2016 National Merit Semi-Finalists (Dallas, Plano, Flower Mound: home, neighborhood, public school)

[DallasG]

Originally Posted by frenzyrider

Although not a big number but it is the second year for independence high school in Frisco. I think it opened last fall. 3 NMSFs should at least be some good boost. Liberty high and Independence high I think will become the top performers for Frisco. I am not saying this to start any debate but just an observation from the shifts that these schools have seen in the last 3 years. Frisco high and Wakeland high should also revive. Not sure what is up with Centennial high and Heritage high.

If it opened last fall then probably those kids were prepared somewhere else and their achievement isn't an achievement of their high school.

[Big G]

Originally Posted by DallasG

I don't see any mention of Woodrow Wilson, what happened there?

Alright, don't poke the bear.

Hillcrest is just about the only all-comers school in DISD that occasionally turns out a NMSF.

FWIW, the DISD magnets had a respectable showing this year.

In particular, DISD's STEM academy had 5 NMSFs. By comparison, Plano's STEM Academy didn't have ANY, and the Lewisville and Coppell STEM schools only had 1 each.

[6am]

Originally Posted by Big G

.In particular, DISD's STEM academy had 5 NMSFs. By comparison, Plano's STEM Academy didn't have ANY, and the Lewisville and Coppell STEM schools only had 1 each.

The Coppell STEM academy is in Coppell HS.
New Tech HS runs using the project based learning system, teaches the state curriculum while still maintaining a unique PBL styled learning environment, it differs from a traditional school setup.

[Souleiado]

Originally Posted by DallasG

If it opened last fall then probably those kids were prepared somewhere else and their achievement isn't an achievement of their high school.

Most of them were in Liberty.

[DallasG]

Originally Posted by Big G

Alright, don't poke the bear.

Hillcrest is just about the only all-comers school in DISD that occasionally turns out a NMSF.

FWIW, the DISD magnets had a respectable showing this year.

In particular, DISD's STEM academy had 5 NMSFs. By comparison, Plano's STEM Academy didn't have ANY, and the Lewisville and Coppell STEM schools only had 1 each.

Honestly, I thought Woodrow must be churning dozens of NMSF. You read so many raving reviews by their cheerleaders that it seems like a given.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by DallasG

Honestly, I thought Woodrow must be churning dozens of NMSF. You read so many raving reviews by their cheerleaders that it seems like a given.

Let's be nice.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by kretsch

Wow, flower mound with an impressive haul

Actually, that and last year are slightly down years for FMHS compared to the spectacular success they've had the last few years. They're at 33 out of ~800, for just over 4%. As amazing as that is, they had 46 in 2013 and 39 in 2014 (33 last year and again this year). Talk about setting a high bar!

Coppell HS from 2013 through 2015 had 21, 20 and 24, so their performance this year is spectacular, and I believe their class size is about the same or a tiny bit less than FMHS. We'll see if they can maintain that or not, but for now, VERY well done.

We all know the Plano situation - West gained at Senior's expense. Here are the NMSFs for each school, from 2013 to 2016:

West: 48, 26, 46, 53
Senior: 44, 35, 18, 13
East: 35, 17, 14, 12

East's 2013 numbers look like an outlier (they had 21 each year in both 2011 and 2012). Senior's trend seems obvious.

I'm tempted to run an aggregate NMSF percentage for the last 5 years for the top performing open enrollment publics to see what it looks like. Also, does anyone know when FMHS started their "boot camp"? They had 34 NMSF in 2011, "only" 21 () in 2012, and going back on the blogspot website as far as it goes, they had 27 in 2010, 13 in 2009, and 19 in 2008. I'm just curious to see how significantly it impacted results. Looks like they've always been strong but raised it another level.

[cleareyedguy]

I moved away from Dallas 30 years ago but am a little confused. Not a single non-magnet student in DISD hit the NMSF cut off? One percent of 160,000 would be 1600 kids. Where did they all go? I understand that Plano is a middle or upper middle class place with a core of academic kids, and I guess it makes sense that St. Marks, Cistercian, and Hockaday can get high percentages, but how does flower mound (which I'd never heard of) hit the jackpot, while Dallas produce none outside of the magnets?

[Big G]

Originally Posted by synchronicity

West: 48, 26, 46, 53
Senior: 44, 35, 18, 13
East: 35, 17, 14, 12

Actually, the trend for all of PISD looks really bad.

Beyond the individual campus/rezoning issue, PISD has plateaued for 3 straight years at less than 80 NMSF kids, even though their senior classes have been steadily growing. The days of 100+ NMSF kids for PISD may be gone.

To see just how much PISD has been tanking, let's just compare 2013 to 2016:

West: 48 -> 53. At first glance, that looks OK. Hey! An increase! But now take into account that their class size has increased by right around 50% over that time, AND that much of the added enrollment came from a ridiculously high-performing middle school with over 50% Asian population.

In absolute terms, this is almost flat, and percentage-wise, this is down significantly. IMO, the figures should be up both in absolute terms (from size) and relative terms (from demographics).

Senior: 44-> 13, even though the class size is slightly larger in 2016 than 2013. No surprise the school (unlike PWSH) hasn't even bothered to acknowledge this performance on their website, Twitter, e-mail lists, or daily announcements. No sense drawing attention to that level of underperformance.

East: 35->12, even though the IB program, which produces most of their NMSFs, continues to be housed at PESH.

[Aceraceae]

Flower Mound median income is $118,000, so you can draw the conclusions from there. I'm sure someone will chime in about DISD.