Newsweek high school rankings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ fans love to claim they are number 1. It is worth pointing out that these Blair magnet kids 12/100 of them were Intel award winners and about 30/100 National Merit Semifinist. However, they never are counted in the number 1 or top 500 schools because unlike every other magnet school (TJ, Stuyvesant etc) they are not in a whole school magnet but instead liberal MCPS has these kids in a low SES school to try to pull up the numbers of the school.

The High Schools With The Highest SAT/ACT Scores In The Nation

1. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Annandale, Va.

TJHSST was established in 1985 as a result of a partnership between businesses and schools created to improve STEM education. With an average SAT score of 2220, TJHSST students go on to such prestigious schools like University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and Yale, just to name a few.

2. The Harker School in San Jose, Calif.

This private prep school is home to students from kindergarten to senior year of high school. Students at Harker typically have a GPA range between 3.6 and 3.9 and an average SAT score of 2210.
...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/schools-highest-sat-scores_n_4654077.html

I bet the 100 kids in the Blair Magnet program have a higher or equal average SAT score. This sort of screaming how TJ is number one is gross, especially when no other school in FCPS even made the top 500. Maryland schools are better than Virginia.

Kids in the Blair magnet program do not have higher average SAT score than TJ students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ fans love to claim they are number 1. It is worth pointing out that these Blair magnet kids 12/100 of them were Intel award winners and about 30/100 National Merit Semifinist. However, they never are counted in the number 1 or top 500 schools because unlike every other magnet school (TJ, Stuyvesant etc) they are not in a whole school magnet but instead liberal MCPS has these kids in a low SES school to try to pull up the numbers of the school.

The High Schools With The Highest SAT/ACT Scores In The Nation

1. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Annandale, Va.

TJHSST was established in 1985 as a result of a partnership between businesses and schools created to improve STEM education. With an average SAT score of 2220, TJHSST students go on to such prestigious schools like University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and Yale, just to name a few.

2. The Harker School in San Jose, Calif.

This private prep school is home to students from kindergarten to senior year of high school. Students at Harker typically have a GPA range between 3.6 and 3.9 and an average SAT score of 2210.
...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/schools-highest-sat-scores_n_4654077.html

I bet the 100 kids in the Blair Magnet program have a higher or equal average SAT score. This sort of screaming how TJ is number one is gross, especially when no other school in FCPS even made the top 500. Maryland schools are better than Virginia.

Kids in the Blair magnet program do not have higher average SAT score than TJ students.

And your source? How do you know their SAT scores ?

[Anonymous]

I read once that TJ average score was 2150 and Blair Magnet was 2200 one year. So at least that year Blair Magnet was higher.

[Anonymous]

I would love to see MPCS magnet (Blair, RM/IB, PHS) vs. TJ comparison. And as for NMSF numbers, MD's cutoff is usually higher than VA cutoff by 2 pts. (221 vs 219 this past year for example). If MD's cutoff was 219, there would be A LOT more kids making the list. There are a lot of kids around 220 who barely missed the cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MPCS magnet (Blair, RM/IB, PHS) vs. TJ comparison. And as for NMSF numbers, MD's cutoff is usually higher than VA cutoff by 2 pts. (221 vs 219 this past year for example). If MD's cutoff was 219, there would be A LOT more kids making the list. There are a lot of kids around 220 who barely missed the cut.

"It's actually 129 out of 422 (from student services office of TJ) which is 30.56% versus 66 out of 280[200 (Blair magnet + RM IB program) plus Blair's other Humanities magnet program Communication Arts program (CAP) of about 80] = 23.57% (not even counting PHS number) and thus TJ actually had more semifinalists than Blair and RM magnets (minus PHS) combined numbers not less."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MPCS magnet (Blair, RM/IB, PHS) vs. TJ comparison. And as for NMSF numbers, MD's cutoff is usually higher than VA cutoff by 2 pts. (221 vs 219 this past year for example). If MD's cutoff was 219, there would be A LOT more kids making the list. There are a lot of kids around 220 who barely missed the cut.

"It's actually 129 out of 422 (from student services office of TJ) which is 30.56% versus 66 out of 280[200 (Blair magnet + RM IB program) plus Blair's other Humanities magnet program Communication Arts program (CAP) of about 80] = 23.57% (not even counting PHS number) and thus TJ actually had more semifinalists than Blair and RM magnets (minus PHS) combined numbers not less."

Again, it's not very meaningful since VA and MD have different cutoff scores. Assuming your numbers are correct, 30.56% of kids scored 219 or above and 23.57% kids scored 221 or above. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MPCS magnet (Blair, RM/IB, PHS) vs. TJ comparison. And as for NMSF numbers, MD's cutoff is usually higher than VA cutoff by 2 pts. (221 vs 219 this past year for example). If MD's cutoff was 219, there would be A LOT more kids making the list. There are a lot of kids around 220 who barely missed the cut.

"It's actually 129 out of 422 (from student services office of TJ) which is 30.56% versus 66 out of 280[200 (Blair magnet + RM IB program) plus Blair's other Humanities magnet program Communication Arts program (CAP) of about 80] = 23.57% (not even counting PHS number) and thus TJ actually had more semifinalists than Blair and RM magnets (minus PHS) combined numbers not less."

Not apples to apples. See SAT scores

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Does this mean MCPS is better overall than FCPS?


Yes.


What happened to FCPS?

Good question. The top down culture there is not working. IMO. It's not the kind of atmosphere that attracts top talent to teaching. The test scores have become everything. They say they respect teachers, but they don't act like they do. Actions speak louder than words. I think Garza would like to change that, but it's a very entrenched culture. Maryland has unions. Teachers feel respected. I admire the spirit of teachers and parents in New York who fight back when they see wrongs in the system (the testing opt outs). That kind of thing would NEVER happen in Virginia. Maryland and New York have unions and protections. The teachers in VA are afraid to speak out. They are afraid to try things that are not "approved". No innovation is taking place and they need innovation coming from the ranks desperately. It is not encouraged; in fact it is discouraged. There is nothing to be gained by a teacher taking chances and everything to lose. They enforce this system by having a lot of "specialists" and "coaches" and bureaucrats to maintain their status quo. Teachers are not "smart enough" to make decisions, but in reality they are the only ones who can make the decisions that really count. I will admit that part of this problem is coming from the federal Dept. of Education, but some states seem better at staving off the negative effects.

Of course my analysis could be all wrong. And, doubtless, there are other factors involved that I am clueless about. This is what I see.

I think this is totally off. Too much innovation and no one knows what is standard anymore. Curriculum 2.0 seems like a great curriculum and one that you can expect to have wherever you go in MCPS. Verses FCPS's way of letter every school choose what to teach.

[Anonymous]

Why would you include the CAP but not the Poolsville STEM program? Why National Merit when states have different cut offs? Look at SAT scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MPCS magnet (Blair, RM/IB, PHS) vs. TJ comparison. And as for NMSF numbers, MD's cutoff is usually higher than VA cutoff by 2 pts. (221 vs 219 this past year for example). If MD's cutoff was 219, there would be A LOT more kids making the list. There are a lot of kids around 220 who barely missed the cut.

"It's actually 129 out of 422 (from student services office of TJ) which is 30.56% versus 66 out of 280[200 (Blair magnet + RM IB program) plus Blair's other Humanities magnet program Communication Arts program (CAP) of about 80] = 23.57% (not even counting PHS number) and thus TJ actually had more semifinalists than Blair and RM magnets (minus PHS) combined numbers not less."

Again, it's not very meaningful since VA and MD have different cutoff scores. Assuming your numbers are correct, 30.56% of kids scored 219 or above and 23.57% kids scored 221 or above. Nothing more, nothing less.

How many kids are in the Poolesville magnet program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MPCS magnet (Blair, RM/IB, PHS) vs. TJ comparison. And as for NMSF numbers, MD's cutoff is usually higher than VA cutoff by 2 pts. (221 vs 219 this past year for example). If MD's cutoff was 219, there would be A LOT more kids making the list. There are a lot of kids around 220 who barely missed the cut.

"It's actually 129 out of 422 (from student services office of TJ) which is 30.56% versus 66 out of 280[200 (Blair magnet + RM IB program) plus Blair's other Humanities magnet program Communication Arts program (CAP) of about 80] = 23.57% (not even counting PHS number) and thus TJ actually had more semifinalists than Blair and RM magnets (minus PHS) combined numbers not less."

Again, it's not very meaningful since VA and MD have different cutoff scores. Assuming your numbers are correct, 30.56% of kids scored 219 or above and 23.57% kids scored 221 or above. Nothing more, nothing less.

How many kids are in the Poolesville magnet program?

3 different magnets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MPCS magnet (Blair, RM/IB, PHS) vs. TJ comparison. And as for NMSF numbers, MD's cutoff is usually higher than VA cutoff by 2 pts. (221 vs 219 this past year for example). If MD's cutoff was 219, there would be A LOT more kids making the list. There are a lot of kids around 220 who barely missed the cut.

"It's actually 129 out of 422 (from student services office of TJ) which is 30.56% versus 66 out of 280[200 (Blair magnet + RM IB program) plus Blair's other Humanities magnet program Communication Arts program (CAP) of about 80] = 23.57% (not even counting PHS number) and thus TJ actually had more semifinalists than Blair and RM magnets (minus PHS) combined numbers not less."

Again, it's not very meaningful since VA and MD have different cutoff scores. Assuming your numbers are correct, 30.56% of kids scored 219 or above and 23.57% kids scored 221 or above. Nothing more, nothing less.

How many kids are in the Poolesville magnet program?

Assuming 100 kids for Poolesville, it would be 66/380 = 17.3%. So, 30% v. 17%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MPCS magnet (Blair, RM/IB, PHS) vs. TJ comparison. And as for NMSF numbers, MD's cutoff is usually higher than VA cutoff by 2 pts. (221 vs 219 this past year for example). If MD's cutoff was 219, there would be A LOT more kids making the list. There are a lot of kids around 220 who barely missed the cut.

"It's actually 129 out of 422 (from student services office of TJ) which is 30.56% versus 66 out of 280[200 (Blair magnet + RM IB program) plus Blair's other Humanities magnet program Communication Arts program (CAP) of about 80] = 23.57% (not even counting PHS number) and thus TJ actually had more semifinalists than Blair and RM magnets (minus PHS) combined numbers not less."

Again, it's not very meaningful since VA and MD have different cutoff scores. Assuming your numbers are correct, 30.56% of kids scored 219 or above and 23.57% kids scored 221 or above. Nothing more, nothing less.

How many kids are in the Poolesville magnet program?

Assuming 100 kids for Poolesville, it would be 66/380 = 17.3%. So, 30% v. 17%.

fuzzy math a lot?

[Anonymous]

Blair only has 100 students per grade?

The best comparison would be the top SAT scores of Blair against the top 100 SAT scores of TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair only has 100 students per grade?

The best comparison would be the top SAT scores of Blair against the top 100 SAT scores of TJ.

Blair science magnet supposedly has about 100 kids and Blair CAP has about 80 kids. RM IB has about 100 kids and PHS magnet program has about 100 kids.