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Hi! I am strongly considering a move to Irvington and I am so confused by school rankings, can anyone shed some light?
Seems like Irvington has always had a great reputation. By quantitative standards (test scores) it seems very strong compared to districts like Hastings, Ardsley and Briarcliff. Qualitative standards - the course catalog for the high school looks impressive and seems like kids go on to good colleges. And I really try not to put too much stock in rankings, BUT... Irvington HS is ranked much lower than comparable schools by ALL the ranking sites I checked (Niche, Great Schools, School Digger & US News).
What is it that's making Irvington rank poorly across the board? Is it on a downswing somehow? I don't get it, and would like to understand before I buy. Any insights are much appreciated.
They are still producing honorable students. Maybe the criteria of the education course has changed and the Advanced Placement courses are seeing less students.
Hi! I am strongly considering a move to Irvington and I am so confused by school rankings, can anyone shed some light?
Seems like Irvington has always had a great reputation. By quantitative standards (test scores) it seems very strong compared to districts like Hastings, Ardsley and Briarcliff. Qualitative standards - the course catalog for the high school looks impressive and seems like kids go on to good colleges. And I really try not to put too much stock in rankings, BUT... Irvington HS is ranked much lower than comparable schools by ALL the ranking sites I checked (Niche, Great Schools, School Digger & US News).
What is it that's making Irvington rank poorly across the board? Is it on a downswing somehow? I don't get it, and would like to understand before I buy. Any insights are much appreciated.
Be careful with this, because they all have their own criteria for said rankings that need to be put into perspective and may not mean that Irvington is a bad school district at all.
Hi! I am strongly considering a move to Irvington and I am so confused by school rankings, can anyone shed some light?
Seems like Irvington has always had a great reputation. By quantitative standards (test scores) it seems very strong compared to districts like Hastings, Ardsley and Briarcliff. Qualitative standards - the course catalog for the high school looks impressive and seems like kids go on to good colleges. And I really try not to put too much stock in rankings, BUT... Irvington HS is ranked much lower than comparable schools by ALL the ranking sites I checked (Niche, Great Schools, School Digger & US News).
What is it that's making Irvington rank poorly across the board? Is it on a downswing somehow? I don't get it, and would like to understand before I buy. Any insights are much appreciated.
Because the rankings mean NOTHING at all. They are for rich people who want to say they go to the best school district when its all crap. There are good schools, there are sadly bad schools, but the difference between all of the good schools is negligible. Move to where you want to live in Westchester. Other than a few districts that its clear have problems, they are all the same. The rich snobs just do not want to believe it, so the magazines give what the marketplace demands.
Many of the ranking services have issues, you need to really dig into the numbers to draw conclusions.
Just quickly looking Irvington High at great schools it appears to have at least one buggy number (21% SAT/ACT participation rate, which I find highly suspect on the face of it and especially when compared to a 86% four year college enrollment) and also has a strong negative weighting for equity issues (Great Schools started putting a much higher weight on this in recent years).
Generally speaking it has a very good reputation in the area. I've seen other area schools go from 6 to 10 rankings in one year with no significant real world changes in quality of education.
Many of the ranking services have issues, you need to really dig into the numbers to draw conclusions.
Just quickly looking Irvington High at great schools it appears to have at least one buggy number (21% SAT/ACT participation rate, which I find highly suspect on the face of it and especially when compared to a 86% four year college enrollment) and also has a strong negative weighting for equity issues (Great Schools started putting a much higher weight on this in recent years).
Generally speaking it has a very good reputation in the area. I've seen other area schools go from 6 to 10 rankings in one year with no significant real world changes in quality of education.
Before Covid many schools were not requiring the SAT. Post Covid it is rare if a school does. SUNY will not for teh classes entering in 2021 and 2022. Many privates are also. It may just be a recent anomaly. My daughter, who is being recruited for athletics, has been told to only take it if you are getting 1250+ on the practice exams, otherwise its not needed. The high scores help with scholarships thought.
Because the rankings mean NOTHING at all. They are for rich people who want to say they go to the best school district when its all crap. There are good schools, there are sadly bad schools, but the difference between all of the good schools is negligible. Move to where you want to live in Westchester. Other than a few districts that its clear have problems, they are all the same. The rich snobs just do not want to believe it, so the magazines give what the marketplace demands.
I agree. The rankings have no meaning, other than to indicate how wealthy each district is. -- The wealthiest districts send 99% of their high school grads to college. People think it's because the schools are better than a district that sends 75% of their grads to college, but it has nothing to do with quality of the education - it's only a reflection of the demographics of the individual school districts.
Before Covid many schools were not requiring the SAT. Post Covid it is rare if a school does. SUNY will not for teh classes entering in 2021 and 2022. Many privates are also. It may just be a recent anomaly. My daughter, who is being recruited for athletics, has been told to only take it if you are getting 1250+ on the practice exams, otherwise its not needed. The high scores help with scholarships thought.
I think you meant "before COVID many schools WERE requiring the SAT".
Anyway, a good point to that I think it is hard to rank school districts anyway during the "COVID era", hopefully that changes soon, maybe even next school year.
But truth be told in Westchester (and adjacent Fairfield County) almost every school district except the most troubled would be virtually the very best district in 90% of the rest of the country. Even the worst districts would rank as "mediocre" in some of those places.
I think you meant "before COVID many schools WERE requiring the SAT".
Anyway, a good point to that I think it is hard to rank school districts anyway during the "COVID era", hopefully that changes soon, maybe even next school year.
But truth be told in Westchester (and adjacent Fairfield County) almost every school district except the most troubled would be virtually the very best district in 90% of the rest of the country. Even the worst districts would rank as "mediocre" in some of those places.
No, I mean that BEFORE Covid many schools were already NOT requiring the SAT. It has been a trend for several years. Now in Covid, many times more are not requiring it. I hope that after Covid, the trend continues and the SAT becomes a dead item from the past. It has been shown many times to fail to accomplish its goal, predicting college success. I also think that its complete BS that the schools in this area are so much better than other schools. Its just nonsense. But it makes people want to buy my home, so when I sell, I will gladly go along with the nonsense.
Hi! I am strongly considering a move to Irvington and I am so confused by school rankings, can anyone shed some light?
Seems like Irvington has always had a great reputation. By quantitative standards (test scores) it seems very strong compared to districts like Hastings, Ardsley and Briarcliff. Qualitative standards - the course catalog for the high school looks impressive and seems like kids go on to good colleges. And I really try not to put too much stock in rankings, BUT... Irvington HS is ranked much lower than comparable schools by ALL the ranking sites I checked (Niche, Great Schools, School Digger & US News).
What is it that's making Irvington rank poorly across the board? Is it on a downswing somehow? I don't get it, and would like to understand before I buy. Any insights are much appreciated.
My wife and I were both born and raised in Irvington. It's probably one of the nicest of the river towns. You don't have any big box stores and all the traffic that goes along with it. Yet you are close to them all in the adjacent towns. It was more middle class when we grew up and there was very little if any poverty. It's a lot more affluent now, that's for sure. I can't believe what homes off of Main Street are going for now. I'm guessing because you can easily walk to the train from there. Most don't have garages and it's on the street parking.
When we grew up most if not all of those homes on the side streets off of Main Street were owned by blue collar families and we knew just about everyone who lived there. Ardsley Park, Matthiessen Park, Jaffray Park, and West Clinton Ave. were the wealthiest areas of the town followed by Riverview Road. East Irvington off of West Sunnyside Lane was also middle class. There were no homes around the reservoir, Halsey's Pond or the Rutter estate except for the Rutter mansion. Halsey's had a castle like stone mansion on that property until it mysteriously burned down. Stern's castle was demolished for the High School. There are now expensive homes on that property as well.
Most of those places now have homes going for a $1,500,000 and up. We used to be able to walk to the reservoir from the High School and it was all woods. Condo's that weren't there when we grew go up are going for $700,000 and up. Half Moon apartments go for around $300,000. South Broadway under $200,000 and North Broadway over $200,000 depending on how many rooms.
The High School has doubled in size and now offers programs that were unimaginable when we went to school there. My mother worked for the schools and loved it. They were all good kids and never any real trouble.
Irvington used to have a lot of estates with acres of property and mansions that resembled castles on the Rhine. Once they were sold off or the owner's died. Developers came in and built multi million dollar homes and expensive condo's. Irvington was no longer a middle class town. There used to be a lumber yard on the Hudson which is now a state park. Memorial Park and Matthiessen Park are for Irvington residents only. At least they used to be. That may have changed? They also have a boat club which I once belonged to that's still there.
Overall though it's still a pretty nice town if you can afford to live there. I wouldn't worry about the schools too much.
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