Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Isn't George Mason one of the best in the nation? It used to be one of the top ten schools in the nation but in the most recent USWN ranking it is unranked. What gives?

Best according to the lame USNWR criteria.

It was ranked highly by USNWR two years ago, but was unranked last year.

How is that possible?

The USNWR model is a bit like NCLB. If a school has a cohort of students, such as low-income or minority students, that underperform on SOLs compared to some state average or the like, it gets kicked out by USNWR and isn't ranked. It doesn't matter how well the majority of the students do.

Any model like this depends on the methodology and the data. If the methodology is bad, a very good school can go unranked. If the data is bad, a good school can end up overrated. And so on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Isn't George Mason one of the best in the nation? It used to be one of the top ten schools in the nation but in the most recent USWN ranking it is unranked. What gives?

Best according to the lame USNWR criteria.

It was ranked highly by USNWR two years ago, but was unranked last year.

How is that possible?

Anonymous wrote:I think you are off by quite a bit with Herndon, but probably not too far off.

What is the meaning of this sentence?

Anonymous wrote:1 TJ
2 Langley
3 McLean
4 Madison
5 Oakton
6 Fairfax
7 Marshall
8 Robinson
9 Herndon
10 Lake Braddock
11 West Springfield
12 Chantilly
13 Centreville
14 South Lakes
15 Falls Church
16 South County
16 West Potomac
16 Woodson
16 Annandale
16 Hayfield
16 Edison
16 Lee
16 Stuart
16 Mount Vernon

I think you are off by quite a bit with Herndon, but probably not too far off.

Falls Church HS is Fairfax County. George Mason is Falls Church City. Its confusing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Isn't George Mason one of the best in the nation? It used to be one of the top ten schools in the nation but in the most recent USWN ranking it is unranked. What gives?

Best according to the lame USNWR criteria.

It was ranked highly by USNWR two years ago, but was unranked last year.

Anonymous wrote:
Isn't George Mason one of the best in the nation? It used to be one of the top ten schools in the nation but in the most recent USWN ranking it is unranked. What gives?

Best according to the lame USNWR criteria.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't Falls Church high school one of the best in the state?

Ummmm . . . not that I'm aware of. The best at partying maybe?

I think the pp was referring to the high school in City of Falls Church. Many people confuse the two.

It's called George Mason and it's supposed to be good.

Isn't George Mason one of the best in the nation? It used to be one of the top ten schools in the nation but in the most recent USWN ranking it is unranked. What gives?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't Falls Church high school one of the best in the state?

Ummmm . . . not that I'm aware of. The best at partying maybe?

I think the pp was referring to the high school in City of Falls Church. Many people confuse the two.

It's called George Mason and it's supposed to be good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't Falls Church high school one of the best in the state?

Ummmm . . . not that I'm aware of. The best at partying maybe?

I think the pp was referring to the high school in City of Falls Church. Many people confuse the two.

Anonymous wrote:Isn't Falls Church high school one of the best in the state?

Yes, according to US News:

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools/falls-church-high-school-20438

Anonymous wrote:Isn't Falls Church high school one of the best in the state?

Ummmm . . . not that I'm aware of. The best at partying maybe?

Isn't Falls Church high school one of the best in the state?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you would rather have a bunch of smart whites surrounded by dumber minorities? Why not pick a school with everyone smart despite race?

SATs/academic success are determined by SES not race.
A middle-class black or hispanic kid will perform on the same level as whites and higher than average for URM, because the URM on average have more low-income kids whose grades and scores are lower.

Really? No, SAT determines intelligence

"Furthermore, the SAT is largely a measure of general intelligence. Scores on the SAT correlate very highly with scores on standardized tests of intelligence, and like IQ scores, are stable across time and not easily increased through training, coaching or practice. SAT preparation courses appear to work, but the gains are small — on average, no more than about 20 points per section."
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/04/why-should-sats-matter/the-sat-is-a-good-intelligence-test

College Board announced big changes in the SATs in part to reduce the obvious advantage to those who can afford expensive test prep.

College Board changes won't change a thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you would rather have a bunch of smart whites surrounded by dumber minorities? Why not pick a school with everyone smart despite race?

SATs/academic success are determined by SES not race.
A middle-class black or hispanic kid will perform on the same level as whites and higher than average for URM, because the URM on average have more low-income kids whose grades and scores are lower.

Really? No, SAT determines intelligence

"Furthermore, the SAT is largely a measure of general intelligence. Scores on the SAT correlate very highly with scores on standardized tests of intelligence, and like IQ scores, are stable across time and not easily increased through training, coaching or practice. SAT preparation courses appear to work, but the gains are small — on average, no more than about 20 points per section."
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/04/why-should-sats-matter/the-sat-is-a-good-intelligence-test

College Board announced big changes in the SATs in part to reduce the obvious advantage to those who can afford expensive test prep.