U.S. News and World Report released its rankings for 2019 Best High Schools which includes a mix of traditional, charter, and magnet schools. Newton North came in at 28 in the State and Newton South came in at 29 (see rankings for Massachusetts).
We’re Nos. 28th and 29th in the State or 732 and 734 Nationally!
by Amy Sangiolo | May 1, 2019 | Newton | 20 comments
We have some of the most favorable demographics and tax base that a school district could have. A number of less privileged communities outperformed us…the kind of communities that can’t necessarily afford to send their kids to Russian math. Newton should be more like #1 and #2, not #28 and #29.
This is what happens when the school administrators allow the classroom staff to preach instead of teach. How many of these students don’t know who JFK’s vice-president was, but could rattle off a list of alleged atrocities committed by Christopher Columbus?
To have any validity, these rankings need to distinguish between two types of high schools:
-Schools that are able to select the student population
-Schools that enroll all students who register.
In addition, the rankings should
-Exclude the use of AP and IB classes, which are all too often test prep classes,
-Include the percentage of English language learners and students who qualify for free/reduced lunch in the analysis as a more important data point.
For the most part, these rankings are based on standardized state test scores with a heavy emphasis on the percentage of students who take AP and/or IB courses. They don’t even include how well the students do in those classes. All you have to do is sign up for the class to improve the school ranking.
Newton Guy: It’s not an either/or. It’s possible for someone to know both about President Johnson and about the atrocities committed by conquistadors.
And the atrocities weren’t “alleged” – they are well documented. But good to know where you stand when it comes to facts.
I think this is a red herring. ‘Schools that are able to select the student population’ In MA where local property taxes fund schools, housing prices do a lot of the student sorting.
I can’t believe some people are getting caught up in these somewhat arbitrary rankings.
While the schools ahead of South and North are deserving of recognition, every school and district offers something different. I would not trade my children’s experience and education in Newton for any of those listed as 1-27.
@michael singer & Newtonguy-
You are spot on.
Just to add to Mr. Singer’s comment-
The Newton school system was using the Chicago math system for years. I think that might have changed however.
School parents are now paying a median of 1.2 million dollars for a home here in sanctuary city, yet they are still having to pay for tutors and the Russian school of mathematics so their kids
can get properly educated in ONE OF THE BEST SCHOOL SYSTEMS IN THE COUNTRY. The math program is obviously still a big problem. Certainly at the lower levels. The kids used to derisively call the Chicago math program MathEnglish. Emphasing foundational learning was thought to be so- yesterday.
Many parents including myself spoke to one of the dozen highly paid school curriculum folks(Mary Eich?)back in the day about the math program, but we were basically told that if they wanted our opinion, they would ask for it. In other words, screw, we know better. I can’t believe one of the hundreds of lawyers in
Newton didn’t file a class action lawsuit.
A bad combination of ignorance and arrogance.
The ranking numbers 28,29,732 & 734
are nothing to celebrate.
Again, this is what we get when everything is upside down. If we focused more on properly educating our children instead of the shiny stuff
like national rankings, status, awards, virtue sharing etc, the rankings would probably improve.
The Newton school system always focused on the top 5-10 percent of the school population- the star students.
Maybe focusing on the other 90 percent would lift rankings also.
We might be one of the best, but our social emotional levels of our high school kids are totally stressed out. Too much work. Too mush stress. Lets not forget a few years ago, three teenagers from Newton took their own lives. We might be “one of the best” but the cost to our teens is too much.
I think the fact that one of the ranking components being % taking the AP exam bothers me. AP exams are now expected whereas it used to be that the smart kids took one AP course. I would much rather have kids take a course that has depth rather than trying to cover a large amount of info to prepare for a test. Engage kids in depth in an area of interest so that real meaningful learning occurs. It should be about learning not accomplishments of taking a test. As NewtonMom mentions the stress is too high for these kids. There is little joy in learning.
Comparisons to the state (or country) are ridiculous. We have a population of very educated parents who support education. We have very few problems with crime. The NPS could teach kids that 1+1=3, and the kids would still do well on tests.
I am in the midst of analyzing MCAS scores for the entire NPS and comparing these scores not with the state but with peer districts. The early evidence is that we are at the bottom of the list. I am still working on this because I want to entertain as many possible explanations for our poor performance as possible. I hope there is a good story, but as things stand, it does not look good. I fear that we have emphasized the basics–reading, writing, math and science.
A relevant analysis…
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/29/upshot/money-race-and-success-how-your-school-district-compares.html
Jeffrey- I hope your peer districts include the same percentage of students who are ELL students in the country for 3 years or less at the elementary level and 4 at the MS level and 5 years at the HS level or who qualify for free/reduced lunch. Otherwise, they aren’t peer districts.
Commenters critiquing the elementary math program should confirm their information is up to date. The schools have been moving over to Pearson’s Investigations 3, and I have been very impressed.
It is not just far better than the old Everyday Math curiculum. It teaches multiple approaches to problem solving, estimation, and numeric thinking. I wish I had been taught this way in primary school.
Combined with good teachers and math coaches, I feel Investigations 3 negates the need for supplementary math for all but the hardest core math kids.
Jane, I am looking at subgroups. I will include those subgroups (assuming DESE has data on it). Thanks.
Big picture, this is something that the administration/school committee should do every year.
Jeffrey, I think you’re in a bit of a Waban bubble.
The families of ELL students also matter. There is a big difference between an ELL student with parents here to teach or attend MIT/Harvard/BC and an ELL student with parents who haven’t completed high school. 44.6% of foreign-born adults in MA have less than a high school diploma, 18.2% have a bachelor’s degree +.
Strongest predictor of a student’s academic achievement is mom’s education.
Lucia,
many poor immigrant families in Chinatown will tell you the strongest predictor is hard work and putting education as a priority above anything else… maybe also a strong family structure
I think this is a flawed list.
In Illinois, where I went to HS, there’s only one takeaway from any ranking: did we beat New Trier?
USA Today has New Trier at #15 in Illinois (#307 nationwide), which is low, and while I can see Hinsdale and [Whitney] young ahead of them, the other 12 are baffling.
(They’re also missing the Illinois Math and Science Academy, which is obviously – and in no way influenced by my attendance there – the best school in the state. But since it’s statewide magnet with a 3-year program, maybe they couldn’t make it work with their algorithms?)
Quite interestingly, it’s the portion of their ranking that evaluates what percentage of students take APs that pushes Newton schools down in this ranking. South very heavily restricts AP access for students compared to other MA schools, which has its merits and downsides, so the AP % is far lower than most schools across Suburban MA.
On another note, let’s remember who keeps our NPS system so esteemed, our NPS teachers who get paid substantially less then in peer districts.
Jeffrey Pontiff…I hate to ask you to do more work, but, if it’s not too much to ask, could you look into the starting times of the high schools ahead of us? Thanks.