[mlassoff]

Originally Posted by basehead617

One word: Legacy.

There's some of that.

Staples has been sending a good number of kids to the Ivy's and other top tier schools for decades. In my experience, every one of the kids who goes to one of these schools is academically qualified. It does help that the Universities know the reputation of Staples well and know the kids who come from there have received an excellent education.

Speaking of Syracuse, Andrew Marchand who covers the Yankees for ESPN is a Staples Grad who went to Syracuse. We've got an excellent tradition of graduating sports reports-- John Stashower (ESPN/NBC formerly WFAN) went to Staples and Syracuse too.

[SeaDoo342]

Originally Posted by mlassoff

We've got an excellent tradition of graduating sports reports-- John Stashower (ESPN/NBC formerly WFAN) went to Staples and Syracuse too.

We? You live in westport?….

[mlassoff]

Originally Posted by SeaDoo342

We? You live in westport?….

Staples class of 1992. I've lived in Westport 3 times, but very recently moved to the lower Ct River Valley/Eastern Coast area.

M

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

I agree 100% - the NJ schools in the top 10 are all magnet schools where students need to test to get into the school. Only 1 magnet school in CT made the list - the Int'l Baccalaureate school in East Hartford.

Yep. Another way is to basically just have a school be magnet by default by being in an area that is wealthy with few if any in poverty. The schools that made the list in my area are no better in preparing the kids than the others it's just more affluent.

[jp03]

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

Newsweek has come out with their annual list of the top 500 high schools in the country. 15 schools from Connecticut made the list, led by Weston HS at #47. Pretty good overall in that we have about 1% of the country’s population, but 3% of the top high schools.

However, some odd omissions and inclusions on the list. East Granby, Haddam-Killingworth and South Windsor made the cut. But, New Canaan, Greenwich, Darien and Wilton were NOT on the list from Fairfield County, and neither were Trumbull, either high school in Fairfield, Masuk in Monroe, Joel Barlow for Easton/Redding, while elsewhere Guilford, Avon, Glastonbury, East Lyme, EO Smith in Storrs and a few other notables were also missing.

Entire list at the link – several magnet schools from NJ were in the top 10.

http://www.newsweek.com/high-schools...h-schools-2015

zzz..another useless freakin list. Waste of time.

[Lincolnian]

Originally Posted by lvs2393

That's what I noticed also. Can't figure out why.


First expand the list so that you can see all 500 schools and then just click on the header of the column. All headers are clickable so that you can sort either ascending or descending for all criteria.

You can also use CT in search if you want to see only the Connecticut schiols.

[starshrike]

Many top schools in SF Bay (CA) were missing as well. This report is a bit different than the one that US News puts out, and I wish you could filter out magnet/charter

[NewJeffCT]

Scarsdale Sr High School in Scarsdale, NY has long been regarded as one of the top 5/10 high schools in the country. I've seen lists where they are as high as #2. Yet, they are nowhere to be found in the top 500.

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Yep. Another way is to basically just have a school be magnet by default by being in an area that is wealthy with few if any in poverty. The schools that made the list in my area are no better in preparing the kids than the others it's just more affluent.

I disagree with that, and studies have shown it to be true.

A more affluent town/school will likely offer a greater number of advanced and/or AP classes, have a better student/teacher ratio, a better ratio of computers to students, and also be much less likely to have violent incidents on school grounds. And, yes, students are often segregated by ability within the schools, so the advanced students are with other advanced students, but that is not always 100% and it's often not for every class (gym/phys ed, "life skills", music, arts, etc)

That's not to say you can't get an excellent education in a poor or lower middle class town, but you may have fewer options for your studies there. Example: I knew two young men in a small middle class town that had basically finished the high school's advanced math curriculum by the end of their junior year. The school gave them the option to go to a local community college to take the next level in math, but that class was in the evenings. One of the young men, though, was also the starting point guard on a team that was a runner up for the state championship the year before and this class would mean he would not be able to play basketball. If the class was available to him during school, he would not have had to make this choice. He chose to play basketball. Then, when he got to college as an engineering major, he found himself at least a year behind in math and a semester behind in science most of the other students in his major. So, he ended up getting frustrated at being so far behind and switched majors.

[Anchorhead1977]

These lists drive me nuts for many reasons. But after reading the comments here about judging a school by how many go Ivy League or top 500, it amazes me that people don't realize that a student in Bridgeport may be Ivy League material but doesn't have the funds to go to an expensive place. That same scenario can easily happen in Seymour or Shelton.

Or maybe someone wants to major in education or social work. Why blow money on a $40,000/year private school when Southern CT State Univ has well regarded programs in those fields for less than half the cost of tuition and the starting salaries in either field aren't anywhere near six figures?