America's Top Public High Schools

[thelakelander]

Jax has two schools ranked in the top 10.  The list is a ranking of 1,300 public schools across the country.

1. BASIS Charter - Tucson

2. Talented and Gifted - Dallas

3. Suncoast Community - Riviera Beach

4. Science/Engineering Magnet - Dallas

5. Stanton College Prep - Jacksonville

6. Preuss UCSD - La Jolla

7. Academic Magnet - North Charleston

8. Paxon School for Advanced Studies - Jacksonville

9. Oxford Academy - Cypress

10. International School - Bellevue

for full list: http://www.newsweek.com/id/39380

Here are the Northeast Florida schools listed:
5 â€" Stanton College Preparatory School
8 â€" Paxon School for Advanced Studies
89 â€" Nease High School (St. Johns County)
151 â€" Mandarin High School
176 â€" Douglas Anderson School of Arts
319 â€" Bartram Trail High School
413 â€" St. Augustine High School (St. Johns County)

Duval County school officials said Fletcher High School should be 108 by their estimates. Newsweek is looking into the situation, school district spokeswoman Jill Johnson said.

http://news.jacksonville.com/justin/2008/05/19/two-jacksonville-schools-hit-top-10-in-newsweek-annual-ranking/

[Driven1]

don't we have like a 50% dropout rate?  quite ridiculous.  it is the joke of a school board that we have.

[thelakelander]

We have our work cut out for us, but it could be worse.  Detroit has a 75% dropout rate. 

[blizz01]

50% seems a bit from the hip - erroneous............

[Driven1]

not too far off there blitzer...not too shabby for a guess...

it is 40% drop-out.  and i can't think of a reason why dropping out and going to get a GED would be advantageous in any way.  i'm sure there are some students who do that, but come on.  it's not part of the normal "success path".  i think it is usually a..."OMG, what did i do?!?!" kind of thing...and then they head back for the GED.  I would guess (that crazy guessing again) it is less than 15% of those who drop out that go back though.

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/121606/met_6848430.shtml

[blizz01]

Does the inverse of graduation rate = dropout rate?

[Driven1]

Does the inverse of graduation rate = dropout rate?

well...if you don't graduate.  did you NOT NOT graduate somehow?  to answer your question - yes.

[Driven1]

yeah...that's it...40% quit and go to FCCJ on the "fast-track" plan.  we really have a very bright city here.  a veritable Research Triangle Park full of GED-havin know-it-alls. 

[blizz01]

Sorry guys - I wasn't trying to split atoms here.......bottom line is that while our "dropout" rate is not something to be proud of, the basis for the initial topic is.

http://www.ncset.org/publications/essentialtools/dropout/part1.2.asp

[Driven1]

good point blizz...thank you for reiterating and bringing us back to the topic at hand.  something we can be proud of.

[JagFan07]

Stephen,

I hate to disagree with you as we agree on so many topics. I do not feel we should look at the Magnet program as a badge of honor but rather as a failure of our system. What we have affectively done is taken our best and brightest and pooled them together leaving the other schools to fend for themselves. What this has done is remove programs from schools for students who may not be the best all around students, and thus cannot compete to enter a school like Stanton, but may excel in a certain subject area. This leaves them with no choice but to take mediocre classes taught by less than qualified teachers.

I see this first hand each day. What is being taught as AP classes now is a joke. I have a son taking several of them at Mandarin High School (by the way the principal now is our AP Euro teacher Mrs Sisler). If it were not for the preparation I have given him from my college texts and supplemental materials we have purchased he would be ill prepared to take the AP exam for any of his classes. He actually has a teacher who has never taught an AP class. Luckily my son has parents who are involved in his learning process.

[JeffreyS]

I love our magnet program it is one of the things we do right.

[Driven1]

Stephen,

I hate to disagree with you as we agree on so many topics. I do not feel we should look at the Magnet program as a badge of honor but rather as a failure of our system. What we have affectively done is taken our best and brightest and pooled them together leaving the other schools to fend for themselves. What this has done is remove programs from schools for students who may not be the best all around students, and thus cannot compete to enter a school like Stanton, but may excel in a certain subject area. This leaves them with no choice but to take mediocre classes taught by less than qualified teachers.

exactly JagFan...well put and spot on.  it hurts further that we have a school board that is paid relative mega bucks and does a really poor job.

[Driven1]

i was in AP too!  Actually took the tests too and got college credits - that I subsequently used at a college.

I think I made a 5 on all but one of the tests...a 4 in AP Euro History.  I am sooooooo smart.  It was tough being separated from the kids that weren't as gifted sometimes (they were always in the regular and plain standard classes), but I still managed to stay friends with most of my "dumb" friends. hehe.

[JagFan07]

Yes I remember you went to DA, In fact you attended with my younger brother Phil (he was the first class to attend all 4 years at DA 9-12).

While I agree with you that you have to keep the brightest engaged or they will loose focus, I still feel there is a big difference between having separate classes within a school for the "gifted" than having different schools. The teachers who are trained to teach those gifted students will also still be available as resources to teach those who are less gifted in other areas but may excel in a certain area. ie say a student is a horrible at English and is holding his own in a standard class. The same student excels in the area of mathematics. Should this student be deprived of learning from the best math teachers purely due to his lack of skill in English? In the current system the best teachers are pooled together with the best students "All Around" students. This is leaving those who may be extremely talented in certain areas but lacking in others to be left to fend for themselves. They may get lucky and have a school with a teacher that matches their talents, but more than not they will probably end up discouraged and never see their potential.