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Old 05-21-2012, 03:41 PM
 
Location: Wylie, Texas
3,812 posts, read 4,400,178 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pappy97 View Post
Why do you guys think this is? Does this mean Southlake has a large number of not-so-intelligent rich kids?
I wish there was some type of official statistic/metric that measured and differentiated for school demographics in academic success. All of us here pretty much know that demographics in large part drive the success of a school; and a 90% pass rate for a school with HP/Southlake demographics is not necessarily a higher achievement than a 75% pass rate for a school with say Woodrow Wilson's demographics. By the same token this statistic should be able to deduct points for underachievement (as we all agree Southlake has done); and add points for over achievement (like Paschal HS in Fort Worth), as well as zero points for merely holding steady.

I'm not an educator, thus I wouldnt have the first clue how to even begin quantifying this metric, but I think it would paint a very different (and potentially more useful) picture of different ISDs rather than the old TAKS/AP pass rates.
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Old 05-21-2012, 04:03 PM
 
743 posts, read 1,316,006 times
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You know, looking back at the chart that Ramona72 posted on 5/9/12 I'm not so sure Southlake is underperforming. The average SAT score for a white Southlake student is behind only HP and Plano West. The average SAT score for Asian students is behind only HP, Plano, and Plano West. Their Hispanics are behind only HP and Celina (no data for African Americans).

Those are pretty good comparables.
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Old 05-21-2012, 04:07 PM
 
350 posts, read 747,088 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BstYet2Be View Post
Sorry, totally disagree with you on two points here...

Point(s) well taken. The 2,300 school issue is disconcerting. The reasoning behind my statement was that I never liked the so-called "challenge index" (from my admittedly less than neutral perspective), since I felt that number of AP exams taken shouldn't be the only factor in listings.

Additionally, the list is a convenient place to go for a summary of data points. I've gone through the TEA/AEIS reports before, and have never been able to find an average AP score (only the percent passing and average SAT/ACT), but I might have been just skipping over a page. Because of this, I was quite excited when I saw they provided an average AP score.

Also, Colleyville Heritage should be commended; they were on the top 25 list of schools exceeding expectations based on the socio-economic nature of their student body.

Last edited by BstYet2Be; 05-22-2012 at 01:14 AM..
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Old 05-21-2012, 04:14 PM
 
Location: Southlake. Don't judge me.
2,885 posts, read 4,629,401 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PISDstudent View Post
Also, Colleyville Heritage should be commended; they were on the top 25 list of schools exceeding expectations based on the socio-economic nature of their student body.
This. Heritage's SAT/ACT scores are currently the lowest among the five high schools for areas we're looking at (Colleyville-Heritage, Grapevine, Carroll Senior, Flower Mound and Marcus), yet it always ranks best or second best among those 5 in these types of rankings. Some of that is attributable to AP results, but I also like seeing high performance with mixed demographics.

In the Great Wide Real World after school, being able to communicate effectively with people from myriad different backgrounds is helpful in many ways.
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Old 05-21-2012, 04:19 PM
 
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Looking at both threads about top High schools in nation and wondering why would ethnicities matter. Why can't we see it as American high school student without breaking it into White, Black, Hispanic Asian students?
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Old 05-22-2012, 09:30 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Warnpeace View Post
Looking at both threads about top High schools in nation and wondering why would ethnicities matter. Why can't we see it as American high school student without breaking it into White, Black, Hispanic Asian students?
It's really more about income levels than ethnicity, but ethnicity is a defacto shorthand for discussing the issue. It matters because you want to know if a school is doing as well as it *should* be doing.

There are a host of issues associated with low-income student bodies: the students start knowing fewer words, they retain less knowledge over summer break, truancy, changing schools frequently, etc. So when we can break down the numbers and see that low income Hispanics at TAG score higher than the high income whites at HP you say, "wow, what are they doing?" And the answer is pretty clearly, "screening for admission", but it's worthy of discussion.

When I look at these lists, especially the SAT list, and see it's dominated by HP, Plano West, and Southlake I'm not surprised. But when I see that some groups at Duncanville are doing well or that some groups at Plano lag others it gives me pause. If I was seeking to maximize my property tax vs education dollar I would probably look at Duncanville in a new light.

Likewise I know that whites at Lake Highlands are pretty solidly upper middle class and that the minorities are not. The whites at Lake Highlands score very well, but the minorities do not. Is it where a minority parent would want to send their kids? Would their income be a bigger factor than race? It's what many people consider.

That's how I see it at least.
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Old 05-22-2012, 09:44 AM
 
56 posts, read 76,486 times
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Selective discrimination? How come no one runs away from Asian/Indian majority schools. Not all of them are "solid upper middle class".
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Old 05-22-2012, 10:00 AM
 
743 posts, read 1,316,006 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Androidy View Post
Selective discrimination? How come no one runs away from Asian/Indian majority schools. Not all of them are "solid upper middle class".
Correct me if I'm wrong, but no high schools in the DFW area are majority Asian/Indian.

And I would say that many white families do move from areas that have large Asian/Indian populations. Look at the schools in northeast Dallas County-- Berkner and the Garland schools mainly-- they have seen a big drop in the % of white students and a rise in the number of Asian/Indian students.

There was also the big stink about the Plano East boundaries and I heard it expressed that more Asian/Indian students at Plano West would mean fewer white students in the top 10%.

(And please don't shoot the messenger.)
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Old 05-22-2012, 11:02 AM
 
56 posts, read 76,486 times
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It is true specially for older generation. Ironically that is the very reason I want my son in Collin County schools to be with Asians/south Asians. I learned a lot about value of family and education from my Asian friends during my school years and would want the same for my son. I do not agree with many of their conservative values but respect of family unit and emphasis on education are worth learning.
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