Which schools in Huntsville/Madison area? (Tuscaloosa, Harvest: middle school, live in, zoning)

[mm42]

The failing grades for high schools in this case were due to graduation rates, not test scores.

[gsp4ever]

Originally Posted by mm42

The failing grades for high schools in this case were due to graduation rates, not test scores.

I'd love to know more information as to what is behind these reports. The Devil is always in the details.

Why do those select county schools have problems with graduation rate only and apparently in no other areas? What is the root cause of this?

Why do different schools (even in the same system) have different numbers of goals to achieve? For instance, Sparkman HS had 17 goals to achieve whereas New Hope HS only had 9. Huntsville HS had 13 goals to achieve while Grissom had 17. Bob Jones had 25 goals.

Just curious....

[mm42]

Originally Posted by gsp4ever

Why do those select county schools have problems with graduation rate only and apparently in no other areas? What is the root cause of this?

Why do different schools (even in the same system) have different numbers of goals to achieve? For instance, Sparkman HS had 17 goals to achieve whereas New Hope HS only had 9. Huntsville HS had 13 goals to achieve while Grissom had 17. Bob Jones had 25 goals.

Just curious....

The Buckhorn graduation rate was 86% - this is the reason for the failing grade. Don't know the cause.

The number of goals is a function of the ethnic and socioeconomic makeup of the student body. The most possible goals is 37. AAI means Additional Academic Indicators, which for high schools is the graduation rate. See chart below:

[pennquaker09]

Originally Posted by jdw123

Bob Jones and Grissom are both in the top 5% of schools in the US. Grissom ranks #552 and Bob Jones ranks #1102 out of ALL public schools in the nation (about 23,000). Here's the article:
The 1,200 Top U.S. Schools - Newsweek America's Best High Schools - MSNBC.com (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12532678/site/newsweek/ - broken link)
No other schools close to Huntsville/Madison were on the list so I would only consider those two.

Being accepted shouldn't be much of a problem in Huntsville/Madison. This area is full of transplants so you get lots of people that don't know anyone else and they end up sticking together and making friends that way. The local folk are very nice and accepting too.

That list is kind of bogus. The guy basically takes the number of AP/IB tests administered and divides by the number of seniors. Again, bogus.

With that said, in terms of normal (as in non magnet/selective admissions) public schools in Alabama, Grissom is arguably on par with Mountain Brook. I do know most of the students that excel in the sciences in Alabama tend to come from North Alabama (Grissom, Huntsville High, and Florence). They would always beat us in Science Olympiad and Gorgas, etc.

[acrossthepond]

I can relate somewhat to you as I raised my family in Heidelberg (12 years) and had four children graduate from Heidelberg American High School. Both schools mentioned will meet your needs and stack up good if not better than DODDS/DODEA. As for your kids fitting in, I do not think they will find this to be a big concern. Huntsville is pretty much a military town with the Army and NASA the largest employers. There are not a lot of military positions here but many of the civilian positions are held by retirees. Huntsville/Madison area is cosmopolitan with a decent amount of people moving in and out at any given time. BRAC will impact this area big time with thousands of new personnel arriving in the next couple of years. Therefore, you won't be the only ones coming.

Sounds like a great time for you to make the move, just get here before the rush.

[ionlife]

There's not going to be a "rush" but a trickle--a lot of people are not willing to make the move.

[macwell]

Sundays Huntsville Times Paper had a front story titled "Names on watch list as familiar as problems" concerning the recent Huntsville test results. This particular article is currently not accessible online at Al.com. Hopefully this will be online soon. Listed the beginning and few paragraphs from the Huntsville Times article below (complete article is not listed below).


August 9, 2009
The Huntsville Times
Names on watch list as familiar as problems
By Challen Stephens

Achievement levels in Huntsville City Schools have changed little despite 13 years of standardized testing and public warning labels. Annual scores, announced each summer with fanfare, have long told a tale of extremes in the city system. Results announced Monday were no different. The same handful of schools in north Huntsville shuffle on and off the state watch lists each year, while several schools in south Huntsville continue to post some of the best scores in Alabama.


Page A8 (story continues)
McCaulley sees some of the same divide within schools. She talks of the continued high accountability marks at Huntsville High. Dig further, she urged. 'Look at the black scores at Huntsville High'.

Beneath those all-clear accountability reports, Huntsville High didn't see enough black students pass the match section of the graduation exam this year. Yet, because of the calculation for the margin of error, Huntsville High was granted all passing marks. The same thing happened with reading scores among black students at Lee this year.

McCaulley, the only African-American member of the school board, isn't sure what to make of those results.


Page A8 (story continues)
In the 1990s, Butler never landed on alert or caution. But the Huntsville school board opened Columbia High on the west side in 2005. That school took many of Butler's military families and middle class subdivisions. Since then, Butler has been unable to break free of the watch lists.

[Charles]

Would lifting the desegregation order help solve some of these academic problems? Also, would lifting it help solve some of the problems with overcrowding at some schools (Huntsville and Grissom) while underutilized at other schools (Butler, Johnson)?

[macwell]

Times Special Report: Transfers draining Butler High, other north Huntsville schools | Breaking News from The Huntsville Times - al.com - al.com

Note - Complete article not listed below, follow link for entire article.

By Challen Stephens
September 23, 2009, 6:04AM


Each year more than 2,000 students in Huntsville request a new school across town. Like Deyara, the vast majority are black, most live in north Huntsville and most request a school on the south end of the city.

However, it is clear that transfer requests are not evenly distributed within the city or by race. This summer, 2,033 students requested a new school. And 1,625 of them were black. All six elementary schools where 85 percent or more of students are black lost students to transfers this year. Rolling Hills lost 52. West Mastin lake lost 39.



All four elementary schools where 85 percent of the students or more are white gained students this year. Blossomwood accepted 30, Mountain Gap accepted 18. The patterns have been the same for the last four years.
At Grissom High in south Huntsville, principal Tom Drake said he tries not to turn away any transfers. “We’ve doubled our number of buses this year from the north end of town,” said Drake of the federally mandated free rides for transfer students.


The federal No Child left Behind Act allows children to leave a school that fails to meet its testing goals. Both Johnson and Butler last year missed the goal for reading scores, as fewer than 86 percent of juniors were able to pass the reading section of the graduation exam.

But even if a school in Huntsville meets all its goals, students can still transfer.That’s because the system’s 39-year-old desegregation court order allows students to switch schools based on race. Black children can leave majority black schools, and non-black children can leave majority white schools.

[Bamachic80]

I noted in a report on the WAFF news just now that BJHS was the only high school in Madison and they explained that it was overcrowded. I'm relatively new to the area, but wanted to ask. I'm zoned for Columbia in my neighborhood. Is that not in Madison?