Posted on 05/12/2015 5:14:18 PM PDT by grundle
1. School for the Talented and Gifted. Dallas, Texas.
For the fourth consecutive year, the School for the Talented and Gifted, a Dallas magnet school known as TAG, was ranked as the No. 1 public high school in the country.
BASIS Scottsdale in Arizona took second place in the national rankings for the second year in a row
3. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Alexandria, Virginia.
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia moved up one spot to No. 3
4. Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology. Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Jefferson traded places with Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology in Georgia, which dropped to fourth.
The School of Science and Engineering Magnet in Texas – located in the same facility in Dallas as TAG – climbed further up the top 10. It took the No. 5 spot after placing eighth in 2014.
Vaulting 17 places this year to No. 6 is Carnegie Vanguard High in Houston, Texas. Last year it ranked 23rd.
Academic Magnet High School in North Charleston, South Carolina, jumped to No. 7 from last year's 16th place.
University High School in Tolleson, Arizona, was another big mover, moving up 21 places to crack the top 10 this year at No. 8.
The ninth-place school, Lamar Academy in McAllen, is one of four Texas schools to place in the top 10. Last year it was unranked.
And rounding out the top 10 is Gilbert Classical Academy High School in Gilbert, one of three Arizona schools to place in the top 10.
U.S. News factored in how effectively schools educated their least-advantaged students – those of black, Hispanic and low-income backgrounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at homes.yahoo.com ...
If blacks and Hispanics were to lift themselves out of poverty through learning and work, who would vote for the dems? they CAN’T afford for them to do well in school. It’s heartbreaking.
Whenever the poor kids get a good charter school or vouchers, the alleged “liberals” work night and day to shut it down.
Texas
Arizona
Virginia
Georgia
Texas
Texas
South Carolina
Arizona
Texas
Arizona
That’s been true for a while. The Northeast never went in for charter schools or magnet schools in the same way as some Southern states have. In the cities sure, but in the suburbs there’s not much choice in public education. Lots of expensive private schools, though.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for academic rigor. Kids should be challenged to their ability, but they should be in traditional schools. Students of varying skills should interact with each other. All kids should mix in P.E. and lunch and art/band. The 10th grader who is taking honors trig and pre-calculus shouldn't be removed from everyone else. When kids compare schedules, they'll all think they're in the same boat. Our smart kid isn't treated any differently just because he has Mrs. Bennett for math (honors trig and pre-calculus) in 1st period. Really, how different is that from the struggling kid who has math (standard Algebra I) from Coach Boyer right before lunch?
The schools that are the very best are the ones with the very best students. The best students come from parents and families that value hard work and learning.
The schools on this list are mostly magnet schools that got to pick their students. No doubt, they have great teachers and provide their students with lots of opportunity. But it all starts with parents and families.
Seems to me that if a “least-advantaged” kid, they would benefit the most to be removed from the typical school environment.
Just to give an example:
My son’s SAT scores were higher than the average of every school in NC except for 3. One was a public school (Chapel Hill)
Academically, he was in the middle of the pack at his high school in Virginia.
Courses at Gilbert Classical Academy utilize the Socratic method of instruction and also are entirely honors or Advanced Placement courses, while all junior high students learn Latin.
I’m pretty familiar with one of those schools. These kids aren’t just smart. They’re way beyond smart. They are also extraordinarily disciplined and focused. As a former student at that school once told me, they are all “control freaks” who won’t let alcohol or drugs interfere with achieving their goals. They are challenged in every single class and all their classes are on an advanced or AP level. You just can’t do that in your local high school.
I would note that I never saw snobbery exhibited as it is at some more affluent public schools. Not once. Those kids had respect for each other and for their teachers. They were proud to go to that school, but honestly I never saw snobbery.
(did you mean to say h.s. should be one of the MOST egalitarian times?)
Latin is valuable. I was appalled to find that most high school no longer offer it as a language option.
BFL
Had mine in what happened to be a Blue Ribbon School, early grade.
When pressed for explanation, answers were vague, and the usual government school, ‘oh, you’re an independent thinker. We’ll have to keep our eye on you and your kids’...something to that effect.
They wanted me to sign off on my kindergartner using the internet in case the kids would come across ‘inappropriate material’.
After a few other very questionable occurrences on days one and two, was in principal’s office on day three with questions and the blank form.
When asked what kind of inappropriate material were the five year olds were going to encounter, I was told that they wouldn’t encounter anything inappropriate.
Back and forth on that, after, ‘why do kindergatners need to be on the internet?’... answer, ‘Because we are a Blue Ribbon School’
Sigh, we ended up with ‘what do the kids who don’t go on the internet do during internet times’.
Well they sit back in the classroom.
Under what supervision?
‘Well...ugh’
None. They don’t have this. Parents don’t opt out of this. The paper is just unquestionably signed by all parents. They don’t want their kids to be out of the crowd.
It’s a Blue Ribbon School.
No parent questioned any of this or the other things that were going on.
Teacher berated my five year old for not conforming.
Five year old came out of class, day four, not speaking to me about the events of the day.
That was the end of that. New day, Friday, new school. Many years later, success.
Did about the same thing next year for first grade, different school that all the parents told me was such a great school.
My parents’ toughest job, that they never quit, was telling us, not to do something just because everyone else does it, and the Dominican nuns, that everyone else hates, apparently, reinforced this daily.
The parents are the ones giving in to this.
For this article, I’ll have to search diligently to find out what the criteria are for what they say is a good school.
I can guarantee, it is not anything to do with classical education promoting parental involvement and a well rounded graduate who can operate in a complex world, thinking independently with logic and morality.
Making all schools equal is a magnet for mediocrity.
1965 - small town Georgia - 8th grade - prior to integration.
I never knew what the criteria was, but I was placed in
what was called at the time the “accelerated group”.
Which meant we had to take Latin I, Latin II, Algebra I, Algebra II, etc.
I hated it, and would rather have not had the pressure.
But I did not have a voice in the decision.
Later in life, I appreciated it.
50 years later I can still recite:
is, ea, id; eius, eius, eius; eum, eam, id.
Red states dominate, but the 5 Texas schools are in decidedly blue cities (Dallas, Houston, McAllen)
Inasmuch as govt's most important function is to protect the rights of its individual citizens, I want no part of it trying to promote "egalitarianism," other than that we are all equal in the eyes of the law.
Egalitarianism as a moral concept can be taught through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
4 Texas schools...
Lord knows we've wasted enough of it on the kids that don't give a crap.
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