The Best Tampa High School (St. Petersburg, Lutz: credit, best schools, college)

[crabbylion]

I pretty much grew up in Tampa but graduated in 1997. For those that know that was the last year of the "originals".

King HS
Hillsborough HS
Plant HS
Chamberlain HS
Leto HS

...and a handful of others.

Later that year a whole bunch of new ones started popping up.
You know...

Sickles HS
Durant HS
etc, etc, etc,

Please don't make me recall them In your opinion, which of the new ones would the considered "the best" overall. If one of the originals can be thrown in there, fine. Your opinions are greatly appreciated.

[annaegel]

Some of the ones you mentioned are IB schools. If you are lucky enough to get into the IB program, the school is great. Otherwise it is a mediocre school.

Here is a website of the public high schools in Tampa and how they rate: Tampa Public High Schools

[crabbylion]

Hey, thanks for the source. Looks good already!

[ferret111]

Most of the "originals" are located within Tampa's city limits, and, with the exception of Plant, have many of the problems associated with urban schools. That's not to say that they should be avoided, they just have issues that need to be resolved, especially when it comes to graduation rates and test scores.

All of the newer schools are suburban and almost all of them are decent to excellent, with the exception of some of the newest ones like Spoto and Lennard, both of which seem (last I heard) to be having some problems.

The three best schools in the district are probably Wharton, Newsome, and Plant.

[bentlebee]

My son was accepted in the IB program but we declined since it is 1 hour drive to and from school every day and with the traffic and road work on St RD 54 it might take even longer.

We decided to have him take AP courses and do Dual Enrollment at WCHS and we are very happy with the choice we all made.

IMO it all comes down to the abilities of the child and how your child behaves amongst others. Of course it also comes down if your kid knows to avoid the losers that are every where.

The principle at my sons elementary school once said "if you hang around losers you will become a loser" and that made a good impression on all of us.

[crabbylion]

Back in my day Hillsborough High was considered the best because of the IB program, athletic, and JROTC programs. Seems like they fell to the back with all these new schools. Are there at least 5 IB programs in Hillsborough county nowadays?

[annaegel]

Originally Posted by crabbylion

Back in my day Hillsborough High was considered the best because of the IB program, athletic, and JROTC programs. Seems like they fell to the back with all these new schools. Are there at least 5 IB programs in Hillsborough county nowadays?

I think there are only 4 schools that offer IB in Hillsborough County.

[ferret111]

Hillsborough, King, and Robinson Highs, plus Williams Middle.

[TampaKaren]

A lot has changed since you graduated. The public schools all test now based on a set of minimum criteria known as FCAT as defined by the State of Florida. It dominates much of the classroom time and it's controversial whether it works or not. According to the FCAT testing results for 2008-2009 (2009-2010 isn't available yet), the high schools with the highest FCAT scores were 1) Newsome, 2) Sickles, and 3) Plant. You can do additional research on the following website: Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT).

P.S. I expect the new Steinbrenner high school in Lutz will also be a high(er) performer.

[Iroh]

Originally Posted by ferret111

Hillsborough, King, and Robinson Highs, plus Williams Middle.

The 4th IB HS program is the new one at Strawberry Crest.

New flood of IB applicants expected at Strawberry Crest High - St. Petersburg Times

IB consideration is useless if your child is already in 8th grade or older. It's too late and you'll have to find another option. So I'm summarizing the IB process for all the many parents that search these forums for advice. My opinions are based on one thing - I have a kid that got into IB.

IB admission is competitive and needs to be applied for around January of 8th Grade. It's a program for students that have the desire and ability to do a tremendous amount of work and critical thinking. It's more like starting college after 2 years. Everyone may not be a super brilliant genius, but absolutely every one of the kids is very bright.

To get into IB, the criteria changed a little from past years, but basically you need to be an A or high B middle school student for 7th grade and first semester 8th grade, do well on the 8th grade FCAT writing practice test (the practice test, not the real FCAT writing test in the spring), and the final part is FCAT scores for 6th and 7th grade. If the student is from out of state or a private school, they substitute other national normed tests they may have taken (such as the Stanford Achievement Test) and an in-house IB writing sample. All those are combined and a score calculated. In theory, the top 140+ scores get into IB. The number of students applying will depend on the target IB program, for example Hills. HS gets a little more than King IB due to the large area Hills. HS covers.

The part some parents don't realize is that the GPA calculation is weighted. And it should be because otherwise a student taking easy courses will beat out a student taking much harder courses, but got a B in one of them. So that's where the middle school you attend becomes a huge factor.

Williams IB Middle Magnet is a middle school magnet program that does the IB program for 6th-8th graders. I have no direct experience with the school, but I believe it can be a good spring board into one of the HS IB programs most likely King IB since Williams is in the same area. TCMS (Terrace Community Middle School) also places a nice number of students into King IB. TCMS is a charter school (excellent and highly recommended) and Williams is a Magnet -- they are both 100% lottery to get in. On the one hand a lottery gives a wider group of kids a chance at a great program. But the flip side is that some super strong students can't get a seat, while a less capable one does.

At TCMS, all 8th graders take the full credit high school honors courses for Science and Math. Some children can't keep up, but they have measures in place to adjust the course for those children so they do not get HS credit, but a higher grade marked as a regular middle school course. It's better to set the bar high since most will work hard to meet it, but also have a small safety net for those that cannot. And for the IB type of candidates, they demonstrate that they can ace one or two honors level high school courses in 8th grade and it bumps up their IB admission scores.

So even if your school does not automatically put your child in Algebra and other advanced classes during 8th grade, if your child is smart and doing very well, then you have to push to make sure the school places him on an advanced track and take those 6th and 7th grade FCAT scores very seriously.

The IB program is excellent and unique in many ways. It's considered highly competitive, but I'm from NYC and 4-1 applicant ratios are NOTHING compared to what we're used to seeing. Some top programs in NYC are more like 3,500 applicants for 150 spots. Literally, the jockeying for position begins in Pre-K.

Tips:
-- King KAPS (King Advanced Placement Scholars) is an AP Course based program for strong students. Depending on your child, this may be a better option for them and it is certainly college preparatory. I believe many use it as a safety in case IB rejects them. A strong student can achieve much in either program so I hate to frame it as a "lesser" option. I think Chamberlain has a similar CAPS program. I know nothing about it.

-- If the middle school does not help, use the Florida Virtual school and have you child take Algebra, Science, etc through them on top of the regular work the "bad" middle school is handing out. A hardship of time and energy on your family, but worth it to some.

-- DO NOT assume the middle school has everything under control. Take control of your own future. Our local middle school is an "A" school and it was a mess by our standards. Luckily we found TCMS. Don't be afraid to pull your kid out of 6th grade if you get a line on a much better option. By 7th grade the damage is done.

-- Pasco Country has two IB schools. So if looking in Pasco (such as LOL or WC), the admissions criteria is very similar to what I described above. International Baccalaureate