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Test scores do generally reflect a school district but not completely. Unfortunately, we only rate school districts on a quantitative scale rather than a qualitative/subjective scale.
Hypothetically rate a school district 1 through 10; 1 being awful and 10 being top notch. I honestly wouldn't mind if I were residing in an area with a school district of 8, 7, or even 6. If it was a 1 then I wouldn't be happy.
Majority of the top school districts on Long Island are in very affluent areas (e.g. Jericho, Syosset, Roslyn, East Williston, Great Neck, Manhasset, Garden City, Cold Spring Harbor, Half Hollow Hills, etc.). Most school districts are rated by their state test scores, regents exam scores, AP exam scores, SAT scores, and percentage of students going to top colleges. However, that doesn't mean the top school districts have better teachers and smarter students. I personally knew two people who attended East Williston Schools and they received high AP exam and SAT scores. The only reason they scored high was because their parents hired tutors for them. If you don't know this already, private AP exam and SAT tutors cost a fortune, and their families were able to afford it. Attending the top school district wasn't the reason they scored high, it was because they came from money.
I'd be interesting if school districts reported what percentage of their students who attend top colleges actually stay all four years. Where I am from, Garden City, a good number of students ended up dropping out of the top colleges they attended because their parents weren't there to hold their hand anymore. As for my friends who attended East Williston, one of them flunked out of college after his first year because all he did was party. Now his AP exam, SAT scores, and attending a top school district have become meaningless.
I find weird how Long Islanders will move to town based solely on the school district. Of course you don't want to be in the lowest scoring school district, but whatever happened to moving to a town because you actually liked it. Too many people on Long Island have moved to affluent areas because of the school districts, but they don't think twice about whether or not they actually like the town or if they will fit in.
As for low scoring school districts like Hempstead and Wyandanch, you have to remember that the core reason for their low scores is poverty.
I'd be interesting if school districts reported what percentage of their students who attend top colleges actually stay all four years. Where I am from, Garden City, a good number of students ended up dropping out of the top colleges they attended because their parents weren't there to hold their hand anymore. As for my friends who attended East Williston, one of them flunked out of college after his first year because all he did was party. Now his AP exam, SAT scores, and attending a top school district have become meaningless.
Interesting point - if someone does well on 1 test but finds the work later on to be difficult, it is very easy to drop out seeing they have many more years left. Consider that our engineering class had a lot of dropouts after freshman year, and it was most likely the coursework itself. It'd undoubtedly be more difficult for those who struggled just to get a high SAT score because of tutors prepping them for 1 test.
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I find weird how Long Islanders will move to town based solely on the school district. Of course you don't want to be in the lowest scoring school district, but whatever happened to moving to a town because you actually liked it. Too many people on Long Island have moved to affluent areas because of the school districts, but they don't think twice about whether or not they actually like the town or if they will fit in.
It's a good starting point to base it on the SD alone. It's hard to tell how someone really "fits in" to a town. Most don't have "centers" or a feeling of community, nor would they probably have the time to participate because of dual income necessities these days. Maybe you're talking about a town with a village? I graduated HS in this town and have come back to live for the SD for my kids, but I don't feel any sense of belonging other than the fact that I know these streets and the buildings inside out. The teachers are different and 95% of friends from HS are gone.
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As for low scoring school districts like Hempstead and Wyandanch, you have to remember that the core reason for their low scores is poverty.
Don't underestimate how important good parenting or peers can be. If all your friends are just hanging out at dunkin donuts after school, you're not very inclined to study much either. No, they may not be able to get tutors for their kids, but would the kids even care when they get them? Probably not, because of the way they're raised or influenced. Generalizing of course. You can imagine what a classroom at those schools are like. Only half paying attention and another half huddled in a group in the back. I've heard teachers mention how difficult it can be just to get their attention. It's easy to say it all starts at home (the parenting thing) but they need to be surrounded by people who care about their academic success, all the time, and there isn't enough of that to change anything anytime soon.
Nah, it's the amount of money parents have in their bank accounts. More money in their pockets equals more money they can give their kids so they can cheat on their SATs. Sorry, couldn't resist!
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Someone posted a list of the going-to-4-year-college-after-graduation rates of all the high schools on one of the numerous school district threads a while ago. Does anybody know what that thread was, or can maybe post a link to a website with that list?
Hi. I posted this here before, but it got deleted because I didn't know W***e T***h was an offensive term. So I've cleaned it up.
Before that, I posted this in the education forum, but I decided to post it here, as well, since school district is heavily prioritized when people re-locate on Long island.
It seems to me that that's the most common way to judge a school district. However, I don't think it is the best way to do so. For most of my life, I went to school in a rich, mostly white neighborhood-Massapequa, N.Y. I did fine in elementary school, but middle school was problematic, since I was a minority within the white race-red haired, so I got bullied a lot. Polish and people from New Jersey got bullied, too. Then they started bullying me because I wasn't rich (I was illegal-apt dwelling)! So, along with the expense of the studio apt ($1300), I moved to a slightly poorer and more diverse community-Lindenhurst, N.Y. I'm doing much better in school here (96 Avg.!), even though the test scores are lower, and making more friends. I'm not bullied at all-the bullying is towards more obvious minorities (I.e. Black, Mexican). Another thing-Lindenhurst's school population includes a lot of teens who don't want to learn and dress like they are just out of prison, so it's one of my main motives for being more successful, since I don't want to be like any of those slobs. In Massapequa, there was still some of those people but not a lot, so I didn't worry about trying to be better than everyone else. So here's my list of what defines how good a child will do good at school:
1. MOTIVATION (especislly at Home)-without my relatives accusing me for any grade below 90, who knows how I would be in school. It's also from how I do not want to be like my seperated parents living in illegal apts. Without motivation, there can easily be kids who fail miserabley in the best schools in the country, or those with motivation can succeed in the worst school districts.
2. ETHNICITY-it's pathetic, but it's true. A child will avoid racial bullying if s/he is either of the most populous ethnicity or the least (if they are extremely unique, they might be very interesting to other kids and could become very popular). However, if they are of an ethnicity that's uncommon but not extremely rare, it might get problematic.
3. SAFETY-this should be obvious.
4. VARIETY-where there's a lot of different clubs, there's a lot more individuality and it is easier to make friends.
5. ECONOMIC STATUS-again, pathetic but true. If there's more people of the child's economic status, it's easier to make friends.
I understand that test scores are a factor, but what I'm trying to say is that taking a glance at the rating for a school on greatschools.com isn't the best way to see how good a school district is. It really all depends on the child him/herself and how s/he was raised. Agree or disagree?
Sorry if I came off a bit snooty when talking about my grades!
Is Amityville SD really THAT bad that you think you grew up Rich lol.(Doesent N Amity go to Copiague anyway?)
Middle to Upper Middle yes....Rich, no.
FWIW theres some fairly big dollar areas in AV too.
Beautiful stuff.
Don't know about the others, but quoting another poster in a different topic,
"it's not a matter of giving the honor to second- and third- place, at least not in Jericho. In Jericho, there were 7 kids who got As across the board in every single class. There's no other way to do it but have 7 valedictorians.".
Note that some of these students have also shined in national competitions like the intel science, siemens etc, so they are truly bright. I tend to believe that these students were smart and worked really hard to get these straight As, so I doubt there is 'grade inflation' going on here.
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Grades are so inflated there are often multiple valedictorians in suburban schools. Or, you can’t make anyone feel “left out.” (Including in Jericho)
Is Amityville SD really THAT bad that you think you grew up Rich lol.(Doesent N Amity go to Copiague anyway?)
Middle to Upper Middle yes....Rich, no.
FWIW theres some fairly big dollar areas in AV too.
Beautiful stuff.
Crooks
PS
I think Lindys a damn good value.
Razor never said HE grew up rich.
Is the area rich? Some parts are certainly up there. Is RVC rich?
South of Merrick rd in the pequas across the board compares very closely to house prices/niceness in RVC and many North Shore towns. The bulk however is solid middle to upper middle, with a relatively low poverty rate. I'd agree with that.
I could see though how that is rich to an apt dweller, or say , someone living in Rocky Point?
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Originally Posted by Wes927
I can’t directly prove some of the things that are being asked of me—and that’s a fair enough hole in my argument. Despite my cheekiness, I respect the other side but I vehemently disagree with the “reformist” view of education, which I feel homogenizes, fails to recognize true excellence, is excessively egalitarian, and engages in too much “hand-holding.” (particularly in the older grades). Where are our future leaders going to come from if (many) suburban public schools continue with this “everyone wins; nobody loses” attitude ? (to quote another poster in another thread).
Nonetheless, I do know (and another poster acknowledged) that suburban schools do not have objective standards: and that anyone can take AP if they really want to. NO matter what happens in the class, this makes AP far too egalitarian, and eliminates it’s original purpose: to allow the truly extraordinary student go the extra mile.
Is it any wonder America is “falling behind” the rest of the world educationally? The countries ahead of us are the ones that still practice “reward for effort and ability” educational tracking, which allows the truly excellent to shine, even while providing universal education for all. This model was ruined by the 1960s reformers (who cut their teeth around 1900 with Dewey)---and we’re in quicksand. The reformers (nearly) always get their way, American education continues to lag behind—but instead of abandoning silly “reforms” we order more of the same. And we sink and sink.
Here’s some articles which I think may be of interest, whether you agree with my argument or not:
How suburban parents in Virginia want their children’s grades to be inflated:
Bottom line: I believe (many) suburban public schools neither cultivate nor reward true achievement, nor do they prepare students for the realities of the workplace. When a suburban public school teacher is pressured to “re-give a test “ because the class’ scores were too low, I would suggest to at least consider the ramifications on our social fabric, and our nation’s future.
I kinda see your POV and even agree with it to an extent. I think there should be a lite tracking program - not like NYC though where they pull the best from 90% of the schools, put them in magnet programs and leave the rest for dead. Maybe that's why so many parts of NYC are so shi4tty?? One other thing I noticed though is in the RVC example link you posted, detracking actually lifted ALL students' performance in that High School (Southside). Did you notice that?
I also noticed though that the top 10 percentile did not improve as much as the rest of the cohort. Do you think detracking was the cause of that? They did still improve though, across the board. Kinda interesting.. and that goes against logic IMO.
Is Amityville SD really THAT bad that you think you grew up Rich lol.(Doesent N Amity go to Copiague anyway?)
Middle to Upper Middle yes....Rich, no.
FWIW theres some fairly big dollar areas in AV too.
Beautiful stuff.
Crooks
PS
I think Lindys a damn good value.
I still can't beleive he is only in 9th grade, that makes him what..14?
Pretty impressive and types better then most of the adults on this site
To stay on topic -I second that part of Amityville are beautiful and also second that Lindenhurst is a very solid middle class town with good schools.
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