Evanston/Oak Park Elementary Schools

[chet everett]

Oh NO -- you went called a school NOT on Newsweek's/US News magic lists excellent, you know what that might trigger...

I really don't think that kids doing awful at OPRF would do quite as crummy at NT, some of it IS the schools fault, but not in the way that you might think. At ETHS and OPRF all the kids that did crummy in middle school end up shoved off to the crummy classes where their best hope it to not get in so much trouble that they get suspended and end up on path to jail. The culture of the low performing classes is "these kids are not worth much effort".
At NT even the kids that did not come out of the top of their middle school get really good teachers that do really cool stuff and even the worst kids have a pretty decent shot at getting steared into a decent community college to learn some valuable technical skills. EVERY kid is expected to go on to a productive life. Even the most learning disabled kids are not just expected to take some regular classes, but there are HUGE accomodations made to make sure those kids have access to the BEST teachers. BIG difference.


Honestly the MORE underprepared kids there are at school the LESS LIKELY that they will "break free" of the path that goes nowhere. In schools where underprepared are the exceptions the odds are MUCH better that resources will be expended to get them AT least up to some minimum...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Oh NO -- you went called a school NOT on Newsweek's/US News magic lists excellent, you know what that might trigger...

It's on there. Number 379 in 2008. It's one of the better showings for Illinois, actually. Evanston Township High School is 721 nationally.

America's Top Public High Schools | Newsweek Best High Schools | Newsweek.com (http://www.newsweek.com/highschools/?q=2008/rank/301/ - broken link)

If you actually look at the methodology used to come up with these rankings, it's pretty bad. The fact that a top school like New Trier isn't even on the list should tell you what these rankings are worth...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Oh NO -- you went called a school NOT on Newsweek's/US News magic lists excellent, you know what that might trigger...

I really don't think that kids doing awful at OPRF would do quite as crummy at NT, some of it IS the schools fault, but not in the way that you might think. At ETHS and OPRF all the kids that did crummy in middle school end up shoved off to the crummy classes where their best hope it to not get in so much trouble that they get suspended and end up on path to jail. The culture of the low performing classes is "these kids are not worth much effort".
At NT even the kids that did not come out of the top of their middle school get really good teachers that do really cool stuff and even the worst kids have a pretty decent shot at getting steared into a decent community college to learn some valuable technical skills. EVERY kid is expected to go on to a productive life. Even the most learning disabled kids are not just expected to take some regular classes, but there are HUGE accomodations made to make sure those kids have access to the BEST teachers. BIG difference.


Honestly the MORE underprepared kids there are at school the LESS LIKELY that they will "break free" of the path that goes nowhere. In schools where underprepared are the exceptions the odds are MUCH better that resources will be expended to get them AT least up to some minimum...

I disagree. But since very few disadvantaged youth ever make it into the halls of New Trier, we'll never know.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Glad it worked for you. I like percentages. Odds are against the kids headed to jail and kids whose folks work in industries that are obsolete in this country.

I got more than enough hard knocks to bore the crap out of my kids with stories.

Like I said about Bill Gates (who basically grew up in the New Trier of Seattle) if trying to stamp out disease in the third world is 'warped', I'm all for warped. (though, OS/2 joke, that was the nail in the IBM/Microsoft relationship...)

For every Bill Gates, there are probably two or three George W. Bushes or Paris Hiltons.

[mia220]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I disagree. But since very few disadvantaged youth ever make it into the halls of New Trier, we'll never know.

Exactly!!!!