Reply to Elementary schools that are great despite Great Schools rating?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Check out Hyattsville Elementary School. It has a strong principal (Julia Burton), PTA, and aftercare options (Art Works Now, Joe's Movement, perhaps Pyramid Atlantic soon). There's widespread community support for the school. Large numbers of unusually well-educated parents are taking a hands-on approach to investing in and improving their local school. The test scores reflect the diverse make-up of the student body. [b]Language and socio-economic barriers keep those test scores [/b](and, consequently, the Great Schools rating) from reflecting the school's strengths, but those who live in Hyattsville are justifiably proud of their neighborhood school. Search the archives for HES and you'll see what I mean.

Unfortunately, I'm not quite as enthused about Hyattsville Middle School or Northwestern High School. Everything in this area is trending upward, so I'm hopeful for future improvements, especially as the vanguard of involved PTA parents has started to transition over to the middle school. Still, that's something to keep an eye on for longer-range planning.[/quote]

Can we stop explaining away low greatschools rating as a consequence of language and socio-economic barriers? The school has some great things going for it esp. a strong and committed PTA, but I find the constant use of the bolded text to be disturbing. I can see using socio-economic barriers to explain the difference between a 6/7 or an 8/9. [/quote]

I'm not sure what you're taking issue with here. HES also has a LEP percentage of 21.9% (students with limited to no ability to understand, speak, read, or write English) and a FARMS rate of 76.8% (children who are eligible for free/reduced price meals). HES has a Great Schools rating of 2, a score which is largely based on overall test scores. What do you attribute the Great Schools rating to? Or, really, what would you prefer others to attribute it to?

HES is also much loved by people who have other (good) options and it's a locus of community pride.[/quote]

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