Quality of Education in Florida (Tampa) (neighborhood, best schools, bus)

[jasoncann]

Good afternoon,

I have some questions from the good residents of the general Tampa area. Some of the concerns I've always heard is the quality of the education in Florida really is sub-par compared to the east coast or mid-west. Can anyone please comment, do you have the same feeling or is that inaccurate.

I do have another question as well. Where I am currently, children go to the school in their neighborhood and continue on. Reading various sources about the Tampa area, it seems there are varying degrees of magnet schools and public schools. Why are these specialty programs not being incorporated into the traditional schools.

I'm really interested in having my children challenged in the S.T.E.M. areas. but would rather not have apply to specialty schools for elementary education.

[wakermx]

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-wit...-schools/5335/

While 15 years ago, FL schools were typically ranked bottom 10 in the country, they have definitely improved in recent years, they still aren't where we all want them to be, but they are far from where they once were. Their are definitely big differences between the better schools in the area and the lower ones. But there are several areas where you can be in great schools from Kindergarten through graduation. You will have to be school conscious when picking the area you move to, but the schools wouldn't stop me from coming.

[MortonR]

Having come from the Midwest and worked in Hillsborough County schools, I think I can give you an idea of what you're asking about:

15 years ago this was probably true. Nowadays, not so much. There seems to be more rigor in Midwestern schools, but the quality of the schools and education isn't that different. I'm not sure why it's this way, I have often wondered if it's a cultural thing or something else.

One of the main differences here is that Florida's school districts are county-wide, meaning they're rather large, unlike the township sized districts common in the Midwest. HCPS has over 200,000 students and 30,000 employees - it's a massive, hulking bureaucracy that can be both a help and a hindrance.

Having had two children who went through school here and in the Midwest, I think it's more about what you put into it as a parent and the values you instill into your children as students.

To sum up, if you're an involved parent and your children attend a good neighborhood school, I think their education will be as good if not better than one they would get elsewhere.

As for magnet schools, well, that's an interesting subject....

If you're from the north, you're familiar with bussing to meet the Federal mandates for integration. The same thing occurred here in Florida, although the Florida school districts fought bussing a bit more aggressively than the folks in the north did. Integration was far more pervasive here as well, and for a much longer time.

Anyway, when things finally came to a head, the way HCPS dealt with the Federal mandates was to create magnet schools in lower socio-economic areas that were typically the target of bussing/integration. Why? Because by bringing in large number of suburban (white) students to these schools, they would attain the requirements for integration mandated by the Federal court rulings.

In theory, it works, but it creates a rather unpleasant environment. This is because the magnet school operates independently of the neighborhood school in the same facility. Probably the best example is the technology magnet school at Middleton HS, which is in one of the worst areas as far as crime, economic depression, etc. It's a beautiful campus, which has a high school that is attended by the neighborhood students, and a separate magnet school that consists of students bussed in from the suburbs.

As a result of this you have two very culturally and economically diverse groups in very close proximity to each other. One groups (magnet) has the latest technology, materials and equipment to work with, while the neighborhood students get nothing other than the "norm". It makes for some serious conflicts and creates some real dissent between the groups, who are often viewed as the "haves" and the "have nots".

This is the seamy underbelly of the magnet system.

That being said, the magnet schools do some really serious things and have excellent programs. The negative is that your child will probably have to spend 2-3 hours a day on a bus getting to and from the school. Parental involvement is minimal in the secondary magnets due to the logistics of getting to a school that might be halfway (or farther) across the county.

All of this aside, there are also IB or international baccalaureate schools, which are very rigorous and are some of the best schools in the state, if not the nation. Their graduation and matriculation rates are significant, and most, if not all of their students receive scholarships to some very good schools, Ivy League and elsewhere. The IB program starts in elementary and goes all the way through high school, although it's not necessary to attend the program all the way through. Many students go to the IB programs in high school and do quite well.

Both magnet and IB schools require applications and use a lottery system to determine who attends. The lottery is a bit of a mystery, and one that's never been fully figured out. I won't reveal any knowledge I have of its workings other than to say I suspect there is interaction with the process that has nothing to do with a student's abilities, but that's nothing more than an opinion on my part based on observations of the process.

All in all, if you choose a good neighborhood school you'll be fine. Magnets can be a good thing, but it's a very unique environment compared to a neighborhood school. With the number of AP classes being taught in middle and high school these days, I would think unless there is a specific subject area you want your children to work with, you'll be fine with your neighborhood schools.

RM

[CubsFan20]

There's lots of absentee parents here. LOTS.

You get out what you put in, and most students and parents are skating by with little effort and expect miracles from teachers.