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Although I could probably get into the "holy crap, for what we pay these results aren't very good" I actually just found it interesting how demographics play into the results. Levittown did very well for graduation rates (92%) and okay for regents and college-ready scores (not great, but not terrible) but did very poorly in kids going on to 4 yr colleges (57%). Is it the lower incomes? Blue collar community where many are civil servants, cops, firemen, small business owners, construction workers? My wife and I and most of the parents we know went to college. Just finding it thought provoking. Should we blame the schools because of that stat or is that more of a family trait? With 92% graduating, it would seem the OPTION for getting into decent 4 yr colleges would be there and the school is doing it's job for the most part. Just thinking out loud. My assumption is that with tuitions going up the numbers will drop further. Not good at all for LI. No incentive, few universities, little high tech incubation or school/business partnerships (except StonyBrook and Brookhaven/Cold Spring Labs which is very small by comparison...some small cities like Austin and Raleigh have dozens of those programs funneling kids into high end occupations). Ahh, I started out contemplative and ended up pissed and depressed about LI. Some things never change. Oh well, at least for $24k/yr the kids are graduating high school, although they could probably get a GED with just a few hundred bucks and 6 months of coaching.
Levittown is still pretty top notch as far as school district is concerned and in general is still a solid, desirable neighborhood. Taxes all over the Island are outrageous. I wouldn't trust much of what Newsday has to publish though. Their bias is skewed to the left, as opposed to the moderate center they;d like LI to believe. I've been reading Newsday along with other papers for years and I always found they were hard on Levittown for some reason. But as far as college goes, I blame it on rising tuition and the renewed option on going to local community colleges.
Levittown is still pretty top notch as far as school district is concerned and in general is still a solid, desirable neighborhood. Taxes all over the Island are outrageous. I wouldn't trust much of what Newsday has to publish though. Their bias is skewed to the left, as opposed to the moderate center they;d like LI to believe. I've been reading Newsday along with other papers for years and I always found they were hard on Levittown for some reason. But as far as college goes, I blame it on rising tuition and the renewed option on going to local community colleges.
Not a big defender of Newsday, but they were simply reporting stats. I don't think it had any bias or slant.
Although I could probably get into the "holy crap, for what we pay these results aren't very good" I actually just found it interesting how demographics play into the results. Levittown did very well for graduation rates (92%) and okay for regents and college-ready scores (not great, but not terrible) but did very poorly in kids going on to 4 yr colleges (57%). Is it the lower incomes? Blue collar community where many are civil servants, cops, firemen, small business owners, construction workers? My wife and I and most of the parents we know went to college. Just finding it thought provoking. Should we blame the schools because of that stat or is that more of a family trait? With 92% graduating, it would seem the OPTION for getting into decent 4 yr colleges would be there and the school is doing it's job for the most part. Just thinking out loud. My assumption is that with tuitions going up the numbers will drop further. Not good at all for LI. No incentive, few universities, little high tech incubation or school/business partnerships (except StonyBrook and Brookhaven/Cold Spring Labs which is very small by comparison...some small cities like Austin and Raleigh have dozens of those programs funneling kids into high end occupations). Ahh, I started out contemplative and ended up pissed and depressed about LI. Some things never change. Oh well, at least for $24k/yr the kids are graduating high school, although they could probably get a GED with just a few hundred bucks and 6 months of coaching.
My district had a 96% graduation rate, 70% advanced designation regents diploma, 72% going on to 4 year and 23% going on to 2 year.
The percent going on to 4 year colleges reflects a number of things:
1) Not every student who has graduated was a stellar student -- of the 660 students in my son's class last year, 633 graduated. Of those 633 students, 443 received the AD diploma. Right off the bat we have 190 students who did not take or did not pass all the requisite courses to earn AD status.
We have to ask -- of those 190 students who did not earn an AD diploma, how many of them were mediocre students who didn't make it into the 4 year schools they applied to and wound up at a 2 yr school? Another question would be how many students overall wound up at a 2 year because they simply didn't know what direction to pursue? Two students whom I know in last years class are at SCC while they find their direction.
2) Economics. Even in an area which has money, some people are feeling the effects of our current economy. Several students who would have gone to private schools are at less expensive state schools, some who would have gone to state schools are at SCC. (Again, a few more students from last year's class.)
3) Community. What value do members of a community place on education? While wealthier areas where parents tend to have degrees do fare well overall on the stats, that's not always the case. You've cited that blue collar areas might not place as much of a priority on school, but my old district (blue collar) has 94% graduation rate, 63% to 4 year and 27% to 2 year. (90% going to college -- not too shabby) Most of my classmates went to college, some into the military, others into vocational schools or trades after BOCES.
4) Military. Students who enroll in the military with the opportunity to earn money to attend college after they've finished their stint will not count in on the 2 year or 4 year figures. Students in poor areas who enlist and head on to college later will not appear in their graduating class statistics.
What I want to know is how they came up with those stats?
If a kid leaves school, and never really tells the school itself if they really GO to college, how do we know?
Is it kids that "intend" to go and the school knows it? And if so, how many actually go, or how many are pressured into it after the fact by their parents, or how many decide to go after leaving high school?
Is it kids that actually enrolled in schools in NYS after high school, and if so, how many kids enroll in college outside New York? (quite a few, given personal experience)
My district had a 96% graduation rate, 70% advanced designation regents diploma, 72% going on to 4 year and 23% going on to 2 year.
The percent going on to 4 year colleges reflects a number of things:
1) Not every student who has graduated was a stellar student -- of the 660 students in my son's class last year, 633 graduated. Of those 633 students, 443 received the AD diploma. Right off the bat we have 190 students who did not take or did not pass all the requisite courses to earn AD status.
We have to ask -- of those 190 students who did not earn an AD diploma, how many of them were mediocre students who didn't make it into the 4 year schools they applied to and wound up at a 2 yr school? Another question would be how many students overall wound up at a 2 year because they simply didn't know what direction to pursue? Two students whom I know in last years class are at SCC while they find their direction.
2) Economics. Even in an area which has money, some people are feeling the effects of our current economy. Several students who would have gone to private schools are at less expensive state schools, some who would have gone to state schools are at SCC. (Again, a few more students from last year's class.)
3) Community. What value do members of a community place on education? While wealthier areas where parents tend to have degrees do fare well overall on the stats, that's not always the case. You've cited that blue collar areas might not place as much of a priority on school, but my old district (blue collar) has 94% graduation rate, 63% to 4 year and 27% to 2 year. (90% going to college -- not too shabby) Most of my classmates went to college, some into the military, others into vocational schools or trades after BOCES.
4) Military. Students who enroll in the military with the opportunity to earn money to attend college after they've finished their stint will not count in on the 2 year or 4 year figures. Students in poor areas who enlist and head on to college later will not appear in their graduating class statistics.
Thanks for putting it so everyone can understand. People see the number of students going on to college and if that number does not match the graduation rate they start to panic. Students just don't go for a number of reasons and right now a big reason is money.
These 'indicators' really are not indicative of whether a student is ready for college. Many colleges test incoming students for writing and math proficiency. The tests are waived in certain situations (high AP test score, high SAT score)
Just about anyone graduating is college ready; it's more a matter of whether they are college material.
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