DFW High Schools ranked by SAT 2012-2013 (Dallas, Fort Worth: apartments, condos)

[HockDad]

Originally Posted by Considering Coming Back

But I'm afraid in a stratified economy that just isn't the case. I'm concerned in the human right sense, but not in the day to day sense. I want there to be opportunities for kids from less affluent backgrounds. But it won't affect my kids SAT scores.

I can look at the data and see the number of students on F/R lunch, the number of white students, the average white SAT score, AP participation rate, etc and make an educated guess about the school environment.

But the overall numbers might not tell the story for your child. For example, at St. Marks, 100% of the minorities are going to college. My son might get in trouble at school, but he is probably not joining a gang at school and deciding to drop out of high school. The minority students (blacks and Mexicans) might have lower SAT scores than Asians and whites, but no one is going to say that they are bad influence on my boy.

However, I went to a local public school that had gangs. My teammate was shot in a drive by. The smartest kids in my class went to Ivy League, but a significant portion did not graduate or did not go to college. Plenty of otherwise good kids were dragged down by the dregs of society that were in my graduating class. There was no expectation that all kids go to college and be successful. In fact, the average expectation was for a kid to graduate and join the military, go work at jiffy lube, etc.

My point is that you can't just look at the numbers and say that your kid will be ok because he or she is white. You want to know what kind of other students are in the student body.

[bencronin04]

Originally Posted by Considering Coming Back

But I'm afraid in a stratified economy that just isn't the case. I'm concerned in the human right sense, but not in the day to day sense. I want there to be opportunities for kids from less affluent backgrounds. But it won't affect my kids SAT scores.

Environments and peers play a huge role in that sense. Along with other factors, but saying that it won't effect a child's score is a pretty naive statement. There's are reason school like Highland Park do so well academically and athletically. It's the environment and the sense instilled in the kids that they WILL succeed, they always have. It's the competitive spirit in the human race that makes us better and better, thus if a kid is around peers that are doing well in class and sport, they too will strive to do just as well if not better.

[Considering Coming Back]

Originally Posted by bencronin04

Environments and peers play a huge role in that sense. Along with other factors, but saying that it won't effect a child's score is a pretty naive statement. There's are reason school like Highland Park do so well academically and athletically. It's the environment and the sense instilled in the kids that they WILL succeed, they always have. It's the competitive spirit in the human race that makes us better and better, thus if a kid is around peers that are doing well in class and sport, they too will strive to do just as well if not better.

I guess it's also worthy of discussion who "peers" are. When I was at Bryan Adams the 'apartment kids' and immigrants were not my peers in any sense of the word. My peers were the other middle and upper middle class students who wanted to take AP Calculus and try their hand at extracurricular activities (with the occasional striver who was welcomed with open arms). The other kids might as well have been at a different campus (in many senses they were, classes were grouped such that there was little chance for even hallway interaction).

At HP almost everyone is in that bracket, at BA it was probably 20% of us. But looking at Facebook, the two groups are doing verrry similarly 10 years later.

Originally Posted by HockDad

But the overall numbers might not tell the story for your child. For example, at St. Marks, 100% of the minorities are going to college. My son might get in trouble at school, but he is probably not joining a gang at school and deciding to drop out of high school. The minority students (blacks and Mexicans) might have lower SAT scores than Asians and whites, but no one is going to say that they are bad influence on my boy.

However, I went to a local public school that had gangs. My teammate was shot in a drive by. The smartest kids in my class went to Ivy League, but a significant portion did not graduate or did not go to college. Plenty of otherwise good kids were dragged down by the dregs of society that were in my graduating class. There was no expectation that all kids go to college and be successful. In fact, the average expectation was for a kid to graduate and join the military, go work at jiffy lube, etc.

My point is that you can't just look at the numbers and say that your kid will be ok because he or she is white. You want to know what kind of other students are in the student body.

Sounds like we have had similar life experiences. I certainly understand hesitation if a student is not a top or near top performer. But I'm not sure if it's possible to isolate the external factors enough to ensure their success. I still wouldn't fault someone for moving to Allen, though, if their child is a C+ student; it is a safe choice.

That said, I grew up in an environment were drugs and other illicit activities were for failures, kids with no future. It is a good motivation to stay on track. The kids I know from elite backgrounds (Dalton, Sidwell Friends) don't know about failure. They see drugs use (and I mean hard drug use) as part of life. You can't isolate yourself from everything...

[Walter Benjamin]

Thanks! I can no longer edit my last post, but I am correcting this list to reflect that, as noted by Considering Coming Back, Collegiate in Cedar Hill is a charter. (It is listed as a "normal" school in the blog source below.) The list is corrected to leave off Collegiate, and add the #5 school for each group.

Garland, Lovejoy, Keller, Paschal... each of these is a "Top Five" school for some group or other by this standard.



Dallas, Texas Area School Information: 2012 SAT Scores Ranked by Demographic Group in Dallas-Fort Worth Area High Schools

Top five non-magnet, non-charter schools for SAT scores of each demographic subgroup:

Top Asian scores: Southlake Carroll, Plano West, Plano Senior, Coppell, Garland

Top white scores: HP, Fort Worth Paschal, Garland, Southlake Carroll, Plano West

Top Hispanic scores: Southlake Carroll, HP, Coppell, Lovejoy, Grapevine

Top African-American scores: Flower Mound, Keller, Carroll, Frisco Centennial, Plano West

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by Walter Benjamin

Thanks! I can no longer edit my last post, but I am correcting this list to reflect that, as noted by Considering Coming Back, Collegiate in Cedar Hill is a charter. (It is listed as a "normal" school in the blog source below.) The list is corrected to leave off Collegiate, and add the #5 school for each group.

Garland, Lovejoy, Keller, Paschal... each of these is a "Top Five" school for some group or other by this standard.



Dallas, Texas Area School Information: 2012 SAT Scores Ranked by Demographic Group in Dallas-Fort Worth Area High Schools

Top five non-magnet, non-charter schools for SAT scores of each demographic subgroup:

Top Asian scores: Southlake Carroll, Plano West, Plano Senior, Coppell, Garland

Top white scores: HP, Fort Worth Paschal, Garland, Southlake Carroll, Plano West

Top Hispanic scores: Southlake Carroll, HP, Coppell, Lovejoy, Grapevine

Top African-American scores: Flower Mound, Keller, Carroll, Frisco Centennial, Plano West

Just having some fun with this in a totally non-scientific way, if I give each school 5 points for being first in a category, 4 for 2d, etc., then the total points by campus are:

1 Southlake Carroll 15 2 Highland Park 9 3 Plano West 6 4t Coppell 5 4t Flower Mound 5 6t Garland 4 6t Paschal 4 6t Keller 4 9 Plano Senior 3 10t Lovejoy 2 10t Centennial 2 12 Grapevine 1
Carroll is also the only school in the top 5 with all 4 groups. Coolio. I know demographics play a huge role and all, and their NMSF numbers remain a bit disappointing given the other metrics, but it's still nice to see.

[bencronin04]

Yea, HP doesn't have many...if any Asians or African Americans. I know when I graduated we had 0 Asians and 1 African American in my graduating class. I know it's become a little more diverse, but not much.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by bencronin04

Yea, HP doesn't have many...if any Asians or African Americans. I know when I graduated we had 0 Asians and 1 African American in my graduating class. I know it's become a little more diverse, but not much.

You had no Asians in your senior class? That's odd. We had 5 or 6 and I think I graduated a few years before you. I can think of at least a few in the classes on either side of mine.

The district is actually about 8% diverse now so in a senior class of 500, there are 40 students of color vs the <10 students per class from our eras. That is a pretty big change in 10-15ish years.Still barely any black students so no surprise HP didn't show up on that part of the list.

[Dr. Jake Oil]

In my kids elementary school classes at Armstrong there are definitely some Asians. I don't see any hispanics or blacks, though, I mean maybe one or two. But very few.

[HockDad]

Originally Posted by Dr. Jake Oil

In my kids elementary school classes at Armstrong there are definitely some Asians. I don't see any hispanics or blacks, though, I mean maybe one or two. But very few.

Said it once, and I will say it again. If you want to know the diversity at HP go visit Mustang Donuts. They have every club poster on the wall. You will find a little diversity in the academic clubs and music clubs, but the rest of the school looks pretty lily white.

[synchronicity]

As I've noted, Southlake has the rep of being lily-white, but IIRC Carroll Senior is currently ~18% non-white, and kidlet's elementary is 26% non-white. Not exactly a huge melting pot but more diverse than the stereotype.