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you think that higher income folks would move from where they are satisfied, or send their kids to $10K+ private school,en masse, if the expectation came to become "spend 5 hours a week in the school and/or donate $2,000 per student to retain the high achievement"?
Problem was that new residents to the Smithfield schools were very unhappy and requesting transfers to other county schools. The board of Ed was granting the transfers and advocates in the Smithfield area didn't like that. They felt resources should be reallocated from higher achieving schools to the Smithfield schools and the transfer request denied. They felt the students wanting to leave were assets that helped improve the schools and that their parents were involved and helped fund raise.
Compared to their Johnston County counterparts, Smithfield-Selma schools struggle academically, have fewer experienced teachers and more low-income students. Also, more students transfer out of Smithfield-Selma schools, leaving behind a student body that has more minorities and more student suspensions than other Johnston schools.
That’s the takeaway from a report Concerned Citizens for Successful Schools compiled using data that it sued to obtain. The Johnston County schools eventually turned over the data to avoid a civil trial.
What CCSS is selling is its call to redraw school attendance boundaries to bring more wealthy and white children to Smithfield-Selma schools. The group has made its case in appearances before the school board and county commissioners and in the media, but we have yet to hear anyone voice support for busing white students to Smithfield and Selma from other Johnston communities.
Some schools leaders, like Superintendent Ross Renfrow, acknowledge the need for academic improvement in Smithfield and Selma schools, and Renfrow has said he’s willing to review student transfers, which Johnston schools often grant without regard to policy. But Renfrow has also said, in so many words, that he doesn’t care what schools Johnston students attend as long as they attend Johnston County schools. (That’s another way of saying he doesn’t want to lose the state dollars that follow children to the schools they attend.)
The report from Concerned Citizens for Successful Schools, or CCSS, shows that students are transferring out of Smithfield-Selma schools in large numbers. Renfrow said he’s mostly concerned with keeping students in Johnston County schools.
“Parents today have more choices when it comes to public education than they’ve ever had,” he said. “If a Johnston County parent is disillusioned with something that happened in Johnston County schools, they can go to a charter school or home school. I want kids affiliated with Johnston County schools.”
That might not happen if the schools routinely denied transfer requests, Renfrow said. “Yes, we may have lost that student in Smithfield, but we could have them leave the school system completely if we don’t let them choose,” he said.
Wouldn't it have just been easier if parents had read Great Schools before buying in the area? Many of my neighbors did and are happy!
Everyone is ragging on Greatschools, but they are far from the only site out there that ranks schools, reports test scores, etc. There is schooldigger, USNewandWorldReport, Newsweek, NCReportCards, niche, etc. Yes, the Internet has made it A LOT easier than ever to find this kind of information, but there's no going back with that now. If people want the information, they will find it - with greatschools or not.
I find Niche.com to be a terrific resource, giving a score that takes into consideration all of the following categories: Academics, Diversity, Teachers, College Readiness (for High Schools), Clubs, Safety, Sports, Administration, Food, Facilities... graded each of those and giving an overall score. In addition, it shows average SAT scores, graduation rates, most popular colleges that a high school's student body attends, etc... Also, many of the important criteria for colleges to give an understanding of the totality of the school. Greatschools was a good resource 8 years ago, but it is definitely NOT something I look at anymore.
The scores on GreatSchools have been messed up for weeks now. Also I don't see any 2016 numbers on there.
There are many other sites but since it's numbers are showing up on realtor.com and more I think it matters a lot.
Greatschools scores are pretty useless. Your best bet is taking a tour of the schools and getting a feel for them that way. I know we toured a ton of schools and one was fairly decent on greatschols and we hated it while another was like a 5 or something and we loved it. It's all so subjective.
Greatschools scores are pretty useless. Your best bet is taking a tour of the schools and getting a feel for them that way. I know we toured a ton of schools and one was fairly decent on greatschols and we hated it while another was like a 5 or something and we loved it. It's all so subjective.
You disregarded ALL data, parents comments, reviews, ratios of teachers to students, or any of 50 other factors that are available to you, and chose the school based on an hour or so walking around? Interesting approach.
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