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Kind of disappointed the Gov school of science didn't make the cut; the arts and humanities did.
Edit: looks like my mobile browser fails; SC has 19 in the top 2000. Riverside = 1284, wade H = 1415, Mauldin = 1581
one immediate problem i see with their methodology is that 30% of the equation is based on whether or not kids are enrolled in or taking IB/AP courses. if thats the case then just get your staff certified, pack kids into those courses, make them take the tests (who cares if they pass them) and well then you too can have a nationally ranked school.
So true. I knew a guy at my work. His son went to Mauldin. They allowed him to sign up for 5 simultaneous AP classes in one year. He was about to go insane with the work required and was up into the wee hours of the morning many nights trying to do all the work. The dad was helping him do some of it and staying up with him. He asked to drop a couple of them but the school would not allow him to leave the classes. His only way out was to transfer to another high school. I forgot what happened, but maybe the focus on AP classes = excellence is wrong. I know Mauldin is a decent school, but third in Greenville County and one of our top state schools? Seems too high to me.
Similarly, the WH ranking seems too high based on their other academic measures (average SAT, etc.).
No one or two metrics is going to be the best single measure of a school. For so long, colleges have touted their average SAT as one of their yardsticks for how smart their student body is. Why don't high schools use this more? Any idiot can take an AP class (and flunk it or flub it).
Using SAT data would be a horrible idea to use to gauge high schools. I for example took the SAT in the winter of my 10th grade year (1.5 years into high school). Achieved the score I wanted and did not take it again. My SAT score you could argue was more a reflection of my middle school performance than my high school since I was only a year and a half into high school when I took it.
No matter how great of a parent I am, I still can't teach my child physics, or chemistry, or calculus.
I can't build a science lab in the garage, or an auditorium with a stage in my living room.
I can't provide my kid with an orchestra, or a football team, or a woodshop.
I can't get a phd in all the subjects my child should learn, much less spend years and years getting better at teaching those subjects to my child.
As a parent, I can't create a safe atmosphere of learning, curiosity, and achievement in my kid's school.
The teachers do that. The school does that. It's absurd to think I could take the place of all the things a school does. Absurd.
The public high school I went to ranks in the top 100 on this list. There is no way, as a parent, that I could give my child the education I received there, with the school choices we have here in Greenville.
No matter how great of a parent I am, I still can't teach my child physics, or chemistry, or calculus.
No but you can help motivate them and set the expectation in the house for them to go off of.
I can't build a science lab in the garage, or an auditorium with a stage in my living room.
No one is asking you to that's why you pay taxes.
I can't provide my kid with an orchestra, or a football team, or a woodshop.
These rankings don't take those into account so irrelevant to the discussion
I can't get a phd in all the subjects my child should learn, much less spend years and years getting better at teaching those subjects to my child.
Very few public school teachers have PhD's themselves so don't worry. Just be there to support your child and give them an expectation so they know what needs to be done at school each day.
As a parent, I can't create a safe atmosphere of learning, curiosity, and achievement in my kid's school.
Sure you can. If your child knows what is and what is not acceptable behavior per your house rules then that will trickle over into the school. Imagine if 500 sets of parents all did that what kind of amazingly well behaved school you'd have.
A school both public and private is only as good as it's community which it serves. I've always said look at the community then look at the school, not the other way around.
Using SAT data would be a horrible idea to use to gauge high schools. I for example took the SAT in the winter of my 10th grade year (1.5 years into high school). Achieved the score I wanted and did not take it again. My SAT score you could argue was more a reflection of my middle school performance than my high school since I was only a year and a half into high school when I took it.
Yeah, SATs are a horrible way to measure academic ability. That's why most colleges in the country use it as one of their main measureable criteria for incoming students.
BTW, your post to Art123 is arguing against your own same stance. Read it again. He is being sarcastic to another poster.
pack kids into those courses, make them take the tests (who cares if they pass them) and well then you too can have a nationally ranked school.
If you had finished reading you'd see the scores on the tests is 10% of the ranking calculation. So their metric is based off results slightly as well; not random anecdotes from parents that believe their school is the bestest because their teacher is very learned at church.
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