Public High School rankings in America.

[JohnR]

I realize that this may or may not be an accurate assessment of the true ranking of Public High Schools in the US but looking through the top 1200, I was genuinely suprised by the relative lack of new England schools represented on this list. 2 RI schools, Prov. Classical in the 800s, E.G. in the 1000s; 8 or 9 Mass Schools - Boston Latin being the highest of all NE schools at 76, but a smattering of Dover, Deluxbury, Weston, Wellesly, and a handful of others in the top 1200, a handful of CT schools - though W. Hartford had 2, 1 Maine - Yarmouth, 1 NH school, and no VT schools.

We always hear the reputation about the Northeast having top schools but there were a lot more NY, NJ, FL, TX, PA, CA, GA, VA, MD, schools then the northeast.

Ineteresting if somewhat disturbing...



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087...100&year=2007&

[PaulS]

I just saw that earlier. Calif had loads. But I think that it is more to do with the depth of good schools. Think about how many good colleges there are in Boston vs. other states. The midwest and south may have 1-2 very good schools in each state but after their top tier, their schools suck.

[Flaptail]

It is a known fact that the better and more up to date facilities a school district has the school testing and graduating rates improve as well.

The states you mentioned have all embarked on massive school renovation/addition/new building projects which incorporate the latest technologies for learning and environmental controls.

The Los Angeles Unified School district is currently in the midst of a 4.1 Billion dollar school facility upgrade program. Thats a lot of money and down south in Florida and other states as well have made the committment.

Though we might live in one of the wealthiest areas of the country when it comes to state and municipal funding for school infrastructure and learning we are dismally underfunded.

This has a direct impact on student achievement.

[Nebe]

new england certianly has the best schools. St. Georges, tabor, Bishop hendriken, Andover, Choate..... If you got the cash to put your kids there, then they will get a great education.

[slow eddie]

unfortunatly, too many people are really starting to feel the crunch now. i see it all the time in my work. the upper middle class on down are starting to hurt, and cannot afford to send their kids to u.r.i., never mind a private school. what really sucks is the money that is spent on the public school system, and this is the result. 39 school districts for a state the size of a regular county in most states. a complete waste of money. consolldate, bulk buying, the list goes on. my .02

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Nebe

new england certianly has the best schools. St. Georges, tabor, Bishop hendriken, Andover, Choate..... If you got the cash to put your kids there, then they will get a great education.

The same applies to the non-public elite schools elsewhere ~ Sadly, these will not necessarily be options for a lot of us...

I will say, my experience with DODS schools was excellent in hind sight

[Nebe]

the No Child Left behind Act is killing the schools as well. Programs for the gifted are cut to provide more money for the masses of kids who have had thier brians turned inside out by too much TV, Video games, etc... Or at lest thats the impression i get when i listen to highshcool aged kids.

[EricW]

In the second to last column "subs lunch" I hope that means how many types of subs they serve for lunch. I would want to go to preuss USCD. Looks like they have 100. Yum! A lot of the others don't seem to measure up to well. Wish I had that kind of choice as a kid....

[BW from AZ]

Originally Posted by Nebe

the No Child Left behind Act is killing the schools as well. Programs for the gifted are cut to provide more money for the masses of kids who have had thier brians turned inside out by too much TV, Video games, etc... Or at lest thats the impression i get when i listen to highshcool aged kids.

Out here we got it bad. From don’t ask don’t tell (legal resident) To treating every kid the same, just cookie cutter education. If you can’t fit their plans its tuff. Kids can’t follow their own path. they have to take classes to pass the aims test and what is required for collage entrance, not much left for the individual anymore. They have killed the love for learning and it shows in the schools scores. The kids can graduate from collage and not know how to get through life on their own. Who decided the system was broke and fixed it? BW

[fishpoopoo]

Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors.

An objective and easy to calculate measure. I'm not sure it's a very GOOD measure, since simply taking an AP or IB test doesn't mean you're going to pass it or do well on it.

[Rappin Mikey]

I can't believe Holyoke Public Schools didn't make the list.

[nightprowler]

my high school was number 150