tampa schools (Clearwater: home, neighborhood, school district)

[goodbye NJ]

If the schools are so bad in Florida why are they all rated A.

[ferret111]

Originally Posted by goodbye NJ

If the schools are so bad in Florida why are they all rated A.

The "all schools in Florida are bad" thing is a myth. Every school district (which is on a county-by-county basis here, so most are large) has its good schools and its bad schools.

[tewas]

I think it's also rated within the state only, not nationwide. Also i do agree with ferret, you can have terrible school in mid-west or NY and great school in Florida. On the other hand, great school is where your kids like to go and get good preparation for the future.

[algia]

I want to know what the "rating" criteria is....I say that because for example greatschools.net gave the school my kids go to an 9, then parents gave an 8 because of the lack of extracurricular activities, yet there are only 5 parent reviews and the school told me that the majority of the kids going there don't have computers at home (which I found VERY odd, when we were discussing sending emails rather than mountains of papers), so if they don't, then I guess those parents can't rate it right? I found few schools that had 20, 30 reviews....most only have up to 2 pages or about up to 10/15 reviews so since an elementary school has several classes and a lot more than 15 parents, then I am not sure how accurate these ratings really are.

Correct me if I'm wrong. But this is what I got from this so far.

[Pragmaticus]

Originally Posted by algia

I want to know what the "rating" criteria is....I say that because for example greatschools.net gave the school my kids go to an 9, then parents gave an 8 because of the lack of extracurricular activities, yet there are only 5 parent reviews and the school told me that the majority of the kids going there don't have computers at home (which I found VERY odd, when we were discussing sending emails rather than mountains of papers), so if they don't, then I guess those parents can't rate it right? I found few schools that had 20, 30 reviews....most only have up to 2 pages or about up to 10/15 reviews so since an elementary school has several classes and a lot more than 15 parents, then I am not sure how accurate these ratings really are.

Correct me if I'm wrong. But this is what I got from this so far.

It is based on test results and in their web site they have Q&A about this and other....greatschools.org that is......

[annaegel]

In my personal experience, Florida is 1 1/2 years behind NJ. We moved from Bergen County, NJ to Tampa. My kids were in kindergarten and 3rd grade. Actually, I found the kindergarten better down here due to NJ was only half day. The biggest difference was with my 3rd grader. Down here, she was doing things that she did in the beginning of 2nd grade. When she entered 4th grade, it was like a refresher course. Not only that, Florida does not have what NJ offered the kids. Foreign language starting in 1st grade, dance/yoga program twice a week, great art program, great music program. Lunch in NJ was 30 minutes for eating, 30 minutes for outside play (or inside play if it is too cold or rainy). Here they get 30 minutes for eating. The teachers take them outside ONLY IF THEY WANT TO for 15 minutes, twice a week. The art and music program in this so called "A" rated school sucked. The teachers don't need a lot of qualifications or education in order to teach. I find there is much more behaviorial issues that I did not see going on in NJ. This is just my experience. There may be other schools that are just wonderful and your kids would just love. We moved to this particular area because the schools were supposedly top notch.

[Stewabby]

Florida is one of the lowest ranked states for SAT scores. Since high schoolers across the country take the same test I'd say that is a pretty good indicator that Florida schools, on average, are not great.

[newyorker24]

Those grades are highly dependent on FCAT scores, and as noted above- are determined by the state of FL. So you cannot compare a school ranked "A" by FL to a highly ranked school from the northeast.

[Readingforever]

Okay, first of all the whole USA's school system is bad. This happens to be a subject that I study constantly. It is not just Florida, even though we are on the lower on the rankings.


Let me get one thing clear, just because it is an, "A" school doesn't mean a
thing. I know plenty of "A" schools, and they are still sucky. I have lived in
three towns/cities, which includes two states. Florida is definitly behind, but no
one should be depended on the schools to teach them, since they are usually
greatly failing. If you ask any of the kids in my neighborhood (which is a very
"well educated" place) who is John Harrison or what happened during World
War II, they would probably not be able to answer it or give a really bad
answer.


It is you that chooses what you want your future to be, not any school. Do
not get sucked into the belief that schools these days are the answer when
almost most kids can't read or do math in America. Well, they cannot do
these skills proficiently.


Hope this helps :-)

[FloridaDreaming2013]

I have been trying to figure this school rating thing out too. I looked on schooldigger.com to compare the FCAT scores of the area's I'm interested in, and compared them with the ICAT scores here in Illinois. The area I am interested is the NE area of Clearwater and the grade school there is in the top 10% of all grade schools in FL. Comparatively, the school my daughter goes to here in IL is in the top 25%. I'll do more research, but I feel confident that the school district in FL is about the same, if not better than where my daughter attends. I am just starting my research, so I'd be interested in finding how to better analyze different areas.