Dallas Public Schools Has Number One and Number Two Top Public Schools in the Country (Fort Worth: neighborhood, top school)

[loves2read]

reopening a thread that is over a year old...why...

and frankly people have to drive over 50 miles to shop in Paris because that IS the only place to shop if you want more than Wal-Mart

[Grainraiser]

Hey Danger247 just a FYI. My wife is from Paris and graduated from Paris high.

[Lakewooder]

My father was from Paris and graduated from Paris High (the old beautiful one near 'the square' which was demolished).

[eastdallasson]

so wait are we talking about DISD or paris because i was about to get fired up. I left the fray in 2007 with a lot of family still in it. DISD is a strange strange beast though, as is the city of Dallas in general. I've had innumerable arguments about this with some very well informed people and its pretty much mind boggling. DISD shoulders much of the blame but lets face it- the district has been plagued by corruption mostly throughout the 90s, has a huge population base and a student base that is mostly middle to low income and minority. Its facing budgetary crises, a fallout from interested minority parents even low-income who have begun sending there kids to local church run and charter schools. It seems to me the district has been following the same trend as the US in some senses- the better schools are getting better, the worse are getting worse. Refer to the TAG magnet and SEM and then to the predicament of Spruce and the potential predicament looming for several more area high schools. although maybe i shouldn't re-incite the discussion

[DWong]

People, I would imagine that most of you are very intelligent and smart who visit this website and know a little about how statistics are derived and making such statements are completely false:

The criteria for this was simple: Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2007 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 5 percent of public schools measured this way.

All this means is how many kids take the AP exam. Well, if any of you know much about it, it doesn't take anything except $$$$$ to take these and these top schools are money heavy, most private. Don't be fooled either that Dallas ISD had one of the top 8 highest drop out rates in the NATION, only behind places like Detriot and Miami for the largest 50 school districts. So I hate to break the news, but this criteria does nothing to show how good a school is.. only how many can take an AP exam with a lower enrollment of student Ratio.... DUH PEOPLE!

[eastdallasson]

that is how it is measured, but it doesn't really take anything away from the achievement of the schools. There are some very smart and very well educated kids coming out of those schools regardless of how the list was compiled. But for you to point out that it can be misleading is important. All these stats are misleading. How could Woodrow be on the top list (though not particularly high) and yet also rated Academically Unacceptable by the state multiple years? All of these stats are misleading but they are also based on truths even if they're incomplete truths. haha sorry for that turn of phrase

[Lakewooder]

It's Academically Acceptable -- was AU only one or two years. A subgroup (Woodrow has all of them) missed by a few points.

If you are familiar with the school you know why the AP program can be ranked one of the top in the nation while at the bottom you have kids who just transferred in, don't care and can't wait to drop out. It only takes a few of them to tank the TAKS ranking. They can get free tutoring and special Saturday sessions at school -- but how do you make them do it? Meanwhile the Mock Trial team finishes second in Texas and goes on to Harvard. In fall of 2010, you will have to live in the district to attend the school - transfers in will be limited to those wanting to be in the International Baccalaureate program. So the school will probably lose 300-400 low performers and import nearly the same number of high performers. Also the number lost to private schools is declining every year. It was once estimated that about 75 in each class were lost to them.

[eastdallasson]

as an 07 graduate of woodrow who participated heavily in the AP program i know a lot about the school. if i say more lakewooder if you too are familiar with woodrow i may give up my anonymity! i love the school and would love to make my children second generation Wildcats. 13 years in DISD did me a lot of good in so far as it gave me a very rounded view of the world, one that many of my peers at college have no access to. It definitely has its problems though and even good parents put their children at a certain risk by sending their kids to DISD schools. It is also important to note, however, that the risks are just as existent and ingrained sending your kid to suburban schools and rural schools, they are just different and perhaps less apparent, especially to the parents

[eastdallasson]

also trying to purge woodrow of its low performers is not the answer to DISD's problems. and i don't know the stats on transfers and their dropout frequency but i can assure you not all of Woodrow's problems are transferring in.

i also love the mock trial shoutouts!

[DWong]

Originally Posted by eastdallasson

that is how it is measured, but it doesn't really take anything away from the achievement of the schools. There are some very smart and very well educated kids coming out of those schools regardless of how the list was compiled. But for you to point out that it can be misleading is important. All these stats are misleading. How could Woodrow be on the top list (though not particularly high) and yet also rated Academically Unacceptable by the state multiple years? All of these stats are misleading but they are also based on truths even if they're incomplete truths. haha sorry for that turn of phrase

Yes it does take away from the achievement! People, if I get a whole bunch of rich kids who attend my high end private school who pay 300-400 dollars to take 3-5 of these tests ... is that what makes my school the best?
REALLY!

It says nothing on how they do either! No REAL results, just pay, show up and take the test... PERIOD!

Better test, yet flawed but only real relevence is the SAT score, bc it's generally the same test EVERYWHERE. yes you can study for it, etc etc, but this is a JOKe!