Reply to Names of National Merit Semifinalists in DC Released: Sidwell -16. St. Albans

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You all are probably just being sarcastic, because I’m sure you recognize that lots of parents trying to choose among all these great schools for their children regularly view national merit percentages as one proxy for gauging the academic rigor of different schools and student bodies. [/quote]
I am being somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but not entirely.  You might say the NMSF is a proxy for measuring the rigor or a high school. You might be right.  If there is data to show that the PSAT scores are across the board higher among lower and higher income students at a particular high school, I’d be very willing to believe it.  I doubt we have that data, and from what I’ve read, the PSAT and SAT correlate more closely to a student’s wealth than anything else.  After all, there is an entire cottage industry devoted to coaching these tests.[/quote]
If people were comparing national merit numbers from some pricey DC private school against those from a low income school, I might agree with you that parent income could be a confounding factor. But let's be realistic: the comparisons people are making are among 8-10 private schools in DC, MD, VA whose tuitions are all somewhere well above $40,000 per year. I'm pretty confident that most families at these schools can afford whatever test prep they consider appropriate. I'm not saying national merit numbers are a great comparison point. (I personally think distance of commute is one of the most important factors!) But I've been around here long enough to know that lots of parents look for any objective yardstick they can find to choose among schools, and also that lots of people make up stories about schools that aren't consistent with what these objective measures show. [/quote]

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