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OK, I guess I stand corrected (still don't fully believe it) but this line caught my attention: "standardized tests compared to other students in the state."
So school with an 8 ranking in Mississippi could be a really crappy school because it is being compared to the other schools in the state?
Mississippi is used as an example as I think it was in the lower end of the school rankings.
I think you're over analyzing this. Lower income states perform on average with lower test scores than higher income states do. Same as higher income school districts performing better than lower income districts do.
A state with higher average test scores may simply have more affluent students. It doesn't mean their lower income neighborhoods perform any better or worse than the lower income neighborhood schools as less affluent states. You're not going to be any worse off because you went to a bad school in Mississippi vs a bad school in New York City.
Overall Wando is popular. Even with people from New England.
I think you're over analyzing this. Lower income states perform on average with lower test scores than higher income states do. Same as higher income school districts performing better than lower income districts do.
A state with higher average test scores may simply have more affluent students. It doesn't mean their lower income neighborhoods perform any better or worse than the lower income neighborhood schools as less affluent states. You're not going to be any worse off because you went to a bad school in Mississippi vs a bad school in New York City.
Overall Wando is popular. Even with people from New England.
In looking at the GreatSchools site, it appears that most state ratings are based upon state specific standardized tests. For example, South Carolina uses the PASS, HSAP, SC EOCEP tests. No other stats use that test. Maryland uses the MSA. So I wonder if you can really compare Greatschool ratings from state to state. Even average SAT and ACT scores are hard to compare as in some sates, all kids take the SAT (as someone mentioned here) and in some only 2-3% do.
I happened to have graduated from a small TX high school. We had 84 people in my graduating class. Our electives were drama, Spanish 3, and band/athletics.
Wando on the other hand is almost the size of my entire home town. As a result, there are a far better choice of electives, programs, sports, etc.
Our house was 1/5 of the price of the house I live in now, yet our property taxes were the same. The inefficiency was most likely due to the fact our school was unnecessarily small. A town of 5000 people had its own K-12 as did all the other small towns in the area. Much better opportunities would exist if they had combined their resources.
I'm from Houston, we have huge high schools all over the place. The school I'm talking about has about as many kids than Wando. Heck my high school had more kids in the 90's and currently is one of the largest in the state.
I think you're over analyzing this. Lower income states perform on average with lower test scores than higher income states do. Same as higher income school districts performing better than lower income districts do.
A state with higher average test scores may simply have more affluent students. It doesn't mean their lower income neighborhoods perform any better or worse than the lower income neighborhood schools as less affluent states. You're not going to be any worse off because you went to a bad school in Mississippi vs a bad school in New York City.
Overall Wando is popular. Even with people from New England.
Not true at all...Did I mention I'm also a former teacher? NYC "bad" and SC "bad" are not the same thing. The state standards come into play as well as various other factors. Rest assured that most of the kids I taught who moved here from out of state (including my own) outscore native SC kids in their sleep. Sorry.
Wando is popular because its the best in the area, look at what its being compared to? Most of the other schools in the district are utter garbage.
Not true at all...Did I mention I'm also a former teacher? NYC "bad" and SC "bad" are not the same thing. The state standards come into play as well as various other factors. Rest assured that most of the kids I taught who moved here from out of state (including my own) outscore native SC kids in their sleep. Sorry.
Wando is popular because its the best in the area, look at what its being compared to? Most of the other schools in the district are utter garbage.
So by that rationale since Wando is primarily made of kids from out of state (and most likely their teachers as well) it should be performing better solely due to that fact then shouldn't?
Either way it sounds like you're still saying Wando is a good school.
Do you really think inner city NY schools do poorly simply because their standards are so high?
I have yet to meet an adult who's state's high school education was primarily responsible for how their life turned out.
I have yet to meet an adult who's state's high school education was primarily responsible for how their life turned out.
I would make the argument that today, how well you do in high school and on the SAT/ACT will directly influence your future. The college/job market has changed dramatically over the last 20 years.
I would make the argument that today, how well you do in high school and on the SAT/ACT will directly influence your future. The college/job market has changed dramatically over the last 20 years.
People from South Carolina still go to college and do what everybody else in the country does.
If anything, I'd say SAT's are even more irrelevant than it was 20 years ago. I can't remember a time when I've seen so many college grads who are either underemployed or unemployed. Employers today want specific work experience. None of them seem impressed by specific schools. The ones that do care is only because they recruit directly from that school, which in most cases is tied to its proximity to the indusrty rather than its ranking. Cheap and easy student loans have created a glut of college grads.
By reading too deep into statistics it's easy to loose sight of the big picture. You don't need high school at all just to score well on SATs. Just download some SAT apps.
For the most part -- day to day -- all this stuff is irrelevant. It's about a work ethic, it's about finding something you like to do with that work ethic. Wando will get you to MIT if you can do it and you want it. Enough said.....
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