Graduation rates in South Florida are among the lowest in the nation (Miami: school district, college)

[CiXeL]

Study reports poor graduation rates in South Florida - 06/12/2007 - MiamiHerald.com (broken link)


much of it probably has to do with the pervasive ghetto culture here.

[doggiebus]

And Miami-Dade is the 4th largest school district in the country. Followed by Broward County Schools at #5. And we wonder why kids from other countries are doing far better than we are.

If you for some reason plan to move with children to South Florida (which I highly don't recommend), do them right by putting them into private school. If you can not afford private school, at least be very involved in your childs school and life don not allow them to be latch key kids in South Florida.

[Jon F Moss]

there's also a thriving home-school contingent here in South Florida

[Dave037]

[


much of it probably has to do with the pervasive ghetto culture here.[/quote]


That about sums it up.
The problem is the students(and their parents) not the teachers or the schools

[Jon F Moss]

gee dave, that's very insightful

[luvsofla]

The problem with private schools is there is no accountability. Those students don't have to take the fcat and the school does not get a grade.

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by luvsofla

The problem with private schools is there is no accountability. Those students don't have to take the fcat and the school does not get a grade.

WOW THE FCAT! Are you serious? It's better if your kids don't have to take the FCAT, public schools in Florida focus more on the FCAT then teaching our kids how to learn anything of importance. Also, did you know school grades can be faked, don't you? In Palm Beach County there was a "d" school that somehow got an "A' after someone discovered the "true record rankings" and they mysteriously chalked it up as a simple mistake... yeah.. sure...

[compelled to reply]

The graduation rates here are obscenely low. And it does not exclusively have to do with "ghetto" culture. I went on greatschools.net and checked out a high school in Davie and that place is 70 percent white, only 12 percent reduced lunch and has a 56 percent graduation rate compared to 68 percent county average (pitiful as is). It is strictly poor oversight. If our system was run well in the first place, maybe we would not have "ghetto culture" emerging out of our school system. Schools up north that are like 10 percent white have minimum 70 percent graduation rates! There is a serious lack of organization and strucure in our school system, and our school staff members in many cases do not want to take thier jobs seriously. Although yes, it does have much to do with the attitude of the kids, since high school is what you make of it no matter where you are,what really needs to take place is a more up to date ciruliculum, better support from guidance counscelors, and most importantly, to prevent this ghetto attitude, we need to have parents involved in thier childrens education and unite, since the ghetto attitude also comes from the parents. Unfortunately, this seems like a difficult thing to do down here :-/.

As far as the school rating, it is a bunch of crap. The FCAT is a joke test, not focusing on essential college skills that are seen on the SAT/ACT, and thus creates a conflict between having students pass the FCAT and preparing students to take college entrance exams. Since teachers are not held accountable down here for anything other than the FCAT, even the most motivated student is not receiving a relevant education. A school can be an "A" school simply by improving over previous FCAT scores, even if only 45 percent of students PASS THE TEST. Many intelligent students find themselves working for nothing, lose motivation, become lazy, and drop out! Certainly, however, this "ghetto attitude" is still a contributing factor.

[doggiebus]

The national news did a segment on tests like the FCAT through out a few states. And found that some states have a higher bar of testing and others have a lower bar of testing. Here is what they found that. That if two kids each in a different state get the same exact answers right and wrong on the exact same test. One kid in A state will have a higher score maybe because the state he lives in has a lower bar for testing. The B student could have a lower score because his state may have a higher bar for standards. Florida is one of the states that has a pretty low bar they found. So compared to a state like SC (I believe) which has a high bar, Florida isn't looking that great.

I hope I didn't confuse anyone. I wish I could remember where I saw this last week. If I find it I will put a link up.

[luvsofla]

As far as the school rating, it is a bunch of crap. The FCAT is a joke test, not focusing on essential college skills that are seen on the SAT/ACT, and thus creates a conflict between having students pass the FCAT and preparing students to take college entrance exams. Since teachers are not held accountable down here for anything other than the FCAT, even the most motivated student is not receiving a relevant education. A school can be an "A" school simply by improving over previous FCAT scores, even if only 45 percent of students PASS THE TEST. Many intelligent students find themselves working for nothing, lose motivation, become lazy, and drop out! Certainly, however, this "ghetto attitude" is still a contributing factor.

[/quote]

Just curious...do you think schools here are better or worse than they were when you were in high school? And why?