Long Island High School Rankings 2014 (New York, Islip: houses, universities, inspection)

[breetai3]

Originally Posted by monkeygorilla

Wow thanks so much for doing this!!! I think this is much more in line with the schools' reputations than the national lists. Looking at the top schools, I would say it pretty much matches with the public perception of each district, whereas I felt like the US News list was completely off base on some schools. Thanks again!!

I think the U.S. News rankings are total bunk. There have an absolutely HORRIBLE methodology. They punish school districts that offer a lot of choice for college prep. They weight the rankings heavily on participation in the IB or AP program. BUT, if a school has BOTH programs they completely toss out the data from whichever program has the lowest participation. That is ludicrous. There are also plenty of high schools on LI that offer college credit courses from our local universities. None of that is taken into consideration either. So just calling their ranks a "college readiness index" is laughable when they are tossing out entire data sets and ignoring college credit courses.

[monkeygorilla]

Originally Posted by breetai3

I think the U.S. News rankings are total bunk. There have an absolutely HORRIBLE methodology. They punish school districts that offer a lot of choice for college prep. They weight the rankings heavily on participation in the IB or AP program. BUT, if a school has BOTH programs they completely toss out the data from whichever program has the lowest participation. That is ludicrous. There are also plenty of high schools on LI that offer college credit courses from our local universities. None of that is taken into consideration either. So just calling their ranks a "college readiness index" is laughable when they are tossing out entire data sets and ignoring college credit courses.

Interesting- I can totally see how that would make for inaccurate rankings. The one thing I do like about the US News rankings is that they take into account schools with large socioeconomically disadvantaged populations- how do you feel about that aspect?

[breetai3]

Originally Posted by monkeygorilla

Interesting- I can totally see how that would make for inaccurate rankings. The one thing I do like about the US News rankings is that they take into account schools with large socioeconomically disadvantaged populations- how do you feel about that aspect?

I think that is fine, but they don't really explain how they do it. Obviously the rankings I provide do not factor in that aspect. But a cursory look at the bottom schools on my list compared to the 2013 list shows that these districts are not improving, and most are in fact performing poorer.

And with a double weighting of those going to 4 year college in Pequaman's methodology, I understand that is punishing lower income districts. But I don't expect you'd see a huge deviation of ranks if I only factored in test scores and Advanced Regents diploma. I also only count the scores of the general education population and leave out the special education students so as not to drag down scores for districts that may cater to higher special ed pops.

[monkeygorilla]

Originally Posted by breetai3

I think that is fine, but they don't really explain how they do it. Obviously the rankings I provide do not factor in that aspect. But a cursory look at the bottom schools on my list compared to the 2013 list shows that these districts are not improving, and most are in fact performing poorer.

And with a double weighting of those going to 4 year college in Pequaman's methodology, I understand that is punishing lower income districts. But I don't expect you'd see a huge deviation of ranks if I only factored in test scores and Advanced Regents diploma. I also only count the scores of the general education population and leave out the special education students so as not to drag down scores for districts that may cater to higher special ed pops.

It seems impossible to come up with a ranking system that is fair to all schools. I never realized how complicated this stuff was! By your methodology, what do you think accounts for the sometimes big changes in numbers in a district from year to year- is it mostly just changes in student body? Or can there be other factors at play? It'll be really interesting to see the 2015 list when common core standards are implemented.

[ll0OoO0ll]

Originally Posted by breetai3

Keeping the tradition alive, I have compiled this year's list of Long Island High School ranks based off the report cards released by NYSED a few weeks ago. This methodology was devised by a user here named Pequaman who has done them in the past. I sent him a message to see if he was still around and would like to do it again but got no response. So I took it upon myself to generate this year's list using his identical methodology which you can see at the bottom of the post. I also added a number at the end of each school. This number represents what % of graduates from that school had an Advanced Regents Designation which requires a score of 65 or above on the following

1. Global History and Geography;
2. U.S History and Government;
3. Comprehensive English;
4. All three mathematics exams;
5. Two science exams, including Living Environment

The standard Regents diploma only requires 1 math exam and 1 science exam. I felt this was the most important number in the methodology and wanted to include it.

Obviously you should take as much stock in these ranks as to how good of a methodology you think was used. I like them, though I would probably want to swap out the History results with Life Sciences, personally. But I didn't want to mess with Pequaman's methodology for comparison's sake.

Score - School (District) % of student body that graduates with Advanced Designation Regents Diploma

110 - PERFECT SCORE
101.2 - Jericho HS (Jericho*) 90
98.4 - Great Neck South* (Great Neck) 91
98.3 - Manhasset High School (Manhasset*) 87
98.0 - Garden City HS (Garden City*) 89
97.2 - Cold Spring Harbor HS (CSH Central*) 87
96.7 - Syosset High School (Syosset*) 90
95.5 - Roslyn High School (Roslyn*) 86
94.6 - Plainview-Old Bethpage (Plainview-Old Bethpage*) 84
93.6 - Half Hollow Hills HS East* (Half Hollow Hills) 80
93.4 - Wheatley School (East Williston*) 91
91.9 - Commack High School (Commack*) 88
91.4 - Half Hollow Hills HS West* (Half Hollow Hills) 78
91.3 - South Side High School (Rockville Centre*) 90
90.5 - North Shore HS (North Shore*) 81
90.2 - Herricks High School (Herricks*) 71
89.0 - Great Neck North* (Great Neck) 84
88.5 - Wantagh High School (Wantagh*) 76
88.4 - JFK* (Bellmore-Merrick) 80
88.3 - New Hyde Park Memorial* (Sewanhaka) 69
88.0 - Harborfields High School (Harborfields Central*) 84
88.0 - George W Hewlett (Hewlett-Woodmere*) 76
87.9 - Ward Melville (Three Village*) 72
86.6 - Smithtown HS West* (Smithtown) 77
85.9 - Elwood/John Glenn HS (Elwood*) 69
85.4 - Locust Valley HS (Locust Valley*) 83
85.1 - Massapequa High School (Massapequa*) 71
84.8 - Paul D Schreiber (Port Washington*) 65
84.5 - Mount Sinai High School (Mount Sinai*) 72
84.1 - Smithtown High School East* (Smithtown) 71
83.5 - Earl L Vandermeulen HS (Port Jefferson*) 70
83.3 - Northport SHS (Northport-East Northport*) 70
83.1 - Bayport-Blue Point HS (Bayport-Blue Point*) 84
82.9 - Hauppauge High School (Hauppauge*) 68
82.3 - Gen Douglas MacArthur HS* (Levittown) 75
82.1 - Bethpage Senior High School (Bethpage*) 75
81.8 - Sayville High School (Sayville) 76
80.5 - Mepham* (Bellmore-Merrick) 72
80.5 - Lynbrook Senior HS (Lynbrook*) 68
80.4 - Mineola High School (Mineola*) 73
80.4 - Mattituck SHS (Mattituck-Cutchogue*) 64
79.9 - Plainedge Senior High School (Plainedge*) 70
79.6 - Carle Place Senior High School (Carle Place*) 65
79.4 - Floral Park Memorial* (Sewanhaka) 62
79.2 - Calhoun* (Bellmore-Merrick) 62
79.0 - Valley Stream North* (VS North) 67
78.7 - Oceanside Senior HS (Oceanside*) 69
78.2 - H Frank Carey HS* (Sewanhaka) 67
78.1 - Division Avenue HS* (Levittown) 68
78.1 - Kings Park High School (Kings Park*) 61
77.9 - Babylon Senior High School (Babylon*) 63
77.3 - W Tresper Clarke High School* (East Meadow) 61
76.6 - East Meadow High School* (East Meadow) 63
76.2 - Oyster Bay HS (Oyster Bay-East Norwich*) 57
75.9 - Connetquot High School (Connetquot*) 64
75.8 - Seaford High School (Seaford*) 65
75.4 - Westhampton Beach SHS (Westhampton Beach*) 68
75.2 - East Islip High School (East Islip*) 63
75.1 - West Islip Senior High School (West Islip*) 66
74.2 - Valley Stream South HS* (VS) 59
74.2 - Huntington High School* (Huntington) 55
73.9 - Islip High School (Islip*) 63
73.8 - Pierson (Sag Harbor*) 65
73.1 - Sachem High School North* (Sachem) 66
72.8 - Island Trees HS (Island Trees*) 47 (Big Jump up)
72.0 - Valley Stream Central HS* (VS Central) 65
71.7 - Farmingdale High School (Farmingdale*) 57
71.6 - Eastport-South Manor (Eastport-South Manor*) 50
71.4 - Miller Place High School (Miller Place*) 61
71.3 - Shoreham-Wading River (Shoreham-Wading River*) 58
70.6 - Sewanhaka HS* (Sewanhaka) 47
70.1 - Sachem High School East* (Sachem) 55
70.0 - Walt Whitman HS (South Huntington*) 42
69.3 - Lindenhurst High School (Lindenhurst*) 52
68.9 - Shelter Island HS (Shelter Island*) 75
68.7 - Elmont Memorial HS* (Sewanhaka) 46
67.7 - Long Beach High School (Long Beach*) 50
67.3 - Baldwin SHS (Baldwin*) 52
66.9 - Hicksville High School (Hicksville*) 49
66.5 - Comsewogue (Brookhaven-Comsewogue*) 54
66.4 - Centereach High School* (Middle Country) 54
66.3 - West Hempstead HS (West Hempstead*) 46
66.2 - Deer Park High School (Deer Park*) 47
65.6 - Rocky Point High School (Rocky Point*) 43
65.5 - West Babylon SHS (West Babylon*) 57
64.6- Southold High School (Southold*) 33 (Huge Drop)
64.0- Malverne High School (Malverne) 49
63.7 - Bay Shore SHS (Bay Shore*) 38
63.3 - Riverhead High School (Riverhead*) 47
63.0 - Glen Cove HS (Glen Cove*) 49
61.6 - Southampton High School (Southampton*) 48
60.8 - Longwood High School (Longwood*) 34
60.7 - Lawrence High School (Lawrence) 35
59.1 - Center Moriches High School (Center Moriches*) 53
59.1 - East Hampton High School (East Hampton*) 40
58.7 - Hampton Bays Secondary (Hampton Bays*) 44
58.7 - East Rockaway SHS (East Rockaway*) 37 (Big Drop)
57.8 - Newfield High School* (Middle Country) 37
56.7 - Patchogue-Medford HS (Patchogue-Medford*) 30
56.1 - North Babylon HS (North Babylon*) 32
54.7 - William Floyd High School (William Floyd*) 38
53.5 - Walter G O'Connell (Copiague*) 39
53.1 - Bellport High School (South Country*) 33
50.4 - Brentwood High School (Brentwood*) 28
46.5- Amityville Memorial (Amityville*) 25
43.1 - Freeport High School (Freeport*) 19
40.2 - Central Islip HS (Central Islip*) 13
39.0 - Westbury High School (Westbury*) 17
37.7 - Roosevelt (Roosevelt*) 3
33.4 - Hempstead High School (Hempstead*) 14
30.8 - Wyandanch Memorial (Wyandanch*) 7


Bridgehampton School (Bridgehampton*) 33 Can't rank, No English or History test information


* = Designates whether district or particular High School within the district was measured. Some districts have more than one High School.

This data in this list was compiled from the most recent report cards released April 2014 (from the 2012-2013 school year).
https://reportcards.nysed.gov/



Methodology:

Grad Rate (replaced with general ed regents diploma) - 1x
Post-secondary Plans 2011-2012 Completers
To 4-year College - 2x
To College (4-year+2-year) - 1x
Regents Diploma with Advanced Designation - 2x
Comprehensive English (scored 65+/85+) - 2x
Algebra 2/Trig (scored 65+/85+) - 2x
Global History and Geography (scored 85+) - 1x

Example: Commack = 100 (grad rate) + 86 (4 year college) + 86 (4 year college) + 99 (4 year + 2 year college) + 88 (Advanced Regents Diploma) + 88 (Advanced Regents Diploma) + 99 (scored 65 or above on English Regents) + 68 (scored 85 or above on English Regents) + 86 (65 or above on Trig Regents) + 46 (85 or above on Trig Regents) + 73 (85 or above on Global History Regents) = 919 = 91.9 rating

Awesome job.
Can you do another one to give us top 10 middle schools of 2014 on LI?

[Johninwestbury]

Only Roosevelt, Wyandanch, and Hempstead scored worse than Westbury. Geesh.
Something needs to be done with the schools because it could really hold back back revitalization. I guess singles don't mind but it's hard for families to move to our village when they see they are in Westbury schools, I only see lots of families in the Carle Place schools section (west of Ellison).
I've always thought the Village should merge with Carle Place and New Cassel either split off or merge with Hicksville. Because families that do move here have to pay the school taxes for Westbury and pay for private school (if they care about their kid's safety & education).
And most of the homeowners in the village resent the majority of students in Westbury SD are from New Cassel (and they're overcrowding the schools) and have to pay school taxes anyway and then pay again for private school.
Post Ave looks alot better but the job isn't finished..something needs to be done about the schools and we have the power as a village to do something about it.

[Jetties]

Originally Posted by Johninwestbury

Only Roosevelt, Wyandanch, and Hempstead scored worse than Westbury. Geesh.
Something needs to be done with the schools because it could really hold back back revitalization. I guess singles don't mind but it's hard for families to move to our village when they see they are in Westbury schools, I only see lots of families in the Carle Place schools section (west of Ellison).
I've always thought the Village should merge with Carle Place and New Cassel either split off or merge with Hicksville. Because families that do move here have to pay the school taxes for Westbury and pay for private school (if they care about their kid's safety & education).
And most of the homeowners in the village resent the majority of students in Westbury SD are from New Cassel (and they're overcrowding the schools) and have to pay school taxes anyway and then pay again for private school.
Post Ave looks alot better but the job isn't finished..something needs to be done about the schools and we have the power as a village to do something about it.

Why would those districts WANT to merge with Westbury? I had plenty of family grow up in Westbury and see the downturn from the 40's-50's to today. There are still a few pockets to live in but the school system blows. Private school is factored into the price you pay for the house. New Cassel is a lost cause.

[MemoryMaker]

Westbury SD is a pretty small district.

If ALL of the surrounding districts would absorb equally-sized portions of Westbury SD, the impact to those other districts would be minimal. Meaning if the district was divided in 5 and split amongst Jericho, East Meadow, Hicksville, Carle Place and East Williston SD.

It'll never ever happen but just some food for thought.

Plus, if this were to happen then more well-off families would move to Westbury SD area, push out the disadvantaged and send their kids to those schools which would massively reduce the burden of adding these areas (and even providing extra tax dollars).

[Johninwestbury]

Originally Posted by Jetties

Why would those districts WANT to merge with Westbury? I had plenty of family grow up in Westbury and see the downturn from the 40's-50's to today. There are still a few pockets to live in but the school system blows. Private school is factored into the price you pay for the house. New Cassel is a lost cause.

So what are we supposed to do then, just give up??
New Cassel's problems need to stay New Cassel's problems and stop bringing down the Village of Westbury. Of course I knew any changes will get New Cassel folks up in arms, why don't they get together and improve the schools (and their community?).
Some folks are, but are met with resistance from the TONH, which drags their heels on any & all code enforcement/housing issues in New Cassel. If our village wasn't incorporated we'd have probably shared the same fate. The schools is a huge negative when it comes to making the village attractive to families. We have the power to vote to secede from Westbury schools, I think...

[suzook]

Originally Posted by Jarot

I'm really disappointed Pat-Med isn't improving. The village is improving, North Patchogue and the areas of Medford the district covers always seemed like a decent enough place, I wish I knew what was going on with the schools.

It's the illegal population that's bringing the scores way down. My kids did fine in pat med. it's all about parents involvement. Long islanders put too much faith into the rankings.