The Question of Schools.. (Yonkers, New Rochelle: school districts, pros and cons, living in)
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There is always so much talk, questioning, and prognostication regarding the schools in Westchester. Always some sort of ratings or performance metrics being stood up to judge their capability. I realize that when analyzed individually, some will likely shine a bit brighter than others - this is the case with anything. However, am I wrong in my belief that even the "lower performing" Westchester schools are probably top tier when compared to the national average? Are we living in a sort of county vacuum, where the schools are all relatively exceptional, but all we can do is compare them against each other. I feel like there is WAY to much emphasis placed on all of this.
I will admit there is a lot I dont know about all of the schools here, but outside of maybe a few outliers, I would think that you really cant go wrong with Westchester schools.
I would love to here feedback from county residents about this.
Whether its Bronxville, Scarsdale, Chappaqua,.. or Mamaroneck, Hastings, Bedford, Lewisboro... I cant imagine there is really a bad option out there.
I don't think there's a bad option out of the ones you mentioned, but I think there are bad options for sure. Yonkers, Mount Vernon, parts of New Rochelle, Portchester......
You raise a good point. There definitely is a different standard used to measure schools in WC county. As for the lower tier ones being among the best in the country, I don't know where that's necessarily true, but how do you measure how good a school is? I think different schools have different pros and cons and will be good for different kinds of kids. I don't think it's necessarily true for example that Bronxville SD is any better than WP OR NR SDs, just unbelievably different. Obviously at the extreme low end (eg. MVSD), there are some issues, but these schools are very much an exception rather than a rule. One thing I have always noticed is that WC schools seem to outperform what you'd expect given the population. For example, PCSD is certainly well below the natonal average economically and in terms of parental education, but performs right at about the national average. This is also seen in more middle class districts like RNSD, which performs at the level that would be expected from a very upscale SD. Does this mean that WC schools are better? Who knows, maybe they just teach more to the test.
TL;DR I'd pick a school based on features rather than test scores
I don't think there's a bad option out of the ones you mentioned, but I think there are bad options for sure. Yonkers, Mount Vernon, parts of New Rochelle, Portchester......
Even with the problems these schools have they still perform better than some national averages. I would not even group PCSD with the rest of these more urban districts either.
Even with the problems these schools have they still perform better than some national averages. I would not even group PCSD with the rest of these more urban districts either.
If you look at the graph that what_the_what posted, the districts I mentioned all perform under grade level with the exception of New Rochelle, which is just around average nationally.
I think that some of the lower-performing school districts are "lower" because these performance measures are averages. If you have a district with kids from many different socio-economic levels the averages are obviously going to be lower than in a district where almost all of the kids are well off. It doesn't mean that the teachers are better or that the programs are better. Some people deliberately move to diverse school districts because they want their kids to have the experience of knowing children who are from different backgrounds. I am saying this as someone who raised my children in Tarrytown, and had a good experience with the schools here.
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