Posted on 06/17/2007 10:06:06 AM PDT by Smartaleck
The Washington Post Challenge Index measures a public high school's effort to challenge its students....
(Excerpt) Read more at projects.washingtonpost.com ...
http://www.schools-data.com/schools/SPRUCE-CREEK-HS-Port-Orange.html
http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/fl/161
The WP notwithstanding, it doesn’t appear you know much about a couple of the schools you poopooed. The others probably rate equally well.
I went to TJ. It was great.
Ace’s old school (George Mason, VA) is listed 60. Great school.
“In other words, just how much a school challenges its students to take advanced course work.”
It is what it is. Schools that don’t have students who can achieve/master the challenges don’t offer them. Failures make them look bad. Likewise, the grad rate is included which implies they are at least passing the challenge.
The accompanying FAQ explains the hows and whys.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801440.html
Just a guess, you didn’t read it?
Obligatory graphic.
“Methinks”
What is your standard then?
“Velvet Jones School of Technology?”
Didn’t know that was a tech school?
How to be a .. is mo bout biology?
#5 Suncoast Community** Riviera Beach Fla
I find that one a little hard to swallow.
22 Florida schools in the first 100?
Hey, Ohio had 2.
Okey Dokey
Good for you !!!! TJ is a wonderful school and it actually prepares students for a rigorous college experience. My daughter went there a tad before your time, and we could not have asked for more. It wasn’t just the academic program. At least when she was there, students were respectful to each other and to the teachers, little to no drug or alcohol problems, no cop on campus, and a very active social program. I’d like to think it’s still like that.
This list IS kinda funny by eliminating schools in the TJ strata. I saw the list late last week and mentioned to a friend that only one school in FCPS didn’t make the list .. obviously she was shocked that it’d be TJ.
Keep up your good work at UVA.
Stanton and Paxon are magnets schools for gifted and advanced students. For a very long time, all of our other schools were crap. My daughter graduated Stanton and about half of her highschool classes counted for college credit.
Thank you for sharing.
#43 Lincoln Park Academy. My kid graduated with honors and it did a hell of a good job preparing him for college.
Proud of him and this school.
The other public schools in the area are deplorable though.
A couple of things I found amusing about this list. Most of the schools are in the South or Southwest. Only 30 are in the Northeast, Upper Midwest or on the West Coast. Also, Massachusetts, which is always crowing about the quality of its public schools, and whose per capita student spending is pushing $10,000 for high school, has the same number of schools on the list as Alabama, which is one of the lowest in per capita student spending. Each have just ONE school on the list.
No, you need to re-read your FAQ. ;) Graduation rates are NOT included in this “ranking.” The number of graduating seniors are (to normalize the number of students at each high school).
And you’re right in some respects in saying that a ranking “is what it is.” They do look at the number of students attaining a 3 or a 4 on the AP exam on the equity and excellence portion of their rankings (though a 3 is often not passing). Still, the significance is greatly diminished.
Why I take issue with that is that an AP exam is intended to qualify as a college level class. If a student didn’t score a passing grade on the national exam, they de facto did not master the challenge presented them.
I don’t care how a high school waters its grades down with fluff. Show me the results of the national exam, or the said rankings are useless.
The creators of these rankings would disagree with me in saying that even if a child didn’t receive passing scores on an AP exam that the experience prepared them for college. That not everyone started on an equal plain on the same playing field. I guess I’m just more results driven...
What about Miami Northwestern?
Are Asians Minorties or not?
For my information, can you tell me if the survey included any high schools outside of the U.S.A.? My understanding is that, for nearly a century, the finest high school in North America has been the University of Toronto Schools (UTS) in Canada. It was once a wholly dependent adjunct to the University of Toronto, having been created in 1910, but it is now semi-autonomous. Its student body was once almost totally WASP, but over the past 3 decades, there has been a gradual increase in the proportion of students of Chinese ancestry, who now comprise 40% of the total. Entry to UTS has always depended on competitive examination. As early as 1931, the top student at UTS, and indeed in the province of Ontario, was Alfred(o) Goggio, a native of Berkeley, CA, who was a Flight Surgeon throughout the Pacific theatre in WWII. He returned to a highly productive career in cardiology in the Bay area after the war..
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