on the GI Bill. Florida is one of them. Can't knock the U. Fla. system - it has New College, among other gems, under its wing.
Possible reason #4: There are some kids who will not go to college and make no bones about it. My son in law is one of them. He is 26, a skilled mason, and makes almost as much with his own company as I do as a techie with two MSs from no-kidding top 10 schools. It was, however, a grueling six year "apprenticeship" (no union), and he had to prove what he could do right out of the starting gate in his own company. These kinds of kids are better off - the CAD/CAM, geometry and trig he needs, he learned on his own as he needed it. Plenty of online sites that are delighted to pass on the 'how-tos'. Why put these kids through the hassle of taking SATs?
I posted a more detailed rebuttal of Newsweek's methodology elsewhere on City-Data. In a nutshell, this survey has some reasonable metrics, but its methods are lacking.
Most significantly, the study skews toward "selective" schools, mainly urban magnet-type schools. If the study only analyzed "open selection" public schools, which draw strictly on a geographic basis, the list would look very different.
The second most significant defect: the caliber of the colleges that these schools are sending their graduates is not rated. Many of the top-ranked Newsweek high schools are junior college and polytechnic mills. These are high schools churning out graduates for trade-type professions.
In the past, those professions did not require a college diploma, but times have changed.
The public high schools that are getting kids into Yale, Princeton, Amherst, etc., are not the same as the public high schools that are cranking out kids into the vocational programs.
The effect of these and other survey problems results in top-tier suburban public schools like New Trier (Chicago) or Wilton receiving lower rankings than warranted.
Last edited by westender; 06-28-2011 at 05:28 PM..
Many of these rankings weight SAT scores highly. When I was looking to move or stay, the Montgomery County (MD) and Fairfax County (VA) posted their numbers - number of students taking SATs, AP tests, ACH tests and the mean scores. Not so in CT. The MD and VA target schools (6 in all) I looked at all had SATs clustering around 1400 (plus or minus 15 points). The only mention of Staples (Westport) was in a local newspaper. The article cited Staples scores 'improving', with a 'combined average' (???) of 1155. This was circa 2003. I believe the scoring system has changed ? - my children are not in HS anymore, so I don't follow these stats as closely.
The net - I'd rank a high school that has a 250 point SAT advantage higher, also. This is the case with all of the objective indicators, otherwise the ranking entity loses credibility and gets publicly disparaged with charges of cronyism. There is a reason why CT high schools make it hard to dig out their stats - they're nothing to brag about, IMO.
CT high schools exist for the purpose of providing job security to a union that has become an 800 lb gorilla. On the measures used by the rest of the world, they simply aren't 'all that'. Regrettably, many CT HS grads find this out too late, and wind up blowing a year of expensive tuition on remedial courses, or find that they are not accepted into programs with which they can actually make a living when they get out. IMHO, it's our fault as parents for buying into the jingoism, rather than demanding performance from teachers who are unable to deliver.
Sorry, but I already do that and I've gotten the performance I wanted by simply asking and remaining involved. Your theory is quite bizarre and I'm sorry you feel the need to blame a union because you feel your children didn't perform up to par. Problems exist in schools, but I am a member of the public - therefore I must work to and insist the best from my local schools. I do wish I could get the state to stop mandating the most ridiculous things that only benefit lower performing students, however.
As for Newsweek, while they've at least changed their criteria and are not basing their ratings solely on how many kids take an AP test - they are still way off base. The schools that were in the top tier are selective schools which isn't fair to schools that have to teach everyone.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
