How VA schools rank nationally (Virginia Beach, Norfolk: appointed, neighborhoods, high schools)

[5stones]

This is from Newsweek. It's an independant study done by a guy from the Washington POst. It's an interesting perspective and a new source other than Standardized Test to rate and rank schools.

Ranking of top 1200 PUBLIC US High Schools

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/site/newsweek/ (broken link)

here are the top 700 you can go to the site to see the rest.

Rank School Location State Index Subs. Lunch E & E
12 H-B Woodlawn Arlington Va. 5.948 13.000 69.000
30 Clarke County * Berryville Va. 4.730 13.200 74.000
31 Washington-Lee * Arlington Va. 4.723 37.000 52.200
56 Yorktown Arlington Va. 4.127 17.000 62.300
60 George Mason * Falls Church Va. 4.060 7.000 71.000
62 W. T. Woodson Fairfax Va. 3.941 6.000 57.600
69 Langley McLean Va. 3.716 1.000 72.000
71 Warwick * Newport News Va. 3.666 45.000 19.500
73 McLean McLean Va. 3.605 6.000 67.000
96 Lake Braddock Burke Va. 3.397 10.000 53.600
99 Oakton Vienna Va. 3.328 9.000 54.200
107 Centreville Clifton Va. 3.264 15.000 48.500
125 Chantilly Chantilly Va. 3.070 11.000 47.600
133 James Madison Vienna Va. 2.969 5.000 50.400
149 Fairfax Fairfax Va. 2.888 37.000 32.300
150 Robinson Secondary * Fairfax Va. 2.882 8.000 55.000
153 Herndon Herndon Va. 2.866 18.000 49.300
163 West Springfield Springfield Va. 2.805 9.000 52.300
170 Westfield Chantilly Va. 2.773 11.000 48.700
179 Falls Church Falls Church Va. 2.702 37.000 32.300
183 Potomac Falls Potomac Falls Va. 2.670 9.000 36.700
187 West Potomac Fairfax Va. 2.657 30.000 42.400
200 Marshall * Fairfax Va. 2.628 17.000 53.400
202 Princess Anne * Virginia Beach Va. 2.620 19.100 31.000
232 Stone Bridge Ashburn Va. 2.510 36.700 50.900
247 Loudoun Valley Purcellville Va. 2.442 4.000 44.100
261 John Handley Winchester Va. 2.390 31.000 32.700
298 Hylton Woodbridge Va. 2.306 17.000 23.500
305 Wakefield Arlington Va. 2.294 54.000 31.600
316 Blacksburg Blacksburg Va. 2.257 16.700 n/a
317 Menchville Newport News Va. 2.256 31.000 28.800
373 Loudoun County Leesburg Va. 2.137 10.000 34.600
400 Heritage Leesburg Va. 2.068 15.000 36.000
442 Western Albemarle Crozet Va. 1.972 7.000 47.800
444 Stuart * Fairfax Va. 1.969 49.000 40.700
475 Broad Run Ashburn Va. 1.921 8.000 32.000
530 Stonewall Jackson * Manassas Va. 1.828 26.000 38.000
551 Osbourn Park Manassas Va. 1.798 10.000 39.100
564 Gar-Field * Woodbridge Va. 1.776 35.000 29.000
573 E C Glass Lynchburg Va. 1.765 32.700 27.000
581 Monticello Charlottesville Va. 1.759 20.800 26.100
590 T.C. Williams Alexandria Va. 1.742 n/a n/a
613 Ocean Lakes Virginia Beach Va. 1.719 17.000 22.000
643 Woodside Newport News Va. 1.680 34.000 19.700
662 Maury Norfolk Va. 1.648 43.000 27.300
670 Edison * Fairfax Va. 1.630 27.000 37.200
674 Brentsville Nokesville Va. 1.626 4.000 21.500
683 Tabb Yorktown Va. 1.613 8.000 29.100
694 Park View Sterling Va. 1.598 27.000 31.100

Va schools did very well Fairfax County in particular. There are over 27,000 public HS in the US.

I was surprized to see Alexandria schools as low as they are. (comparatively)
Pleasantly surprized to see how well Leesburg HS did and Loudoun county in general.

[SmerkyGrl]

While I applaud the schools...I have to say I've never been a fan of "rankings" because I always question their accuracy. I've seen idiots who come out of Carnegie Mellon University thinking they're all that but then bomb basic common knowledge things and then I've seen community college graduates become CEOs of medium to large size companies. In the end, imo, its the parents and not the school.

[5stones]

While I agree with you that parents enviroment etc.. have a huge influence.

When moving to a new area and searching for schools, neighborhoods etc... you have to go by something! And most of the sites use state standardized test as a formate to "rank" schools. And you can have a great school in a lower income area that turns out kids who do well in college etc... but maybe only 50% pass the state tests so that school gets a lower "rank". This guy uses the AP courses, IB classes and Cambridge tests to determine how "prepared" the graduating students are for college. More "affluent" areas will do better on the standardized tests but alot of those kids aren't prepared for the rigors of college classes.

Anyway...I found it interesting and a great pat on the back to VA for having so many schools in the 1200!!

[The Dissenter]

it's great to see a school out of Newport News at #71 Warwick and Menchville #317. It's great to see that NN schools are doing SOMETHING right. Also, Hampton High made the list albeit a little lower down like 1228. Good job for them, suprised not to see Bethel or Kecoughtan on the list (considered the better high schools in Hampton) I'm a little disappointed to see TC Williams (my alma mater) a little bit down. But it is still a great high school despite half the ratings. outranked my so called "great" old school Tabb.

[scotty2987]

yes, but I feel the rankings are slightly inaccurate because they do it based on the number of kids taking tests, not passing them. I know TC's test passage rate was 39% one of those years (2005 i think).

[FatherOf2]

I expected Fairfax and some of the nice areas around Va. Beach to dominate the rankings, and they did ... but interesting to see Prince William County get 5 of its 10(?) high schools in the ranking.

No Mills Godwin (Richmond/Henrico) or did I just miss it?

[jballa]

Not a fan of the Washington Posts, and somewhat amazing not to see any Roanoke co. schools so I'll just blame it on thier liberalism. LOL

[Yankeesfan]

This is Jay Mathews's controversial rating system which is based on how many students in a school TAKE AP classes, with no attention paid to how many kids actually PASS the AP exam at the end. As a result, schools are placing tremendous pressure on kids to take AP classes, regardless of whether they want them or are ready for them. (I have heard this firsthand from parents in Fairfax County schools.) Some complaints have been reported in the press that AP courses are being dumbed-down for this reason. (After all, by this ranking, it doesn't matter whether the kids actually PASS the AP exam.) Some schools are dropping honors-level classes in order to push kids into AP classes. Personally, I think it's more beneficial for kids to master the work in an honors class than to struggle and squeak by in an AP class. But Mathews thinks it is more important for kids to be exposed to college-level work even though they are still in high school, than to succeed well in a class geared to their level. I'm not arguing that AP classes aren't important and valuable for many students, just that their need is being skewed and over-emphasized by this simplistic ranking system. So keep that in mind ... just some food for thought!

[wrightflyer]

First, Yankeesfan, you have it right. The number one problem with this ranking system is how its determined.

Now, in terms of secondary experiances (meaning I heard from someone at these schools), that it's not what it's cracked up to be. Take Edison (670) for example. An Air Force Col. who recently moved here was talking about his son's experience at Edison and he said it wasn't anywhere near as nice as somebody with no local experience may be led to believe by a poll such as Mathews'. Especially when compared to other schools their children have attended (they move every 2-3 years) including the one here in suburban Dayton, Edison did not do any better if not worse in providing an environment that was safe and suitable to the education of their kids. They talked of gangs and income disparities. Then they looked around here and found that the quality of life was much better to that in Fairfax Co. Now granted, this is one story, but it seems to hold ground when I read about NoVa's gang problems and MS-13.

Of course Fairfax Co. schools are going to do well. They have the money to provide the ways and means for their students to do well on any ranking system, be it teaching to the letter for stadardized tests or being able to pay the $83 dollars to take one AP Exam. This is not saying there are some top performing high schools in Fairfax. The point is, when has a college ever made it the deciding factor that Jimmy attended Oakton where Johnny only went to TC or insert name of well performing school that's not on the list here (assuming they were equal in grades and activities).

In my opinion, I am happy to have my children attend a school that prepares students for life before, during, and after college, even though its not even on Mathew's list. Heck, we lived in Dale City and would have been at Hylton, but I don't feel bad. I'd rather stay away from what seems to be a fight between the Joneses of the block and have a better commute, mortgage, and quality of life, even if that means sending my kids to a school that didn't make this list.

At least that's the appearance to one Ohioan.

[meMesa]

what about schools in Spotsylvania, Stafford and Fredericksburg areas? How do they do? any parents with kids in these areas?

List or not - what kind of schools are in Stafford and Fredericksburg areas?