GreatSchools rating

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course Wakefield is good. No one truly believes it’s a bad school.

It’s ranked 226 out of 290 high schools in the state by School Digger, based on its SOL scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:all of you are just ticked because your property values are taking a hit

the scores actually reflect reality, a school is great if all students perform well not just high SES ones. The achievement gap is a problem in this country and schools are now on notice to do something about it

+1

But thank god the rich Liberals are finally taking notice!

That being said, guys, why do you assume Greatschools should only serve you, native English, high SES people?

Maybe the new metric is better because it tells lower income, ESOL families that your "high performing" Lilly White haven of a school isn't that great for ALL STUDENTS.

I get it though. It's "flawed" because your English speaking, White, rich child could do great, despite the giant 5 on your house's Zillow page.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course Wakefield is good. No one truly believes it’s a bad school.

It’s ranked 226 out of 290 high schools in the state by School Digger, based on its SOL scores.

yes, but the point the pp was making is a school in another state could have sub-50% pass rates on state tests and still get a GS 9. Wakefield has SOL pass rates in the 80% area. So yeah, we should technically compare the tests, but the fundamental point is that GS ratings are really not at all comparable across geographic areas.

[Anonymous]

I think people are stupid if they use greatschools to choose schools. Just as an example, the "worst" high school in Arlington, Wakefield, gets higher average SAT scores than the homogeneous schools in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties in MD (ranked 8 and above). All I care about is how my college bound kids will do in comparison to others like them; a GS rating is meaningless. The raw data is available to those who care to dig into the numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:all of you are just ticked because your property values are taking a hit

the scores actually reflect reality, a school is great if all students perform well not just high SES ones. The achievement gap is a problem in this country and schools are now on notice to do something about it

+1

But thank god the rich Liberals are finally taking notice!

That being said, guys, why do you assume Greatschools should only serve you, native English, high SES people?

Maybe the new metric is better because it tells lower income, ESOL families that your "high performing" Lilly White haven of a school isn't that great for ALL STUDENTS.

I get it though. It's "flawed" because your English speaking, White, rich child could do great, despite the giant 5 on your house's Zillow page.

And? It's not like the majority of lower income ESOL families can choose where they live. They live where they can afford, and that's largely going to be in a school zone with ALL the other low income kids in the region. STILL NOT DOING WELL, even in their "haven" away from those awful white rich kids.

These scores won't tell anyone anything other than where the poor ESOL kids go to school, and as a consequence those schools will only get poorer and more segregated.

The achievement gap cannot be solved in segregated schools. NOT EVER.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:all of you are just ticked because your property values are taking a hit

the scores actually reflect reality, a school is great if all students perform well not just high SES ones. The achievement gap is a problem in this country and schools are now on notice to do something about it

+1

But thank god the rich Liberals are finally taking notice!

That being said, guys, why do you assume Greatschools should only serve you, native English, high SES people?

Maybe the new metric is better because it tells lower income, ESOL families that your "high performing" Lilly White haven of a school isn't that great for ALL STUDENTS.

I get it though. It's "flawed" because your English speaking, White, rich child could do great, despite the giant 5 on your house's Zillow page.

Serious question: Your guy is in the White House and your people control the other branches of government. Why are you still so angry?

[Anonymous]

“Maybe the new metric is better because it tells lower income, ESOL families that your "high performing" Lilly White haven of a school isn't that great for ALL STUDENTS. ”

If the metric measures how good a school did at educating ESL kids compared to other ESL kids and factored that in, that would be reasonable. But it does not. Is is instead comparing those kids to the non-ESL kids at the same school and singing the school for the gap even if the school happens to do a much better job educating ESL kids than other schools do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people are stupid if they use greatschools to choose schools. Just as an example, the "worst" high school in Arlington, Wakefield, gets higher average SAT scores than the homogeneous schools in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties in MD (ranked 8 and above). All I care about is how my college bound kids will do in comparison to others like them; a GS rating is meaningless. The raw data is available to those who care to dig into the numbers.

+1,000 and here is the dirty secret DCUM people your special snowflakes are going to do well regardless of what school they go to. idiots

[Anonymous]

So Woodson, which according to Schooldigger is in the top 10% of schools in the state by straight test scores, drops to a "6" on Greatschools? How does this even make sense?

I think Greatschools is making themselves irrelevant by this methodology change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people are stupid if they use greatschools to choose schools. Just as an example, the "worst" high school in Arlington, Wakefield, gets higher average SAT scores than the homogeneous schools in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties in MD (ranked 8 and above). All I care about is how my college bound kids will do in comparison to others like them; a GS rating is meaningless. The raw data is available to those who care to dig into the numbers.

College-bound kids at Wakefield perform poorly compared to college-bound kids elsewhere in NoVa.

And why would you think schools in Calvert are homogeneous?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people are stupid if they use greatschools to choose schools. Just as an example, the "worst" high school in Arlington, Wakefield, gets higher average SAT scores than the homogeneous schools in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties in MD (ranked 8 and above). All I care about is how my college bound kids will do in comparison to others like them; a GS rating is meaningless. The raw data is available to those who care to dig into the numbers.

People who buy houses use Greatschools, and people who think they don't are stupid. Or at least naive or delusional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course Wakefield is good. No one truly believes it’s a bad school.

It’s ranked 226 out of 290 high schools in the state by School Digger, based on its SOL scores.

yes, but the point the pp was making is a school in another state could have sub-50% pass rates on state tests and still get a GS 9. Wakefield has SOL pass rates in the 80% area. So yeah, we should technically compare the tests, but the fundamental point is that GS ratings are really not at all comparable across geographic areas.

The point being made is that Wakefield is a fantastic school, with spectacular ( often award winning) faculty, and a reasonably comprehensive menu of AP classes and extra curriculars. Wakefield also happens to have more immigrants, English language learners, and poverty than 90% of the rest of that high schools in that State of VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are stupid if they use greatschools to choose schools. Just as an example, the "worst" high school in Arlington, Wakefield, gets higher average SAT scores than the homogeneous schools in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties in MD (ranked 8 and above). All I care about is how my college bound kids will do in comparison to others like them; a GS rating is meaningless. The raw data is available to those who care to dig into the numbers.

College-bound kids at Wakefield perform poorly compared to college-bound kids elsewhere in NoVa.

And why would you think schools in Calvert are homogeneous?

Performly poorly at what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are stupid if they use greatschools to choose schools. Just as an example, the "worst" high school in Arlington, Wakefield, gets higher average SAT scores than the homogeneous schools in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties in MD (ranked 8 and above). All I care about is how my college bound kids will do in comparison to others like them; a GS rating is meaningless. The raw data is available to those who care to dig into the numbers.

People who buy houses use Greatschools, and people who think they don't are stupid. Or at least naive or delusional.

That's fine with me, but I still can think you're stupid for paying a premium for the output of a meaningless algorithm. And I say this as someone who will benefit when I sell my greatschools - rated-8 through 10 - home next year. Thanks for the cash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are stupid if they use greatschools to choose schools. Just as an example, the "worst" high school in Arlington, Wakefield, gets higher average SAT scores than the homogeneous schools in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties in MD (ranked 8 and above). All I care about is how my college bound kids will do in comparison to others like them; a GS rating is meaningless. The raw data is available to those who care to dig into the numbers.

College-bound kids at Wakefield perform poorly compared to college-bound kids elsewhere in NoVa.

And why would you think schools in Calvert are homogeneous?

Performly poorly at what?

I think PP is referring to SAT scores. The ONLY reason kids at Wakefield have a lower average SAT score is because the top students haven't enrolled there. They've transfered out to other schools/programs like H-B or W-L, or their families have moved "up" to a better school zone prior to HS, or their parents sent them to private HS. And then, APS allows transfers into the school from students enrolled at the other APS schools. This is the school that many parents regard as "not a pressure cooker," so kids who maybe aren't as competitive as students transfer here for a better environment. It's not anything that the school/staff is or isn't doing. It's simply that there aren't as many academic superstars whose parents even entertain it as an option.

Also, many Wakefield students, even the college-bound ones, aren't being extensively tutored and taking SAT prep classes. It's just not the way that most Wakefield parents roll. Meanwhile, there are kids at the other APS schools whose parents pay an insane amount of $$ to in order to prep them for the SAT (private consultants who work with a student for an entire year, not just a group class that meets for a few Saturdays before the test).