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Old 04-14-2016, 08:12 PM
 
13,586 posts, read 13,064,724 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EA View Post
Magnet schools are better than the "good" schools.
Yes, way better. My youngest ended up with a 50k scholarship out of high school. It would have never happened without the magnet program.

My eldest went to Shadow Ridge which is a good school by Vegas standards, but the difference was very evident.
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Old 04-15-2016, 07:50 AM
 
37 posts, read 63,671 times
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Well it is a high school. Like I said only magnet high school are at the top, I wouldn't call shadow ridge "good". Do you have to start in elementary magnet to get to high school magnet? From the posts it seems like you would have to reapply for middle school and high school.
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Old 04-17-2016, 09:55 AM
 
1,384 posts, read 1,673,902 times
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My son didn't get in to any of the choices. I wish there was some merit based admission process!
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Old 04-17-2016, 06:08 PM
 
927 posts, read 878,642 times
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I'm not buying the "way better", "10x better", "better than the good schools" statements made by the magnet school cheerleaders.

Magnet schools have better student bodies, as everyone who attends the school wants to go there. This results in less "non-proficient" students on the state subject matter tests, i.e., the bottom 20% of students in the state. Public schools are hurt here as they have a significant population of students not interested in the educational process.

If you look at AP passing rates (which to me are far more indicative of school quality), we see a different story. Not all magnets do better on this test than the public schools in their areas. In fact, only one magnet school (Advanced Tech) does significantly better than the best public high school, Coronado HS.

SWCTA (17%) barely beats Desert Oasis (13%) while stealing all the motivated students from their feeders. They lose to Spring Valley (19%).
SECTA (13% passed AP exam) does far worse than Coronado HS (27%) or Green Valley HS (22%). ECTA (10%) is heralded as far better than Las Vegas HS (7%) when in reality, neither are doing a great job of preparing students for collegiate level work.

There are areas where the magnet is better than the public school, but even then, the gaps aren't nearly as big as they should be considering these schools are getting the motivated students and the unmotivated ones are all stuck at the public schools.

NWCTA (21%) vs Arbor View (7%)/Shadow Ridge (12%)
WCTA (26%) vs Palo Verde (15%)
VTCTA (28%) and ATA (51%) vs Western (4%)

I am still of the opinion that Clark's AMSAT program is the best education in the city.
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Old 04-17-2016, 10:03 PM
 
Location: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ̡
7,112 posts, read 13,129,618 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EA View Post
Magnet schools are better than the "good" schools.
This is correct. I learned this the hard way. Even the teachers in the valley will admit this.
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Old 04-17-2016, 10:08 PM
 
Location: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ̡
7,112 posts, read 13,129,618 times
Reputation: 3895
Quote:
Originally Posted by 08grad View Post
I'm not buying the "way better", "10x better", "better than the good schools" statements made by the magnet school cheerleaders.

Magnet schools have better student bodies, as everyone who attends the school wants to go there. This results in less "non-proficient" students on the state subject matter tests, i.e., the bottom 20% of students in the state. Public schools are hurt here as they have a significant population of students not interested in the educational process.

If you look at AP passing rates (which to me are far more indicative of school quality), we see a different story. Not all magnets do better on this test than the public schools in their areas. In fact, only one magnet school (Advanced Tech) does significantly better than the best public high school, Coronado HS.

SWCTA (17%) barely beats Desert Oasis (13%) while stealing all the motivated students from their feeders. They lose to Spring Valley (19%).
SECTA (13% passed AP exam) does far worse than Coronado HS (27%) or Green Valley HS (22%). ECTA (10%) is heralded as far better than Las Vegas HS (7%) when in reality, neither are doing a great job of preparing students for collegiate level work.

There are areas where the magnet is better than the public school, but even then, the gaps aren't nearly as big as they should be considering these schools are getting the motivated students and the unmotivated ones are all stuck at the public schools.

NWCTA (21%) vs Arbor View (7%)/Shadow Ridge (12%)
WCTA (26%) vs Palo Verde (15%)
VTCTA (28%) and ATA (51%) vs Western (4%)

I am still of the opinion that Clark's AMSAT program is the best education in the city.
When my oldest daughter was in a non magnet school elementary, her class size peaked at 37 students. In magnet, it peaked at 27. That alone equals "way better, 10x better and better than the good schools".
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Old 04-17-2016, 10:16 PM
EA
 
Location: Las Vegas
6,791 posts, read 7,090,759 times
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I've been in my kid's schools many times (open house and parent teacher meetings etc) and it's basic. My daughter gets a little special treatment since she makes them all look good with her reading and test scores. The education is lacking though.
Just the tour of the magnet school was enough to tell me it's superior. They actually do science experiments, and learn to grow plants, and have an actual music class with instruments. I'd like to get my daughter into a magnet school next year.
I'm so glad my son gets to go.
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Old 04-17-2016, 10:22 PM
 
Location: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ̡
7,112 posts, read 13,129,618 times
Reputation: 3895
Quote:
Originally Posted by EA View Post
I've been in my kid's schools many times (open house and parent teacher meetings etc) and it's basic. My daughter gets a little special treatment since she makes them all look good with her reading and test scores. The education is lacking though.
Just the tour of the magnet school was enough to tell me it's superior. They actually do science experiments, and learn to grow plants, and have an actual music class with instruments. I'd like to get my daughter into a magnet school next year.
I'm so glad my son gets to go.
Even though I don't think it's fair, I think the magnet schools operate off of a much higher budget. Since my daughter's inception she has taken field trips to Sea World, San Diego Symphony and Disney Land. Before magnet, it was the pic farm and the local library.
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Old 04-18-2016, 12:51 AM
 
927 posts, read 878,642 times
Reputation: 1269
Quote:
Originally Posted by von949 View Post
When my oldest daughter was in a non magnet school elementary, her class size peaked at 37 students. In magnet, it peaked at 27. That alone equals "way better, 10x better and better than the good schools".
The average class size of the public high schools in CCSD is 23.9 students. The average class size of the career and technical academies in CCSD is 21.5 students. They are indeed smaller, but usually not to the extent of 10 students.

Districts usually write in their contracts that teachers can have up to 37 students in a classroom in case of emergency situations which they can't find a credentialed teacher. My class sizes this year are 27, 24, 21, 16, and 24 students.
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Old 04-19-2016, 04:05 PM
 
294 posts, read 335,739 times
Reputation: 437
Quote:
Originally Posted by winter-rabbit View Post
My son didn't get in to any of the choices. I wish there was some merit based admission process!
If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.

I hope you're son gets the education he needs for a better future. There's always the option of homeschooling or online K-12s. But really, the main advantage of being smart in a low-ranked school is your university application stands out
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