LI School District Ranks 2013 (Union, Plainview: 2014, buyers, university)
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It most likely is the result of some algorithm mashing together SAT/ACT scores, graduation rates, college acceptance rates, etc etc, with all of them weighted a certain way. It's as accurate as you believe these things to be indicators of a "good" district.
What I meant is that SAT scores and GPAs are poor indicators of future productivity and/or success. Obviously, someone with a 3.9 and 2350 SATs is more likely to be successful than a student with a 2.7 and and a 1710. But what about someone with a 3.6 and a 2190? Sure, the former might exceed the latter in the art of test taking, but that student is definitely not more likely to achieve success. The reason is because success depends on many many more factors including, but not limited to, creativity, social skills / networking, passion, persistence, innovation, etc, that no test could ever feasibly measure.
My main point is : #3 is most likely "better" than #33, but I'd be careful when saying #1 > #2 > #3 > #4 ...
Actually in Nassau there is a very big difference between #1 and #10. Nassau high schools, for the most part, have become college preparatory schools so the best metric to compare them is the quality of the colleges the graduates are accepted. Given this metric, Jericho, Manhasset and Great Neck far outshine North Shore, Garden City, Plainview, etc... Each school has on their website a profile detailing SAT and ACT scores, colleges accepted, AP stats, NMS stats, etc... According to their profiles Jericho and Manhasset are obviously the best high schools in Nassau.
Actually in Nassau there is a very big difference between #1 and #10. Nassau high schools, for the most part, have become college preparatory schools so the best metric to compare them is the quality of the colleges the graduates are accepted. Given this metric, Jericho, Manhasset and Great Neck far outshine North Shore, Garden City, Plainview, etc... Each school has on their website a profile detailing SAT and ACT scores, colleges accepted, AP stats, NMS stats, etc... According to their profiles Jericho and Manhasset are obviously the best high schools in Nassau.
The problem with using colleges to which students are accepted is that it relies partly on the financial ability of the parents when deciding colleges. Suppose we have two students of identical academic ability, Peter from Great Neck and Arnold from a not as highly considered district, such as North Shore. Now suppose they were both accepted to a reputable institution, say Columbia. Peter's family is most likely wealthier than Eric's and finances will probably not factor in with regards to his decision. Eric's family, however, most likely requires some financial aid to pay for the tuition, and he may turn down the offer depending on other acceptances and financial aid packages he receives.
Now I do not know where one can find all the college acceptance of the graduating class from each high school. I have this data for Garden City, but not the others. Do you mind sharing?
And here's another interesting note: perhaps a pressure-cooking and competitive atmosphere (as one may find in many top districts) is not the most conductive to future productivity and success?
Can someone tell me why Westbury SD performs so low when taxes are super high in some of its towns (like Old Westbury for example)? Thank you.
There is not and never has been a direct relationship between residential property taxes and student/school district performance. Even the school districts don't claim that.
It may be true that students in (relatively) lower taxed school districts outperform or underperform students in (relatively) higher taxed school districts and vice versa.
Residential property taxation rates are more directly determined by the commerical property base given the essential similarities of education costs across districts. Of course there are also issues such as district leadership, spending priorities, etc that determine a portion of the costs.
Individual student performance is more directly determined by home environment, community expectations, etc etc. Not by relative residential property tax rates.
(Nitpicker Alert: Of course there are exceptions and outliers to this and all observations in life)
Can someone tell me why Westbury SD performs so low when taxes are super high in some of its towns (like Old Westbury for example)? Thank you.
That's because New Cassel feeds into the Westbury SD. Not only does New Cassel have an extremely high percentage of non-english speaking students but it has tons of low-income students since it has the 2nd highest poverty rate of both counties of Long Island according to the 2010 Census. Not only do both of these groups tend to perform worse [on average] but they're extremely expensive since they require a lot of resources.
Westbury itself is great since there's a very cute downtown, lots of amenities nearby, wonderful diversity as well as having lots of pretty neighborhoods. It's a shame that they have to pay so much for taxes for such crappy schools in return. If I was in charge of Westbury then I would definitely dissolve the village and turn it into a hamlet to provide some tax relief b/c as long as the schools are shared with New Cassel then the entire school district will have crappy performance.
As for Old Westbury, I doubt the average person there sends their kids to the public schools. Thats a super-rich town so you know they're probably going to private schools.
Last edited by MemoryMaker; 02-09-2014 at 06:36 AM..
The problem with using colleges to which students are accepted is that it relies partly on the financial ability of the parents when deciding colleges. Suppose we have two students of identical academic ability, Peter from Great Neck and Arnold from a not as highly considered district, such as North Shore. Now suppose they were both accepted to a reputable institution, say Columbia. Peter's family is most likely wealthier than Eric's and finances will probably not factor in with regards to his decision. Eric's family, however, most likely requires some financial aid to pay for the tuition, and he may turn down the offer depending on other acceptances and financial aid packages he receives.
Now I do not know where one can find all the college acceptance of the graduating class from each high school. I have this data for Garden City, but not the others. Do you mind sharing?
And here's another interesting note: perhaps a pressure-cooking and competitive atmosphere (as one may find in many top districts) is not the most conductive to future productivity and success?
Didn't some of these districts get caught up in the SAT cheating scandal a few years ago too. How much of this is who can pay for the right tutors and have access to the testing materials no provided by the school. Disposable income can go a long way for giving a kid an advantage in life.
report cards are out for the 2012-2013. Wondering if Pequaman is still around to do the new list? I may take a crack at it if not.
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