[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Anchorhead1977

These lists drive me nuts for many reasons. But after reading the comments here about judging a school by how many go Ivy League or top 500, it amazes me that people don't realize that a student in Bridgeport may be Ivy League material but doesn't have the funds to go to an expensive place. That same scenario can easily happen in Seymour or Shelton.

Or maybe someone wants to major in education or social work. Why blow money on a $40,000/year private school when Southern CT State Univ has well regarded programs in those fields for less than half the cost of tuition and the starting salaries in either field aren't anywhere near six figures?

Most top schools will provide scholarships to poorer students especially those that come from poorer communities. They love to quote statistics on how many low income students from urban centers they admit. Jay

[Anchorhead1977]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Most top schools will provide scholarships to poorer students especially those that come from poorer communities. They love to quote statistics on how many low income students from urban centers they admit. Jay

In very poor areas, some kids will receive scholarships. But not all and many kids wouldn't even bother applying to those schools. Kids in middle class and upper middle class towns still can't afford to go to top tier schools thus apply to cheaper ones.

[Mike 75]

Originally Posted by Anchorhead1977

In very poor areas, some kids will receive scholarships. But not all and many kids wouldn't even bother applying to those schools. Kids in middle class and upper middle class towns still can't afford to go to top tier schools thus apply to cheaper ones.

What?

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by Anchorhead1977

In very poor areas, some kids will receive scholarships. But not all and many kids wouldn't even bother applying to those schools. Kids in middle class and upper middle class towns still can't afford to go to top tier schools thus apply to cheaper ones.

the problem isn't always the lack of scholarships or the expense. If you see a kid from Staples in Westport that's taken and passed 6, 7 or 8 AP classes and scored a 2,100 on his or her SAT, and was involved loads of extra-curricular activities in a school that places scores of kids in elite colleges every year, they have a huge advantage over somebody that scored 1,500 on their SAT and passed the one AP class they had available to them and been involved in only 1 or 2 activities due to budget cutbacks in the city, and whose previous valedictorians have gone to UConn, URI and UMass. It would be a huge leap for an Ivy League (or similar) school to take a chance on them and offer them $50,000+ a year in scholarship money to help them get there.

I'm not saying that it's right - we really need to do a lot more to improve inner city schools and the atmosphere in the Hartford, New Havens and Bridgeports of the world - so those kids can have those extra AP and advanced classes and so on,.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

I disagree with that, and studies have shown it to be true.

A more affluent town/school will likely offer a greater number of advanced and/or AP classes, have a better student/teacher ratio, a better ratio of computers to students, and also be much less likely to have violent incidents on school grounds. And, yes, students are often segregated by ability within the schools, so the advanced students are with other advanced students, but that is not always 100% and it's often not for every class (gym/phys ed, "life skills", music, arts, etc)

That's not to say you can't get an excellent education in a poor or lower middle class town, but you may have fewer options for your studies there. Example: I knew two young men in a small middle class town that had basically finished the high school's advanced math curriculum by the end of their junior year. The school gave them the option to go to a local community college to take the next level in math, but that class was in the evenings. One of the young men, though, was also the starting point guard on a team that was a runner up for the state championship the year before and this class would mean he would not be able to play basketball. If the class was available to him during school, he would not have had to make this choice. He chose to play basketball. Then, when he got to college as an engineering major, he found himself at least a year behind in math and a semester behind in science most of the other students in his major. So, he ended up getting frustrated at being so far behind and switched majors.

My comments were specific to my own area. Your comments are directed at an entirely different scenario.

To spell it out, a school with close to 100% of it's students from affluent families where they are almost all going to be on a college track is going to be more highly rated than a school where maybe 85% are affluent and the other 15% are less so but aren't exactly coming from gang infested households either.

That is not a proxy for the quality of education being provided.

Now in your example where the school don't have enough kids or money or whatnot to offer full AP and other services I completely agree.

[beerisgood02]

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

Newsweek has come out with their annual list of the top 500 high schools in the country. 15 schools from Connecticut made the list, led by Weston HS at #47. Pretty good overall in that we have about 1% of the country’s population, but 3% of the top high schools.

However, some odd omissions and inclusions on the list. East Granby, Haddam-Killingworth and South Windsor made the cut. But, New Canaan, Greenwich, Darien and Wilton were NOT on the list from Fairfield County, and neither were Trumbull, either high school in Fairfield, Masuk in Monroe, Joel Barlow for Easton/Redding, while elsewhere Guilford, Avon, Glastonbury, East Lyme, EO Smith in Storrs and a few other notables were also missing.

Entire list at the link – several magnet schools from NJ were in the top 10.

http://www.newsweek.com/high-schools...h-schools-2015

Leaving Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, and Scarsdale off this list is mindless.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by beerisgood02

Leaving Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, and Scarsdale off this list is mindless.

The methodology is crap, don't lose any sleep over it.