Newsweek 2009 Top Public Schools

[Macintosh Sauce]

Originally Posted by Dangerfield

DFW (Dallas/Irving) has 4 in the top 25 out of a national pool of 1480; that's pretty amazing.

I would agree. That is why my wife and I are going to start our teaching careers in the Dallas area.

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by loves2read

speaking as someone who taught in school that has growing numbers of ethnic and income minorities--the school pays for any AP test a student needs to take if s/he has been in that AP class...so that money is not excuse not to take the test...
some students--because regular classes can be very rowdy--choose to take AP class and struggle or get lower grade just to avoid the atmosphere in non-AP classes...and they were not likely to want to take the AP test--now I think the district has some type of grade for taking the test, no matter what their score is--so if a student skips the AP test, s/he gets 0--not sure if it is weighted or not--to be averaged into regular classwork...

This is not the case in most school districts. I know some districts make the kids pay a token fee, and some make them pay the full $84. Even Jesuit, with it's $13k a year tuition, didn't pay AP fees for students until last year.

Also, some districts, like DISD, pay kids a certain amount of money for each passing AP score, so this encourages the students to take as many AP tests as possible to increase their winnings.

[BigDGeek]

Encouraging kids to take AP tests is a good thing but it can be a waste of money and time if the kids do not pass; they do not receive college credit for 1s and 2s, usually. But districts also do it to improve their ratings on surveys like this which I think are BS. It is one thing to take an AP test, it is another to achieve a 4 or a 5 on it. When I took AP tests I attempted the ones that I felt I had at least a decent chance of passing. I got a 3 or above on every one that I took but again, I did not attempt the ones that I felt I would fail (like Calculus). What would have been the point? If I had been a DISD student and the school had offered to pay the fee for me to attempt the Calculus exam I probably still would have refused because it would have dragged down my average AP test score.

[cincylifer]

The Newsweek ranking is just one of many things to use for judging schools. It certainly would not be at the top of my list as a tool to pick a school. Using the number of kids who took AP classes and not the percentage that passed is crazy. The whole purpose of taking an AP course is to get college credit, although it does raise your highschool gpa as well. Also it should be the percentage that passes with a 3 or higher, because you dont get credit for a 1 or 2. Also, these numbers are self reported, whose to say a school doesnt inflate their numbers to Newsweek?

[catluvr]

I don't know how legitimate this was. Where is University Park and Carroll (southlake)?

I don't particularly care for either school and have no ties to it, however, they are really good schools. Did I miss something?

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by catluvr

I don't know how legitimate this was. Where is University Park and Carroll (southlake)?

I don't particularly care for either school and have no ties to it, however, they are really good schools. Did I miss something?

University Park does not have its own high school. It is a part of Highland Park High School, which is #24 in the country.

Carroll was #563, ranked 16th in the Metroplex.

If you read the rest of the thread, you'll see that the methodology is based on only one thing: taking AP tests. That's it.

Carroll is a pretty good school, but the biggest complaint I've heard is that they largely teach to the TAKS test. I haven't heard anything extraordinary about Carroll to distinguish them academically. The large reason they are Exemplary is that they don't have to worry about getting any minority or underpriviledged students to pass the exams because there aren't very many there.

HP, by almost all accounts, is the best comprehensive high school in the state academically. Most peoples' problem with HP isn't in the schoolwork at all, but is in the school's atmosphere.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by cincylifer

The Newsweek ranking is just one of many things to use for judging schools. It certainly would not be at the top of my list as a tool to pick a school. Using the number of kids who took AP classes and not the percentage that passed is crazy. The whole purpose of taking an AP course is to get college credit, although it does raise your highschool gpa as well. Also it should be the percentage that passes with a 3 or higher, because you dont get credit for a 1 or 2. Also, these numbers are self reported, whose to say a school doesnt inflate their numbers to Newsweek?

I agree, I have always maintained these studies are only a guideline just like the ones that show XXX city to be the best for business or YYY area the most affordable. There are to many factors involved for any of these studies to be the total answer.

Nita

[loves2read]

HP is the same situation as Carroll-Southlake--
Southlake does have some few minority students but when you consider the education/income levels of their parents they are as WASP as anyone...
my district paid for students to take the AP test because many of them are economically hurting and take multiple AP classes--and have brothers/sisters in similar classes--so it would truly be a hit on their parents to fund that many AP tests...
we get good scores for the most part--just depends on the student--some of them are in AP classes because they don't like the rowdiness of regular classes but they really don't achieve excellence...