Marshall High School - Lowest Graduation Rate vs. TJ, Langley, McLean, Woodson, Madison, Oakton

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:When you say 61% of Marshall students participate in IB, you mean that 61% take at least one IP course before they graduate? That does not surprise me, given the demographics of the neighborhoods that feed into Marshall and the fact that few, if any, AP courses are offered there.

From what I've read, the percentage of Marshall students actually pursuing or receiving IB diplomas is much lower, and that is true at other IB schools in FCPS as well. I find that interesting, since IB appears to be one of the programs potentially on the chopping block as FCPS considers budget cuts.

Yes, I'm using US News definition. That's actually an extremely high percentage by national standards. Only in FCPS does it seem low. Typically, around 20% of Marshall graduates earn IB diplomas. Again, extraordinarily high by national standards. I'm sure rates would be higher at McLean, etc, if there were an AP analogue. The whole point here is that quibbling over where Marshall ranks among FCPS high schools really loses perspective on how deep the quality of schools in the county are. It's not dumping on McLean, etc. to the contrary, it's acknowledging that they're great schools and saying that the fact that's Marshall's stats are lower doesn't mean Marshall is a Bad school. To the contrary, it's performance is outstanding.

They won't cut IB. There's no reason to. Transitioning to IB from AP involves costs, but after the transition is done an IB program is no more expensive. Most of the proposed cuts are dramatics by the administration to coerce more money from the county.

Nobody has said anything to the contrary. Can you elaborate on your point?

Interestingly, if you sort the US News rankings by "college readiness," which US News measures as the percentage of students both taking and passing one or more AP or IB exams, Marshall falls from 11th in the county to 15th, which places it in the bottom half of high schools in FCPS, whereas Langley, Woodson, McLean, Oakton and Madison remain the top schools behind TJ.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools-109481?sort=college_readiness_index&sortdir=desc

Nobody has said anything to the contrary. The point is that all the schools in FCPS are great. Nobody has shat on those schools. Why do you keep coming back and shitting on Marshall. Do you disagree that FCPS schools are among the top in the nation? Someone makeS that point, and you reply with "Marshall's not as good as McLean, et al." Nobody has said otherwise, so it's kind of tacky.

Wasn't there another thread recently where a Marshall poster was boasting about Marshall's performance on SOLs? I didn't go back and look for it, but my recollection is that the focus wasn't on Marshall doing well but on Marshall doing better than other schools except TJ. It was definitely obnoxious and I'm not surprised that it prompted a response. And you seem to be assuming all those responses came from people in McLean, which may say more about you than it does about McLean.



Either you pay only sporadic attention to threads on this forum, or you mischaracterize what Marshall posters tend to say here. If you have a hard time with the fact that others point out how Marshall compares to other schools, perhaps you should just let the thread die.

What did they say that offends you?

+1. I keep reading these allusions to Marshall promoters making nasty comments that hurts the feelings of the McLeaners, but I have yet to see one snide comment from a Marshall promoter. Can someone provide some specific examples?

The McLean advocates on this forum are obnoxious, though. I'm on here looking at schools, planning where to move. I had thought McClean, but the people on here are the worst stereotypes of snooty McLeaners. If there are some McLeaners with class on this forum, please do speak up.

[Anonymous]

I still can't figure out the point of this post and all of the responses. The schools mentioned are all strong and the posters should really worry more about their individual children selecting courses and doing well in them than all of these rankings (which are all quite close).

[Anonymous]

Another ditto to 21:40

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2014 SAT Scores:

Langley 1830
McLean 1774
Oakton 1767
Woodson 1759
Madison 1749
Marshall 1740

2015 US News Ratings/State of Virginia:

Langley #2
Woodson #3
McLean #4
Oakton #6
Madison#7
Marshall #15

2015 Washington Post Challenge Index/DC Region

Oakton #8
McLean #15
Woodson #20
Madison #21
Langley #24
Marshall #53

2015 Washington Post E&E (College Readiness) Index/DC Region

McLean 78.8%
Madison 78.2%
Oakton 72.0%
Langley 70.1%
Marshall 67.5%
Woodson 67.5%


National Merit Semi-Finalists/Class of 2015:

McLean 12
Langley 10
Oakton 10
Woodson 9
Madison 4
Marshall 3

GreatSchools Ratings:

Langley 9
Madison 9
Marshall 9
McLean 8
Oakton 8
Woodson 8


2015 Virginia Index of Performance Awards:

Langley - Excellence Award
Madison - Excellence Award
McLean - Excellence Award
Oakton - Excellence Award
Woodson - Excellence Award
Marshall - No Award

2013-14 Dropout Rates

Madison 0.10%
Woodson 0.18%
McLean 0.29%
Langley 0.30%
Marshall 1.65%


2014-15 FARMS Rates

Langley 2.10%
McLean 8.27%
Madison 9.50%
Woodson 10.18%
Oakton 11.87%
Marshall 20.03%

2013-14 LEP (Limited English Proficiency) Rates

Langley 1.81%
Woodson 4.15%
Madison 5.09%
McLean 5.61%
Oakton 5.98%
Marshall 9.65%

Great resource, thanks. We are looking in some of these districts now. We would prefer Langley, McLean or Madison but may be priced out.

[Anonymous]

How come madison and marshall sat scores are so close if madison is the whitest and richest where as marshall has 20% poors and fewer whites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How come madison and marshall sat scores are so close if madison is the whitest and richest where as marshall has 20% poors and fewer whites.

Marshall has a higher percentage of students than Madison who take vocational courses and never sit for the SATs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How come madison and marshall sat scores are so close if madison is the whitest and richest where as marshall has 20% poors and fewer whites.

Marshall has a higher percentage of students than Madison who take vocational courses and never sit for the SATs.

Marshall offers these classes and Madison doesn't. Personally I wish more schools would offer a wider variety of hands on classes. They are beneficial both to people who don't want to go to college and those that do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How come madison and marshall sat scores are so close if madison is the whitest and richest where as marshall has 20% poors and fewer whites.

Marshall has a higher percentage of students than Madison who take vocational courses and never sit for the SATs.

Marshall offers these classes and Madison doesn't. Personally I wish more schools would offer a wider variety of hands on classes. They are beneficial both to people who don't want to go to college and those that do.

A Madison student who wants to take an Academy class can take them at Marshall or Falls Church. The vocational courses tend to be offered at schools with higher percentages of students who are not college-bound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How come madison and marshall sat scores are so close if madison is the whitest and richest where as marshall has 20% poors and fewer whites.

Marshall has a higher percentage of students than Madison who take vocational courses and never sit for the SATs.

Marshall offers these classes and Madison doesn't. Personally I wish more schools would offer a wider variety of hands on classes. They are beneficial both to people who don't want to go to college and those that do.

A Madison student who wants to take an Academy class can take them at Marshall or Falls Church. The vocational courses tend to be offered at schools with higher percentages of students who are not college-bound.

You mean at schools where fewer students have the resources to afford college. Big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How come madison and marshall sat scores are so close if madison is the whitest and richest where as marshall has 20% poors and fewer whites.

Marshall has a higher percentage of students than Madison who take vocational courses and never sit for the SATs.

Marshall offers these classes and Madison doesn't. Personally I wish more schools would offer a wider variety of hands on classes. They are beneficial both to people who don't want to go to college and those that do.

A Madison student who wants to take an Academy class can take them at Marshall or Falls Church. The vocational courses tend to be offered at schools with higher percentages of students who are not college-bound.

You mean at schools where fewer students have the resources to afford college. Big difference.

Your interpretation, not mine. Money is not the only consideration. Aptitude and aspirations also play a role.

[Anonymous]

The schools with the so-called vo-tech programs are not full of kids whose only aspiration and aptitude make them car mechanics or beauticians or whatever anymore than Langkey is full of kids with college aptitude and aspirations. SES has a big and determining factor to play and if you ignore that you are part of the problem stifling upward mobility in America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools with the so-called vo-tech programs are not full of kids whose only aspiration and aptitude make them car mechanics or beauticians or whatever anymore than Langkey is full of kids with college aptitude and aspirations. SES has a big and determining factor to play and if you ignore that you are part of the problem stifling upward mobility in America.

Blah blah blah. Who said they were?

Anyway, I'll take a school with BC Calculus, AP Government and state championship baseball over one with IB, cosmetology, and culinary arts any day of the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How come madison and marshall sat scores are so close if madison is the whitest and richest where as marshall has 20% poors and fewer whites.

Also curious is that in 2014 Marshall had higher average Scores on the writing portion of the SAT than any school in the county other than Langely or TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How come madison and marshall sat scores are so close if madison is the whitest and richest where as marshall has 20% poors and fewer whites.

Also curious is that in 2014 Marshall had higher average Scores on the writing portion of the SAT than any school in the county other than Langely or TJ.

Too bad about the math and reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How come madison and marshall sat scores are so close if madison is the whitest and richest where as marshall has 20% poors and fewer whites.

Also curious is that in 2014 Marshall had higher average Scores on the writing portion of the SAT than any school in the county other than Langely or TJ.

Too bad about the math and reading.

Weren't that bad, but you're right that it doesn't fit. Scores generally are more consistent. Is this because of IB? Is there more writing focus with IB? I don't know--just a shot in the dark.