Anonymous
07/17/2025 14:17
Subject: Explain how/why this happens to me, please (related to Great Schools rating)
Anonymous wrote:I have been looking at locations in Virginia where my family can live inexpensively. We have children and would need high quality schools. I have found numerous very rural locations in Virginia with excellent Great Schools ratings (high schools rated 7, 8, or 9). I KNOW some of these areas from growing up in Virginia, and people who live there tend to not speak proper English and are often lower income (which is why it's affordable to live there!). I don't understand why those rural schools would have higher GS ratings that, say, Arlington schools. I know it's test scores, but are the kids who speak differently from the way the test questions are written really doing better than the kids in Arlington? How does this happen?
Great Schools places a higher score on diversity. Both economic and cultural diversity influence the score upwards.
Wouldn’t you prefer your kids be exposed to a more diverse and inclusive school environment?
Anonymous
07/17/2025 14:10
Subject: Explain how/why this happens to me, please (related to Great Schools rating)
Anonymous wrote:Great Schools changed the way they do their ratings so they have becoming meaningless now. If you care about academic progress, look at the test scores for that school (which are available on the GS site).
This.
Anonymous
07/17/2025 14:07
Subject: Explain how/why this happens to me, please (related to Great Schools rating)
As others have said, Great Schools has an algorithm that dings schools when there is a link between demographics and test scores.
So, a school that is uniformly "just fine" is going to rank better than a school that has some kids with high test scores and some with low test scores, particularly when there is a relationship between those scores and race/ethnicity.
So, a school that is uniformly "just fine" is going to rank better than a school that has some kids with high test scores and some with low test scores, particularly when there is a relationship between those scores and race/ethnicity.
Anonymous
07/17/2025 13:53
Subject: Explain how/why this happens to me, please (related to Great Schools rating)
Yes, culturally homogeneous school populations tend to get good scores even when the cohort isn't stellar academically.
On the one hand, education begins at home and your kids might be top of their class and thus have a better shot at great colleges.
On the other hand, there's something to be said for a multicultural cohort whose parents are very well-educated and have seen something of the world. College admissions will be cutthroat, but maybe that shouldn't be the sole goal.
We're a multiethnic international family, and after certain interesting experiences earlier in my life, I will never settle my family in a rural out of the way spot.
On the one hand, education begins at home and your kids might be top of their class and thus have a better shot at great colleges.
On the other hand, there's something to be said for a multicultural cohort whose parents are very well-educated and have seen something of the world. College admissions will be cutthroat, but maybe that shouldn't be the sole goal.
We're a multiethnic international family, and after certain interesting experiences earlier in my life, I will never settle my family in a rural out of the way spot.
Anonymous
07/17/2025 13:45
Subject: Explain how/why this happens to me, please (related to Great Schools rating)
For the same reason many school systems in the Deep South with, <70% HS graduation rates have higher GS scores than many NoVA schools - homogeneity of the student body. If everyone is mediocre, there are no outlier populations to drag down the GS score.
Anonymous
07/17/2025 13:38
Subject: Explain how/why this happens to me, please (related to Great Schools rating)
Great Schools changed the way they do their ratings so they have becoming meaningless now. If you care about academic progress, look at the test scores for that school (which are available on the GS site).
Anonymous
07/17/2025 13:08
Subject: Explain how/why this happens to me, please (related to Great Schools rating)
Anonymous wrote:Are you looking at the actual test scores and academic progress in Great Schools?
My school is a good school but is decimated by our equity score of 1/10. We have a lot of new immigrants who don't speak English yet and thus aren't testing well. It's nothing the school is doing wrong.
My point is that schools that have homogenous populations (in your case since you mention location, I assume white) have higher Great Schools scores. I've heard that minority majority schools also get higher ratings on Great Schools.
Yes, these schools are very white. It hadn't occurred to me that they have no or very few English language learners, and that inflates their scores. I just couldn't figure it out.
Anonymous
07/17/2025 12:00
Subject: Explain how/why this happens to me, please (related to Great Schools rating)
Are you looking at the actual test scores and academic progress in Great Schools?
My school is a good school but is decimated by our equity score of 1/10. We have a lot of new immigrants who don't speak English yet and thus aren't testing well. It's nothing the school is doing wrong.
My point is that schools that have homogenous populations (in your case since you mention location, I assume white) have higher Great Schools scores. I've heard that minority majority schools also get higher ratings on Great Schools.
My school is a good school but is decimated by our equity score of 1/10. We have a lot of new immigrants who don't speak English yet and thus aren't testing well. It's nothing the school is doing wrong.
My point is that schools that have homogenous populations (in your case since you mention location, I assume white) have higher Great Schools scores. I've heard that minority majority schools also get higher ratings on Great Schools.
Anonymous
07/17/2025 11:43
Subject: Explain how/why this happens to me, please (related to Great Schools rating)
I have been looking at locations in Virginia where my family can live inexpensively. We have children and would need high quality schools. I have found numerous very rural locations in Virginia with excellent Great Schools ratings (high schools rated 7, 8, or 9). I KNOW some of these areas from growing up in Virginia, and people who live there tend to not speak proper English and are often lower income (which is why it's affordable to live there!). I don't understand why those rural schools would have higher GS ratings that, say, Arlington schools. I know it's test scores, but are the kids who speak differently from the way the test questions are written really doing better than the kids in Arlington? How does this happen?