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I am in a good argument with people with Connecticut about how this list is flawed and that Yonkers High School do not deserve as many spots because "people move out of there because of their schools". Please read each of the comments closely and let the people of Connecticut know that one does not have to spend a gazillion dollars on each pupil (like Connecticut does) in order to have a good school.
Just to give you some background about me...I'm from one of Connecticut's poorest cities and I'm just fighting for the kids in Yonkers that made the list.
Yes, it IS amazing that Yonkers has bewildered everyone and sailed ahead of the list. It's definitely on the right track by rolling the IB into its format. What 's interesting is that many people who are familiar with Scarsdale's legendary rep for education may not be fully in-the-know or aware of what's behind the changes in that district's curriculum. Scarsdale HS is still a major think tank of a school but is in the final process of reformulating its junior-senior year agenda by transitioning out of the tried-and-true AP courses for the more....uh ..."out-of-the-box AT (Advance topic)" courses. Kind of like the way New Coke got introduced to a large group of skeptics.
It's too soon to say but Yonkers HS looks to be a dark horse with potential to win the triple crown someday. Now if they could only do something with our other neighboring school district - Mount Vernon...
I don't know how flawed the list is or what they base it on but thats a hell of a victory for the Yonkers School District of all places. Moxie said it right it, it really is amazing and speechless especially if you've had experience/knowledge of the YSD for the better part.
Brass city, as you know from the CT forum, I'm in your corner with this one. Nice to see that Newsweek uses some criteria that doesn't solely depend on how rich your district's citizens are.
Yonkers HS is a magnet school with the IB program as the only curriculum offered. It's a very different program than what is offered at a neighborhood school in a neighboring district. Comparing Yonkers HS to other magnet schools is a fair assessment, but comparing Yonkers HS (which is not the only high school in Yonkers) to Scarsdale is pointless because Scarsdale is not a magnet district. Yonkers HS is a very good school, but not every student in the City of Yonkers gets that same education, nor do they get to attend that particular school, regardless of address.
An apt compaison is to a private school that offers the same IB program, or a similar public magnet school, but not to a zoned district high school that has admission solely by residence. In no way does this undermine the achievement of that student body and faculty, but it's also not a situation of bettering the wealthier district that utilizes the same curriculum.
And, many people do avoid Yonkers because of the schools, since you are not guaranteed a slot at one of the good schools in the city's system, if they want to use the public school system. If they buy a house in the Scarsdale, Bronxville, or Pelham district, they are guaranteed admission to the high school in the respective district, all of which have histories of above average performance. It's great that Yonkers HS is getting recognition, but in no way does it mean that the entire City of Yonkers school system is suddenly better than Scarsdale.
Part of the issue is those towns you mention are small enough to have just one high school, whereas Yonkers has many and where you go depends on neighborhood (or more recently, by lottery vs. school choice). My hometown of Mt. Vernon (which borders Yonkers) until the 2000s had one high school for an entire city of 70000 (which is in only 5 sq. miles), which sounds good since the city is a very unique mix of very suburban and hyper-urban and thus gives a diverse environment, but it had mixed results (when I went in the 1980s there was a special "magnet-like" honors program within the school, but it was since dismantled as "elitist" and "segregation" (which I always found funny because although there were more white students in the "magnet" program than the "regular" program it was still very much "majority minority" (which the city was even then though to a less extent), so none of that there), also 3000 kids in one high school is a LOT). One problem I will agree with them on that point is that they put it the richest, remotest corner of town, which meant far more students had to be bused that normally would.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmwguydc
Yonkers HS is a magnet school with the IB program as the only curriculum offered. It's a very different program than what is offered at a neighborhood school in a neighboring district. Comparing Yonkers HS to other magnet schools is a fair assessment, but comparing Yonkers HS (which is not the only high school in Yonkers) to Scarsdale is pointless because Scarsdale is not a magnet district. Yonkers HS is a very good school, but not every student in the City of Yonkers gets that same education, nor do they get to attend that particular school, regardless of address.
An apt compaison is to a private school that offers the same IB program, or a similar public magnet school, but not to a zoned district high school that has admission solely by residence. In no way does this undermine the achievement of that student body and faculty, but it's also not a situation of bettering the wealthier district that utilizes the same curriculum.
And, many people do avoid Yonkers because of the schools, since you are not guaranteed a slot at one of the good schools in the city's system, if they want to use the public school system. If they buy a house in the Scarsdale, Bronxville, or Pelham district, they are guaranteed admission to the high school in the respective district, all of which have histories of above average performance. It's great that Yonkers HS is getting recognition, but in no way does it mean that the entire City of Yonkers school system is suddenly better than Scarsdale.
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