US News looks at all the schools in the state, including those attended by low income rural whites.

I don't understand what point you are trying to make, other than perhaps to try and obfuscate what these rankings try to measure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The student body is also important not just the teaching curriculum.

Definitely. I don't want those brown and black colored hoodlums screwing up my kids' education. When is the next klan meeting? I've got to pick up my sheet from the dry cleaners.

Part of the ranking is how well minorities perform. I doubt that many of large populations of FCPS asians and hispanics will be attending the klan rallies at any of the top 10 schools listed.

Learning has nothing to do w/ race and the list proves that you can be of a lower SES, different demographics or be a minority and FCPS will help you excel.

Then, why are the schools with highest minority populations not on the list? Enough said.

Because the #1 indicator of school success of household income NOT Race!
#2 is ability of the teachers.

But, isn't race (setting Asians aside) strongly correlated with test scores? You can use whatever short cut you want to figure out which schools have too many "bad eggs" and, thus, are not suitable schools for little Jimmy. I don't really know what the difference is. Seems to me saying that it's all about income is just a good way to sound politically correct.

Not necessarily. There are a lot of schools in Virginia comprised mostly of low income whites in rural areas that are nowhere to be found on these rankings.

Well, one, we're not really talking about the rural areas of Virginia, and, two, a few rural, poor, mostly white schools doesn't change the overall level of correlation either locally or nationally.

As a parent with a child at one of these top 10 schools, let me just say:

These high school rankings are stupid and deeply offensive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The student body is also important not just the teaching curriculum.

Definitely. I don't want those brown and black colored hoodlums screwing up my kids' education. When is the next klan meeting? I've got to pick up my sheet from the dry cleaners.

Part of the ranking is how well minorities perform. I doubt that many of large populations of FCPS asians and hispanics will be attending the klan rallies at any of the top 10 schools listed.

Learning has nothing to do w/ race and the list proves that you can be of a lower SES, different demographics or be a minority and FCPS will help you excel.

Then, why are the schools with highest minority populations not on the list? Enough said.

Because the #1 indicator of school success of household income NOT Race!
#2 is ability of the teachers.

But, isn't race (setting Asians aside) strongly correlated with test scores? You can use whatever short cut you want to figure out which schools have too many "bad eggs" and, thus, are not suitable schools for little Jimmy. I don't really know what the difference is. Seems to me saying that it's all about income is just a good way to sound politically correct.

Not necessarily. There are a lot of schools in Virginia comprised mostly of low income whites in rural areas that are nowhere to be found on these rankings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The student body is also important not just the teaching curriculum.

Definitely. I don't want those brown and black colored hoodlums screwing up my kids' education. When is the next klan meeting? I've got to pick up my sheet from the dry cleaners.

Part of the ranking is how well minorities perform. I doubt that many of large populations of FCPS asians and hispanics will be attending the klan rallies at any of the top 10 schools listed.

Learning has nothing to do w/ race and the list proves that you can be of a lower SES, different demographics or be a minority and FCPS will help you excel.

Then, why are the schools with highest minority populations not on the list? Enough said.

Because the #1 indicator of school success of household income NOT Race!
#2 is ability of the teachers.

But, isn't race (setting Asians aside) strongly correlated with test scores? You can use whatever short cut you want to figure out which schools have too many "bad eggs" and, thus, are not suitable schools for little Jimmy. I don't really know what the difference is. Seems to me saying that it's all about income is just a good way to sound politically correct.

It's easy enough to track FARM students and give them a leg up on tests regardless of their race. Why does race have to be accounted for at all in these rankings?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The student body is also important not just the teaching curriculum.

Definitely. I don't want those brown and black colored hoodlums screwing up my kids' education. When is the next klan meeting? I've got to pick up my sheet from the dry cleaners.

Part of the ranking is how well minorities perform. I doubt that many of large populations of FCPS asians and hispanics will be attending the klan rallies at any of the top 10 schools listed.

Learning has nothing to do w/ race and the list proves that you can be of a lower SES, different demographics or be a minority and FCPS will help you excel.

Then, why are the schools with highest minority populations not on the list? Enough said.

TJ has a lot of Asians and is 61% minority, McLean has a lot of Asians and is 39% minority, Oakton is 39% minority, Yorktown is 39% minority, Woodson is 40% minority, West Springfield is 40% minority, Marshall has a lot of Asians and Hispanics and is 46% minority.

Ok, well let's talk about real minorities, not Asians. You know as well as I do, the higher the FARMS/ESL percentage, the lower performing the school - and that it affects all groups of students for the worse. Asian Americans, while technically a minority, usually outperform the white majority.

I see asians are a fake minority

Not the poster to whom you're responding but US News attempts to treat black, Hispanic and low-income students as disadvantaged, which is essentially the same as "real minorities." Their test scores get adjusted by US News, and schools where those minorities (but not Asians, unless they are also low-income) under-perform compared to benchmarks for students across the state in these cohorts get kicked out and are unranked.

So, in theory, the fact that the top 10 schools are highly ranked ought to send a signal to minority students that their kids "count" at those schools, and the fact that a majority-minority, high FARMS school like Falls Church and Annandale are highly ranked ought to send a signal to affluent white parents that their kids "count" at those schools.

The devil, of course, is in the details and underlying assumptions. Hispanic students at Langley may be the children of IMF and World Bank officials, but Langley gets credit for their performing well on SOLs. On the other hand, the Asian population at Lee or Edison may consist largely of kids whose immigrant parents have just made their way into the middle class, yet they may be held to the same standards as upper-class white and Asian kids.

If you want to be skeptical about the whole exercise, you can argue that US News just wants to find a way to have its brand plastered on school web pages across the country. Or, you can argue that the rankings are fine, and that the people who get upset about them tend to be white parents with kids at unranked majority-minority schools, who think they ought to be recognized for sending their kids to diverse schools, and instead have to listen to people crow about other schools again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The student body is also important not just the teaching curriculum.

Definitely. I don't want those brown and black colored hoodlums screwing up my kids' education. When is the next klan meeting? I've got to pick up my sheet from the dry cleaners.

Part of the ranking is how well minorities perform. I doubt that many of large populations of FCPS asians and hispanics will be attending the klan rallies at any of the top 10 schools listed.

Learning has nothing to do w/ race and the list proves that you can be of a lower SES, different demographics or be a minority and FCPS will help you excel.

Then, why are the schools with highest minority populations not on the list? Enough said.

Because the #1 indicator of school success of household income NOT Race!
#2 is ability of the teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The student body is also important not just the teaching curriculum.

Definitely. I don't want those brown and black colored hoodlums screwing up my kids' education. When is the next klan meeting? I've got to pick up my sheet from the dry cleaners.

Part of the ranking is how well minorities perform. I doubt that many of large populations of FCPS asians and hispanics will be attending the klan rallies at any of the top 10 schools listed.

Learning has nothing to do w/ race and the list proves that you can be of a lower SES, different demographics or be a minority and FCPS will help you excel.

Then, why are the schools with highest minority populations not on the list? Enough said.

TJ has a lot of Asians and is 61% minority, McLean has a lot of Asians and is 39% minority, Oakton is 39% minority, Yorktown is 39% minority, Woodson is 40% minority, West Springfield is 40% minority, Marshall has a lot of Asians and Hispanics and is 46% minority.

Ok, well let's talk about real minorities, not Asians. You know as well as I do, the higher the FARMS/ESL percentage, the lower performing the school - and that it affects all groups of students for the worse. Asian Americans, while technically a minority, usually outperform the white majority.

I see asians are a fake minority

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The student body is also important not just the teaching curriculum.

Definitely. I don't want those brown and black colored hoodlums screwing up my kids' education. When is the next klan meeting? I've got to pick up my sheet from the dry cleaners.

Part of the ranking is how well minorities perform. I doubt that many of large populations of FCPS asians and hispanics will be attending the klan rallies at any of the top 10 schools listed.

Learning has nothing to do w/ race and the list proves that you can be of a lower SES, different demographics or be a minority and FCPS will help you excel.

Then, why are the schools with highest minority populations not on the list? Enough said.

Some majority-minority schools in this area with high percentages of FARMS students on the list of top schools in the state include Washington-Lee (#21), Falls Church (#23), Annandale (#30) and Manassas Park (#42).

It may be worth repeating that, under the US News methodology, if the minority and low-income students at the top 10 schools weren't exceeding various benchmarks, those schools wouldn't be on the list.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The student body is also important not just the teaching curriculum.

Definitely. I don't want those brown and black colored hoodlums screwing up my kids' education. When is the next klan meeting? I've got to pick up my sheet from the dry cleaners.

Part of the ranking is how well minorities perform. I doubt that many of large populations of FCPS asians and hispanics will be attending the klan rallies at any of the top 10 schools listed.

Learning has nothing to do w/ race and the list proves that you can be of a lower SES, different demographics or be a minority and FCPS will help you excel.

Then, why are the schools with highest minority populations not on the list? Enough said.

TJ has a lot of Asians and is 61% minority, McLean has a lot of Asians and is 39% minority, Oakton is 39% minority, Yorktown is 39% minority, Woodson is 40% minority, West Springfield is 40% minority, Marshall has a lot of Asians and Hispanics and is 46% minority.

Ok, well let's talk about real minorities, not Asians. You know as well as I do, the higher the FARMS/ESL percentage, the lower performing the school - and that it affects all groups of students for the worse. Asian Americans, while technically a minority, usually outperform the white majority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The student body is also important not just the teaching curriculum.

Definitely. I don't want those brown and black colored hoodlums screwing up my kids' education. When is the next klan meeting? I've got to pick up my sheet from the dry cleaners.

Part of the ranking is how well minorities perform. I doubt that many of large populations of FCPS asians and hispanics will be attending the klan rallies at any of the top 10 schools listed.

Learning has nothing to do w/ race and the list proves that you can be of a lower SES, different demographics or be a minority and FCPS will help you excel.

Then, why are the schools with highest minority populations not on the list? Enough said.

TJ has a lot of Asians and is 61% minority, McLean has a lot of Asians and is 39% minority, Oakton is 39% minority, Yorktown is 39% minority, Woodson is 40% minority, West Springfield is 40% minority, Marshall has a lot of Asians and Hispanics and is 46% minority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The student body is also important not just the teaching curriculum.

Definitely. I don't want those brown and black colored hoodlums screwing up my kids' education. When is the next klan meeting? I've got to pick up my sheet from the dry cleaners.

Part of the ranking is how well minorities perform. I doubt that many of large populations of FCPS asians and hispanics will be attending the klan rallies at any of the top 10 schools listed.

Learning has nothing to do w/ race and the list proves that you can be of a lower SES, different demographics or be a minority and FCPS will help you excel.

Then, why are the schools with highest minority populations not on the list? Enough said.

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The curriculum may be the same, but the results are not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is --- the curriculum at all the FCPS schools is the same. Some people pay more in housing so their kids can have richer/whiter friends. Whatever.

The student body is also important not just the teaching curriculum.

Definitely. I don't want those brown and black colored hoodlums screwing up my kids' education. When is the next klan meeting? I've got to pick up my sheet from the dry cleaners.

Part of the ranking is how well minorities perform. I doubt that many of large populations of FCPS asians and hispanics will be attending the klan rallies at any of the top 10 schools listed.

Learning has nothing to do w/ race and the list proves that you can be of a lower SES, different demographics or be a minority and FCPS will help you excel.