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Funny thing about these lists,
If your town is high on the list a lot of gloating goes on. If your town is in the middle ground then it's not that important to be in the top. ( probably most feel this way) But if your town is on the lower half of the list then the information, must be flawed, the magazine is catering to advertisers,somebody must be getting paid off, getting good grades is not important.
Look on the bright side, we could have Florida ratings
It's quite possible for the mean to be well below the median.This is more or less what happens with crime numbers (though in the opposite direction) -- the median crime rate for any given town is much lower than the average.
This is often the case when you have "bad" numbers in more densely populated areas.
Just how different are the 99 or so schools in between ?
If you have two towns whose SAT scores are close, those other numbers will be a tie breaker.
A "place" isn't a meaningful unit of measurement. As I pointed out, the difference between the top and bottom of that range might not be all that great. Question: if you ranked them by SAT scores alone, how wide would the inter-quartile range be ? I suspect you'd get something like 1400-1450.
As I pointed out, it would actually gain a few rank points if the list were by SAT score alone, so the way I see it your objection is largely based on a false premise.
One of the problems with the list is that no doubt the authors approached the problem in much the same way you did -- they use their preconceived ideas to validate their method rather than the other way around.
You make some good points, particularly about place not being a meaningful unit of measurement. Where I think we are missing each other is that I am not focusing on SAT score alone as a meaningful determination and neither did NJ Monthly, yet you continue to focus on that as if it is the only point I am arguing.
If you look across all the statistics that they used and that I posted it becomes obvious that in the case of Gloucester vs. Kingsway every objective measurement outside of class size favors Kingsway by a large margin, yet it is ranked lower.
You are absolutely correct that I went into the data attempting to validate my statement and I do believe I validated it at least in the original case of Gloucester vs. Kingsway. You do raise some good points, but you have failed to state that I was "wrong" or that my logic implied from the dataset is flawed.
It remains that a school with very good academic performance and achievement, equal to those "ranked" higher on the list was ranked below a school that has very poor academic achievement. If the sole reason for this was the class size, then so be it.
Interesting that the top 1/3 are in North Jersey, the middle 1/3 in Central NJ and the bottom 1/3 in South Jersey.
Of course they're are exceptions but by and large good schools are where the money is.
Where the money is that not meant their school get the most money, it just mean the people there pay more in tax. If you have look at your tax bill, most of the money didn't stay in the district. My bill (cranford), only about 30% stay in the town.
It's silly to buy the crappiest house in Millburn for "the education" when your child will probably perform just as well in ANY school district (save places like Newark, Trenton, etc.).
That's one way of looking at it, but I think you miss the point.
Many factors contribute to academic success in a HS environment--from peers, to AP classes, to guidance counselors, to teacher quality, etc etc. You can take a broad view such as yours but you are assuming all resources are equal across a great many high schools in NJ and that is just not supported by the facts....
Millburn HS is a MACHINE when it comes to delivering college entrances---last year 50+ kids went to top ivys--and the great deal of other kids went to top schools. Kids in Millburn have more AP choices than anywhere--the faculty is tenured and incredible and the quality of academic demands often exceeds what kids find in college.
Their special education program is fantastic so that even kids with learning differences have opportunities in that school system not available elsewhere.
The network found within the HS is incredible--academically, socioeconomically and business wise. As an example, last year the school had a sign on the lawn congratulating a class for a successful bake sale; the next week, they were congratulating a 2009 Grammy winner! The kids coming out of Millburn are mostly focused, polite, and incredibly self assured. The kids are fresh faced and motivated and it's a terrific environment for the kind of kid who is looking to be part of the intellectual elite. That is not necessarily the right place for ME, mind you, but being a resident here and having lived in other places, I cannot deny that this town churns out academics.
I am not saying it's the best school for every child but I think it is incredibly naive to assume that you have somehow figured out something that others haven't. People who move to Millburn typically do a great deal of research--tours of schools etc etc. Trust me when I tell you that Millburn is an impressive place to visit--even if your other visits include private schools and/or other fine area HSs.
The reality is that Millburn draw the education crowd long before the rankings--and of course, that fueled the phenomenon even further. God knows there are prettier towns, or towns closer on the trains, or more affordable--yet people are STILL moving into Millburn, real estate prices are holding and even going up..... So many people can't be wrong.
It is NOT a perfect place--and it is not right for everyone--but if you are academically minded and looking to surround your student with like minded academics and resources, I can't think of a better town.
I personally would never buy the crappiest house in Millburn just to have my kid go to Millburn highschool/schools. For one, they may feel very inferior to other kids, because the majority of Millburn is extremely wealthy. My best friend grew up in Millburn and she absolutely hated it. She grew up in a tiny house in Millburn and was made fun of by the rich and popular girls, because she had a small house. She was traumatized. I, on the other hand went to Columbia highschool in Maplewood and absolutely loved it!!! Columbia highschool is not known to measure up to Millburn academically, but guess what? we had a beautiful house and I was proud of that!!! My family was considered to be the big fish in the sea and that is something I felt was important(unfortunately) especially as a teenager. Not, for nothing but my girlfriend and I both ended up in the same profession(medical profession) and we are doing extremely well financially for ourselves.
P.S......We have Lauryn Hill, Lisa Shue, Andrew Shue and Zach Braff and many other celebrities coming out of Columbia Highschool!
I don't know, but these people aren't really considered the smartest folks around
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If your town is in the middle ground then it's not that important to be in the top. ( probably most feel this way)
But if your town is on the lower half of the list then the information, must be flawed, the magazine is catering to advertisers,somebody must be getting paid off, getting good grades is not important.
