Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Generally HS' are easier to track on account of the much higher concentration of test scores, and students going on to 2 or 4 year colleges as a method of creating a ranking.
^yes, and I know parents who are willing to pay for test preparation and such also plays a role in that which is why I was thinking maybe elem/middle school is a better gauge of school performance vs. parental involvement
04-05-2011, 01:50 PM
grant516
n/a posts
If you have it narrowed down to a district, it's really best to ask teachers at the 6th, and 9th grade levels in that district that kind of question.
They get kids from each different ES or MS, and are greatly aware of the varying levels of talents, involvement, income levels, etc. that comes from within a particular district.
You cannot ask teachers within an ES because they are generally biased towards their own- a district will tell you all things are equal, and parents generally have their own set of rose colored glasses.
I think you'll find with most districts the schools are about equal. Seldom does anyone see transfers between buildings, more-so just hirings that are done to fill vacancies which changes a building up.
In the end, colleges will be looking at the High School the student graduated from, relationships it shares, alumni from that HS who attend the university, etc.
^yes, and I know parents who are willing to pay for test preparation and such also plays a role in that which is why I was thinking maybe elem/middle school is a better gauge of school performance vs. parental involvement
If you have one or two particular school districts in mind, how about contacting the local PTA? Maybe even attend a meeting? Seems to me you'd be able get get "inside information"
If you want to compare schools, all you need to do is get the socio-economic info for any one particular school and compare it with any other's info. You'll find that the incomes of the students' parents is the BEST indicator of a "good" school (ie. high achievement, low suspension rates, extracurricular offerings, etc.).
nystart.gov is the most comprehensive source (has demo, socioeco stats on each school too, but doesn't have NYS standardized results for elementary/middle school)
A couple of good sites for that are www.greatschools.org and newsday's lists are not bad, but always best to double check nystart's site.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
