Do people realize this is a post from 2015?! Start a new post if you want to talk about it.

Anonymous wrote:RM most difficult, Blair = TJ. My two cents.

True, but RM involves a lot of mindless busy work to make it hard for its own sake, whereas TJ and Blair provide real value.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I clicked in this thread because I was curious about what's out there, and now I'm frightened. Why are you all so vicious? Are you still caught up in the mean girls' high school mentality? Or are you actually high schoolers posting here? Because this is very immature behavior for parents. I realize that op asked for the "most selective" and set this up like a competition, but do you realize that it's possible to talk positively about one who without knocking down another? It is possible to raise concerns about some methodologies without name calling and slamming people down.

If you are parents, I do hope you model better behavior to your children. Cheer for your own team, sure, but don't boo at the others.

There is a Blair magnet booster intent on knocking other schools especially TJ.

Although TJ is overrated, at least now that they've cleaned up people gaming the admissions process, they have a stronger cohort.

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I clicked in this thread because I was curious about what's out there, and now I'm frightened. Why are you all so vicious? Are you still caught up in the mean girls' high school mentality? Or are you actually high schoolers posting here? Because this is very immature behavior for parents. I realize that op asked for the "most selective" and set this up like a competition, but do you realize that it's possible to talk positively about one who without knocking down another? It is possible to raise concerns about some methodologies without name calling and slamming people down.

If you are parents, I do hope you model better behavior to your children. Cheer for your own team, sure, but don't boo at the others.

There is a Blair magnet booster intent on knocking other schools especially TJ.

Wow, I clicked in this thread because I was curious about what's out there, and now I'm frightened. Why are you all so vicious? Are you still caught up in the mean girls' high school mentality? Or are you actually high schoolers posting here? Because this is very immature behavior for parents. I realize that op asked for the "most selective" and set this up like a competition, but do you realize that it's possible to talk positively about one who without knocking down another? It is possible to raise concerns about some methodologies without name calling and slamming people down.

If you are parents, I do hope you model better behavior to your children. Cheer for your own team, sure, but don't boo at the others.

There is more to a rigorous education than producing test takers and science winners. If you want a school that emphasizes thinking and writing about social issues, in addition to rigorous classes, and develops the whole student, I would pick Sidwell. Before everyone attacks me as elitist, we are middle class educators with kids who used to be in top notch public school programs. Sidwell has helped our kids become self confident thinkers and writers. They also have a deep understanding of mathematical and scientific principles. The public schools they attended were excellent, put there were weaknesses in each. I prefer their curriculum to AP courses which seem somewhat superficial and test-oriented to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:BASIS may not be ranked in Newsweek and Business Insider for methodology reasons such as being for grades 5-12. I think I read of another ranking which took BASIS off the list for methodology reasons and not for performance reasons.

What was the "methodology reason"?

The Post 'Challenge Index' put BASIS Tuscon North was put in the Washington Post "Public Elite" list, rather than the regular public schools because of its students' high SAT and ACT scores indicate it is 'too selective' (per Jay Mathews in April 2015.

Not so for the Newsweek list. Newsweek includes all the schools including elite magnets etc.

From what I can tell, the BASIS Arizona schools were excluded from the Newsweek list because of weird Arizona school lunch laws and how the BASIS Arizona schools outsource their school lunch program, which ends up not yielding any FARMS stats, which is a ranking criterion that Newsweek uses - their methodology says they exclude schools without complete data.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM most difficult, Blair = TJ. My two cents.

RMIB most difficult.

Blair = Poolesville = TJ.

Blair most useful for building an impressive resume because they do the BEST JOB of entering into science competitions. They should be emulated by other schools.

IMHO.

Even though RM IB program is supposed to focus on humanities, reading/writing, TJ students seem to perform better in annual DC area Scholastic Writing Competition, newspaper/yearbook recognition/awards, speech/debate/MUN awards etc. even accounting for the different class size. Why is that?

Do you have any data points on competitions where RMIB kids and TJ went head-to-head and TJ kids won?

2015 US Presidential Scholar Candidates:

TJ = 36
RM IB plus rest of RM = 6

How do you like those numbers RM IB booster?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS may not be ranked in Newsweek and Business Insider for methodology reasons such as being for grades 5-12. I think I read of another ranking which took BASIS off the list for methodology reasons and not for performance reasons.

What was the "methodology reason"?

The Post 'Challenge Index' put BASIS Tuscon North was put in the Washington Post "Public Elite" list, rather than the regular public schools because of its students' high SAT and ACT scores indicate it is 'too selective' (per Jay Mathews in April 2015.

Not so for the Newsweek list. Newsweek includes all the schools including elite magnets etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS may not be ranked in Newsweek and Business Insider for methodology reasons such as being for grades 5-12. I think I read of another ranking which took BASIS off the list for methodology reasons and not for performance reasons.

What was the "methodology reason"?

The Post 'Challenge Index' put BASIS Tuscon North was put in the Washington Post "Public Elite" list, rather than the regular public schools because of its students' high SAT and ACT scores indicate it is 'too selective' (per Jay Mathews in April 2015.

Anonymous wrote:BASIS may not be ranked in Newsweek and Business Insider for methodology reasons such as being for grades 5-12. I think I read of another ranking which took BASIS off the list for methodology reasons and not for performance reasons.

What was the "methodology reason"?

BASIS may not be ranked in Newsweek and Business Insider for methodology reasons such as being for grades 5-12. I think I read of another ranking which took BASIS off the list for methodology reasons and not for performance reasons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC once it finishes building out its high school grades, they will be giving TJ a run for their money.

Is this a joke?

Probably not. While I don't know anything about BASIS, I have heard people saying similar things about it.

In US News & World Report, the BASIS Scottsdale school is ranked #2, TJ is ranked #3

This list doesn't have Basis Scottsdale ranked

http://www.businessinsider.com/smartest-public-schools-in-the-us-2015-4?op=1

The 50 smartest public high schools in the US

1. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology – Annandale, Virginia
2. International Academy – Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
3. High Technology High School – Lincroft, New Jersey
4. Westlake High School – Austin, Texas
5. Walter Payton College Preparatory High School – Chicago

First-time poster, not reading the rest of the posts, but my vote goes to TJ and probably Basis (for better or worse) for sci/math/tech rigor, and Sidwell, GDS, and WIS for liberal arts rigor (and especially the bilingual IB diploma program at WIS).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC once it finishes building out its high school grades, they will be giving TJ a run for their money.

Is this a joke?

Probably not. While I don't know anything about BASIS, I have heard people saying similar things about it.

In US News & World Report, the BASIS Scottsdale school is ranked #2, TJ is ranked #3

Newsweek List of Best High Schools 2015 doesn't have BASIS Scottsdale school listed:

Rank School Name State College Readiness Graduation Rate College Bound Poverty

1 Thomas Jefferson High VA 100.0 100.0% 99.8% 2.2
2 High Technology High School NJ 99.7 100.0% 100.0% 0
3 Academy For Mathematics Science And Engineering NJ 98.2 100.0% 100.0% 0
4 Union County Magnet High School NJ 97.2 100.0% 100.0% 10
5 Bergen County Academies NJ 95.9 100.0% 100.0% 2.9
6 Gretchen Whitney High CA 95.4 100.0% 100.0% 19.6
7 Middlesex County Academy for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies NJ 95.0 100.0% 100.0% 0
8 International Academy MI 93.9 99.3% 100.0% 4.6
9 Academy Of Allied Health And Science NJ 93.9 100.0% 100.0% 3.1
10 Payton College Preparatory HS IL 93.8 98.6% 97.8% 32.1
11 Academy For Allied Health Sciences NJ 93.7 100.0% 100.0% 15.6
12 Northside College Preparatory HS IL 93.7 99.2% 97.7% 36.2
13 Millburn High School NJ 93.5 100.0% 99.5% 1.3
14 New Trier Township HS Winnetka IL 93.3 99.6% 95.7% 3.8
15 Charter School Of Wilmington DE 92.9 100.0% 100.0% 1.6
16 Dover-Sherborn Regional High MA 92.9 100.0% 99.3% 2.8
17 Raleigh Charter High School NC 92.4 100.0% 97.8% 0
18 Success Academy UT 92.3 100.0% 100.0% 44.9
19 Haas Hall Academy AR 91.8 100.0% 100.0% 0.9
20 Bronx High School Of Science NY 91.4 99.9% 99.9% 11.7

http://www.newsweek.com/high-schools/americas-top-high-schools-2015