[kort677]

Originally Posted by HockeyMom72

Why are they lumping public schools, in with Private, Prep, and even, schools for the GIFTED????

what do you mean? this is a list of PUBLIC schools, no privates or prep

[sunrico90]

[quote=121804;763938]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18754326/site/newsweek/ (broken link)



Sunrico- are you involved in education? No, but I do believe that education is positive for our youth development. Sometimes we forget that they are our future and we must get them prepare to lead. Our public schools are the foundation for their future.... regarless of ratings.. Teachers do their best and many times we don't praise the true giants in our community....

[riveree]

Originally Posted by HockeyMom72

Why are they lumping public schools, in with Private, Prep, and even, schools for the GIFTED????

Stanton College Prep and Paxon, two of the Jacksonville schools listed, are public , if that clarifies anything.

We have a few different types of public schools here, some are connected to our Magnet program.

We even have a public school for the arts, Douglas Anderson.....like in the movie "Fame".

I don't see any of the well known Jacksonville private schools listed. I only gave it a cursory look, but every Jax & St. Aug school listed looks to be public (but yes, some are for "gifted" students only).

[kort677]

Originally Posted by riveree

I don't see any of the well known Jacksonville private schools listed. I only gave it a cursory look, but every Jax & St. Aug school listed looks to be public (but yes, some are for "gifted" students only).

they are not listed because it is a list of PUBLIC schools. read the fine print

[Rhett_Butler]

Hmmm, strange..... Then why is it when they go state by state and rank the schools by STATE that Florida always seems to end up below 40th???

Something doesn't jive with what you're attempting to say here.

[backtofla]

va has got to be number 1.

[Retiredcoach]

First, I admit that I know little about the schools in Florida either good or bad. What I do know is that statistics can be interpreted in many ways (usually to suit an alternative agenda). It amazes me in Pennsylvania, for example, when PSSA scores are used to equate quality education. The tests have not been deemed as educationally valid or reliable ( they have not been proven to test what they purport to test). Yet, this single test is utilized as a barometer for school funding and the lone tool for measuring quality??? education. Now, much more instructional time is devoted to teaching to this test in the schools. Would you believe that Pennsylvania schools have improved dramatically because scores are rising everywhere on this statistically invalid/unreliable test? Are the students really learning more, or are they just learning how to answer the questions on this test?

Does it surprise anyone the New England states (Mass., R.I, Conn.,Vermont)... states that provide our Ivy League schools with a large % of their students ...missing from the top fifty? Yet, Florida places 7 in the top 25? If you believe that the data collected by this researcher is valid, there is a bridge in Brooklyn that I would like to sell you.

This test researcher claims that the more students in a school who take A/P and other tests give evidence that the school is among "America's top high schools". Huh? His research has nothing to do with quality of education, only that more kids in certain schools take these select tests. He then formulates far-reaching, off-the wall conclusion. A ridiculous piece of "research"... don't believe all that you read!!

[watsont3]

I have been following these Florida threads for many months hoping to get information prior to our move. It seems to me that every time someone posts some positive news about Florida, a number of posters have to come out and minimize the good news and try to discredit it.
Florida has 7 schools in the top 25. That is good news. We should be trying to see what we can do to bring more schools to that level of excellence. Instead of calling the schools in Florida "awful", let's get off of our duffs and see what we can do to make all the schools better. Even bad schools have good students, teachers and administrators. Let's work with them to change the perception that the schools are awful. While we are doing that, let's congratulate the schools near the top of that list for their ability to make education work.

[121804]

It's becoming a waste of time to post anything on this forum anymore.

As the author clearly stated, "best" is intepreted differently as many posters on here have the right to say; it's just again laced with the typical find what can be wrong so that one can say it is wrong.

The author definitely has an agenda. What author does not? Also, it is for Newsweek, which also has an agenda. I should have posted "Florida has 7 of the top 25 with a biased author who uses questionable methods". To be a good educator, one has to think out of the box & make people question things. Too many in the general public just haven't figure this out as read in the posts. The general public will just blame the state, boards of education & teachers for all the problems due to their lack of knowledge & commitment to learning the system. If you read what the author is saying, you see what he is doing. Did anyone see that some of these schools are in horrible neighborhoods in some states & that they had kids going to college & performing well?

There are good schools out there in any state that are not recognized for the good they do & sometimes different authors use different methods. But this is the "Florida" forum, so extreme views come into full effect, to probably include my own.

[Rhett_Butler]

Originally Posted by watsont3

I have been following these Florida threads for many months hoping to get information prior to our move. It seems to me that every time someone posts some positive news about Florida, a number of posters have to come out and minimize the good news and try to discredit it.
Florida has 7 schools in the top 25. That is good news. We should be trying to see what we can do to bring more schools to that level of excellence. Instead of calling the schools in Florida "awful", let's get off of our duffs and see what we can do to make all the schools better. Even bad schools have good students, teachers and administrators. Let's work with them to change the perception that the schools are awful. While we are doing that, let's congratulate the schools near the top of that list for their ability to make education work.

Sure, congrats to those schools in Florida for being recognized.....

Again, let's make something clear. Not here to rain on your parade. I asked a SIMPLE question. I don't think anyone ever doubted that there are some good High Schools in Florida. I've worked in some of them. My question was how does the far reaching implication that "Hey, see!!! Florida schools are actually good." jive with national state-by-state rankings that suggest that Florida's education system is in the bottom 25% in the nation???