5 Prince George's County schools on Newsweek's Best Schools List (Bethesda: foreclosures, crimes)

[live_strong28]

It's great that the cream of the crop in these Prince Georges County schools are going to top colleges, but don't let the data distort the reality about these high school rankings.

Having kids take a lot of AP tests, even if the passing rate is atrocious, is not a good way to move up in the rankings, but that's how Jay Matthew's formula for the Challege Index works in ranking high schools. He just takes the total # of AP tests taken and divides that by the total # of seniors to spit out a number.

That index and ranking has nothing to do with academic excellence, but has everything to do with a figure that's absolutely controllable and distortable by a school's front office. If you don't believe me, check out this FAQ link.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/201139

Focus instead on the "Equity in Excellence" ratio. It tells you what percent of the seniors in the ranked schools actually had a passing grade on an AP test.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/201160/?s...nd&q=2009/ee/1

Flowers - no information provided
Bowie - 10% of kids passed one exam
Oxon Hill - 11% of kids passed one exam
High Point - 22% of kids passed one exam (High Point has 41% hispanic; I'm willing to bet a lot of them took AP Spanish)
Roosevelt - 30% of kids passed one exam (Magnet School)

Also, to compare the top magnet High Schools in the WDC area:

Thomas Jefferson (Virginia)
ranking: #1 HS in the US
Equity in Excellence: Off the charts

Montgomery Blair (Maryland - Mont. Cty) (& neighborhood)
ranking: #296
Equity in Excellence: 48%

Eleanor Roosevelt (Maryland - PG County) (& neighborhood)
ranking: #383
Equity in Excellence: 30%

BTW, does anyone know what the graduation rates are for High Point, Oxon Hill, Bowie, Flowers, Roosevelt, et all?

[PGC301]

Originally Posted by scrapper105

OP - Thanks for sharing the good news.

However, sharing this sort of information:

is exactly the sort of thing that perpetuates generalizations and stereotypes.

I wasn't trying to perpetuate anything. I was just stating that at the time that I was in high school, High Point didn't have a very good reputation, ie hearing from friends that went there about the constant fights, tension between the black and hispanic students, etc. Plus the fact that 99% of the students expelled from Roosevelt ended up either at High Point or Tall Oaks in Bowie. That's why I said I was suprised it made the list. Apparantly though, the school has made a turn for the better, so that's good news for the students that go there and the county in general.

Also, I wasn't speaking negatively about the county as a whole either. I've lived in PG county my whole life and don't plan on leaving. In case you didn't notice, I posted this this morning: //www.city-data.com/forum/maryl...gain-year.html

[PGC301]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

BTW, does anyone know what the graduation rates are for High Point, Oxon Hill, Bowie, Flowers, Roosevelt, et all?

As of 2007...

Bowie- 82.1%
Flowers- 76.6%
Roosevelt- 90.3%
High Point- 75.6%
Oxon Hill- 87.3%

[TechlawyerinPG]

Nice to hear the positive news. I truly think a bright determined student with good parents can get into great schools whether Ivy league (Ivy isn't the only path to success or the best fit for all students) or not even if they do not go to the top 10 schools of Fairfax and MontGom that everyone clammers to get into. Frankly I think you have better odds during the admissions process by attending more diverse schools versus the usual suspects that they get hundreds of applications from and everyone has a homogenous background. Kudos to all the students in our county who work hard and excel academically. I know neither I nor my husband went to the greatest ranked schools and we both are grad educated and did quite well for ourselves so I think that makes us a little less anxious about thinking our kids cannot succeed unless they go to the best schools of MontGo and Fairfax. Success comes in a lot of forms and it is not just Ivy schools and corporate jobs and big law firms (this is not everyones dream work and is often more about money than what you truly have a passion for)...sometimes Washintonians lose sight of that I think as I listen to my fellow legal colleagues and executives during the office chats.

Thanks for posting.

[ChocLot]

Originally Posted by PGC301

Oxon Hill is probably on there because of their Science & Tech program. I'm actually suprised that High Point was on there. I can't speak from personal experience since I didn't go there, but I don't normally hear very good things about that school. Back when I was in high school (at Roosevelt) people would call that school Gun Point.

That's key...you didn't go there, so I'm not really sure why you're surprised. If you didn't attend the school, it's impossible to really know what's going on, no?

[MrReason]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

It's great that the cream of the crop in these Prince Georges County schools are going to top colleges, but don't let the data distort the reality about these high school rankings.

Having kids take a lot of AP tests, even if the passing rate is atrocious, is not a good way to move up in the rankings, but that's how Jay Matthew's formula for the Challege Index works in ranking high schools. He just takes the total # of AP tests taken and divides that by the total # of seniors to spit out a number.

That index and ranking has nothing to do with academic excellence, but has everything to do with a figure that's absolutely controllable and distortable by a school's front office. If you don't believe me, check out this FAQ link.

Behind the Rankings: How We Build the List | Newsweek Best High Schools | Newsweek.com

Focus instead on the "Equity in Excellence" ratio. It tells you what percent of the seniors in the ranked schools actually had a passing grade on an AP test.

America's Top Public High Schools | Newsweek Best High Schools | Newsweek.com

Flowers - no information provided
Bowie - 10% of kids passed one exam
Oxon Hill - 11% of kids passed one exam
High Point - 22% of kids passed one exam (High Point has 41% hispanic; I'm willing to bet a lot of them took AP Spanish)
Roosevelt - 30% of kids passed one exam (Magnet School)

Also, to compare the top magnet High Schools in the WDC area:

Thomas Jefferson (Virginia)
ranking: #1 HS in the US
Equity in Excellence: Off the charts

Montgomery Blair (Maryland - Mont. Cty) (& neighborhood)
ranking: #296
Equity in Excellence: 48%

Eleanor Roosevelt (Maryland - PG County) (& neighborhood)
ranking: #383
Equity in Excellence: 30%

BTW, does anyone know what the graduation rates are for High Point, Oxon Hill, Bowie, Flowers, Roosevelt, et all?

Got to love it when you need to spin the grades for 4 or 5 students.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by MrReason

Got to love it when you need to spin the grades for 4 or 5 students.

There's no spinning...the data speaks for itself.

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

There's no spinning...the data speaks for itself.

I detect Jealousy in your Maryland hating Ranting......

Anyone with common Intelligence will Ignore your anti-Maryland Statements.........

[Chris-Kim]

The average number only shows a part of the whole picture. Many non-magnet public schools in Westchester County in NYS send more than 10 students to the Ivy League Colleges every year. On average, the public school system of MD is better than that of NY but no public highschools in MD send even 2 or 3 students to the Ivy.

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by $mk8795

I detect Jealousy in your Maryland hating Ranting......

Anyone with common Intelligence will Ignore your anti-Maryland Statements.........

lol Look who's talking...to me, both you and "live_strong28" have some serious issues. Talk about hypocrisy....lol