NOVA brag - ALL Fairfax Cty. High Schools make Newsweek's List of Top HS in US (Manassas: real estate, credit)

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by normie

Now that says a lot, not only about the quality of the schools but about the way of life here and the priorities people have. Congrats to all you parents out there, this is your victory too.

Yes, well educated parents tend to care more about education. Since the county has twice as many college educated parents as is average in the US, one would expect they would emphasize education and college prep for their children. Add that to FCPS pushing AP and IB, requiring the test, and paying for them, it's hardly surprising that they make the top schools for participation in the AP and IB programs.

We need to ask the more important questions, like the pass rates of the various tests, and how many minorities are taking these courses and passing them. Are we improving on the pass rates? Jay Mathews doesn't even look at pass rates, just the number of students taking the tests. Most kids take the easiest AP tests. I might be impressed if more of our students were taking AP calculus BC or AP physics and scoring a 5. But we'll never know if more students are taking the higher level courses, or if more are passing them. If we have hundreds of kids taking AP art, or AP human geography, and not even passing the test, I'm not impressed.

[Borge]

Wow, talk about the dumbing down of America. Let's rank schools on the percentage of test takers instead of the scores they receive! Now everyone can feel warm and fuzzy regardless of how well they actually do.

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by JEB77

It's certainly good news, but this particular methodology, as I understand it, focuses on the percentages of students at the schools who take AP or IB exams at year-end. As such, it measures whether the students are being "challenged" to take the "advanced classes." On the other hand, I'm not sure that the methodology measures how well the students actually do on those exams, which some might consider somewhat relevant as well. So it may be premature (wishful thinking?) to think the debate over the quality of the local schools will be put to bed any time soon.

Apparently it was wishful thinking on my part but at least it seems to opened up more food for thought in a healthy debate.

[slim04]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

You'd have to be an idiot to argue with me that the NoVA schools are NOT excellent.

I think that all the FFX schools are excellent, but you are not an idiot if you don't agree.

The nationwide median SAT score for the past several years is about 1500. About 25% of FFX schools score right around that score, so under one measure (no matter how dubious it may be) those schools are merely average, not excellent.

But I know that those schools (i.e. Edison, Mt. Vernon, Annandale) have good facilities, quality faculty, and robust IB and AP programs. It's just they have more at risk children because of the demographics of where those schools are located (more poverty, section 8, english as a second language, children in unstable homes, children with parents with limited education, etc.). Having parents wanting to spend more money to move to neighborhoods where there are less of these issues doesn't make them idiots or elitists. If they want to move because they want to be around all rich and powerful people, then you're right, but even the best public schools in FFX County have plenty of minorities and middle class folks.

[Yankeesfan]

I've posted this before, it's worth reading (I tend to agree with Patrick Welsh):

Is AP Good for Everybody? It's Debatable (washingtonpost.com)

I hear from parents about schools pushing kids into AP just to raise their ranking. Not saying that FCPS schools are not good, but this is not the best methodology for measuring a school's quality.

[Fern435]

Top High Schools: The Public Elites | Newsweek Best High Schools | Newsweek.com

These schools are not on Newsweek's list because they do not include enough 'average' students. Most (or all) students in these schools take an admissions exam and score well enough to be offered admission.

FCPS's treatment of Thomas Jefferson H.S. for Science and Technology is a bit troubling. The school brings FCPS much favorable attention, yet FCPS seems to view TJ as a Cinderella child. From maintenance to bus service schedules, TJ is frequently last on the list.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by Fern435

Top High Schools: The Public Elites | Newsweek Best High Schools | Newsweek.com

These schools are not on Newsweek's list because they do not include enough 'average' students. Most (or all) students in these schools take an admissions exam and score well enough to be offered admission.

FCPS's treatment of Thomas Jefferson H.S. for Science and Technology is a bit troubling. The school brings FCPS much favorable attention, yet FCPS seems to view TJ as a Cinderella child. From maintenance to bus service schedules, TJ is frequently last on the list.

FCPS knows that students will flock to TJ regardless of the school's physical condition, in order to take the advanced courses and have TJ on their college applications. As it turns out, however, TJ is currently #2 on the list of high schools next to be renovated. If taxpayers continue to vote in favor of school bonds, a $100 million renovation of TJ will begin within the next few years (planning funds for TJ's renovation have already been appropriated but the actual construction funds haven't been raised yet).

West Springfield seems to be the high school where the parents are most upset about the current physical condition of the building.

[Fern435]

Originally Posted by JEB77

FCPS knows that students will flock to TJ regardless of the school's physical condition, in order to take the advanced courses and have TJ on their college applications. As it turns out, however, TJ is currently #2 on the list of high schools next to be renovated. If taxpayers continue to vote in favor of school bonds, a $100 million renovation of TJ will begin within the next few years (planning funds for TJ's renovation have already been appropriated but the actual construction funds haven't been raised yet).

West Springfield seems to be the high school where the parents are most upset about the current physical condition of the building.

Great news for TJ! Thank you for posting this!

We live in the West Springfield H.S. pyramid. It is a great high school, despite the politics that have kept it from being renovated over the years. West Springfield and TJ are the only schools that have not been renovated.

Instead of building a new middle school for South County, they should first renovate W. Springfield H.S. Then work on re-distributing students in northern Fairfax Co. in a more sensible manner. A few of the high school boundaries are strange up there.

[live_strong28]

Matthews's philosophy and approach to figuring out his technique to rank the schools is incredibly flawed.

He works for the Post, which owns Newsweek, so this gives him the podium to further push his flawed ranking system.

If anyone has ever had an exchange with him on the post online chat, you'd realize that he is also very unsure of whether his approach is correct, and constantly requests feedback on how it can be tweaked.

[VRE332]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

Matthews's philosophy and approach to figuring out his technique to rank the schools is incredibly flawed.

I think a good measure of school rankings should be something like a 10-year post ranking. An example would be % graduates employed, % graduation rate, whether student received a graduate degree. I can say for a fact my high school was not that great, but a lot of fellow bottom 50% students bloomed into some nice careers; wheres some "good test takers" ended up in rehab...etc.