<p>I'd have to pull it school by school, maybe later, but the top public high schools have SAT scores in the high 1300s to low 1400s.</p>
<p>Yes. We have heard plenty about private high schools. I was under the impression that this thread was about public high schools, according to tokenadult? </p>
<p>Does anyone have a link to the median SAT score of THJSST high school?? I would like to verify this. Very intriguing...</p>
<p>West Sidee,</p>
<p>Here you go - SAT scores for TJHSST for several years broken between math and verbal. In 2004 it was 748 and 734 respectively.</p>
<p>Wow. that is absolutely amazing. From what population does the school draw from? Meaning how big is the city or county in population from where they draw their students?</p>
<p>I am actually quite happy to see public high schools doing so well.</p>
<p>The top publics actually beat out the top privates in SAT scores because the privates have recruited athletes, legacies and kids who got an aa advantage in admissions.</p>
<p>^ That is absolutely incredible. This makes my day. Woo hoo! I guess local governments are doing something right at least!</p>
<p>Another factor in public high schools having higher SAT scores is that they are more likely to be found "teaching for the test" than privates. I think we can all agree that SAT scores are not always a measure of quality of education and certainly not of overall intelligence.</p>
<p>I'd say my public high in St. Louis, Clayton, was one of the best public schools in the country...at least the state, we spent something like 13000/student, small teacher ration, and all that jazz...</p>
<p>p.s. did someone say they went to MICDS?</p>
<p>
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Wow. that is absolutely amazing. From what population does the school draw from? Meaning how big is the city or county in population from where they draw their students?
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</p>
<p>Enrollment into the freshman class at TJHSST is based on a combination of a standardized test, recommendations and an essay. Any 8th grader in Northern Virginia, whether from a public or private school - there are a couple of minor exceptions - are eligible to try for enrollment. Approximately 420 students end up enrolling in the freshman class.</p>
<p>I don't know the total number of 8th graders in Northern Virginia but approximately 3000 students do sit the test. Obviously, the ones who sit the test are generally the more highly ranked students in their schools since TJHSST is very selective.</p>
<p>What about Lake Woebegone where all of the children are above average?</p>
<p>Well, there are a few things at work here. First of all, many of the highests scoring schools have little diversity. They are entered totally on the basis on one test. This, IMO, is probably the fair way to run State school. I don't know about TJ, but the top scoring magnets in NY have student bodies that are nearly all Asian. These kids were brilliant when they got there!</p>
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I don't know about TJ, but the top scoring magnets in NY have student bodies that are nearly all Asian
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<p>I believe the percentage of Asians at TJHSST is approximately 30%.</p>
<p>You also need to consider the percentage of students taking the SAT, not just the average score. There are schools where virtually everyone takes the SAT that might have a lower average than a school where only 30% take it.</p>
<p>That said, I don't know that I'd define the quality of a school (particularly a public school) by the test scores of its students. </p>
<p>Up to a certain income level, the test scores of a public high school tell you mostly about the demographics of a community. Beyond that level, few parents send their children to public schools.</p>
<p>Greybeard, I believe what you say is true in general. But the interesting thing about the high scoring magnets that I know about, such as Stuy and Bronx Science, is that the majority of kids are low income immigrants.</p>
<p>Ranking high schools by their SAT scores is like ranking high schools by their family incomes. If you took the students attending one of these "best" high schools and sent them to the absolute worst high school you could find.... guess what? They would still do well on their SATs.</p>
<p>Funny you mention Bethesday MD ...
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I've always heard that the public schools in Bethesda MD were good.
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. Schools there have always been highly ranked, even 30 years ago. I lived in that area after graduating from college and there were several newspaper articles at that time about BCC (Bethesda Chevy Chase) graduates who were complaining about how horrible their hs actually was. They felt totally unprepared for college, had spent lots of time sitting around bored in hs doing nothing. Sure, their test scores were high.... so what?</p>
<p>Zagat,</p>
<p>Here's an excerpt from the Wikepedia on Stuy:</p>
<p>"Heavily Jewish in its formative years, the student body as of 2005 was approximately 51 percent Asian and 38 percent [heavily Jewish] Caucasians, with Blacks and Hispanics each constituting roughly three percent of the population. <a href="%5Burl%5Dhttp://www.nycenet.edu/OurSchools/Region9/M475/default.htm%5B/url%5D">21</a> Russian and Indian students are well-represented, and Jews continue to maintain a strong presence. About 30% of the incoming freshman class are immigrants to the United States, while 20% are first-generation Americans. <a href="%5Burl%5Dhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/Case.pdf%5B/url%5D">22</a> As of 2003, the most common countries of origin of immigrant students were China, Russia, and India.</p>
<p>top publics in California based on the state standards test, which ecompasses everyone at the school, not just college-bound SAT takers (and preppers).</p>
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If you took the students attending one of these "best" high schools and sent them to the absolute worst high school you could find.... guess what? They would still do well on their SATs.
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</p>
<p>I do not fully agree with this. While some may still do well, some will also do worse. Many young high schoolers are susceptible to peer influence. If all of their friends are studying, it will help them to study as well. If all of their friends are out partying and smoking marijuana at 15, then they will be inclined to study less. </p>
<p>Schools like these magnet schools provide an atmosphere of academics and nurturing, so that students can study. While some may study regardless of what school they go to, some also study because of the peer pressure to excel.</p>
<p>You could arguably differentiate between "top publics" and publics with highest average API scores.</p>
<p>I go to TJ, and actually just recently picked up a little hand out about our "stats":</p>
<p>Class of '04:</p>
<p>Verbal mean: 734
Math mean: 748</p>
<p>98% 3 or higher on the 3,001 AP exams we took.</p>
<p>College admissions data (abridged)</p>
<p>Accepted:
H: 12
Y:11
P: 15
S:13
M: 15
C: 7
(and for laughs)
UVA: 247</p>
<p>99% attend a four year college</p>
<p>153 National Merit Semifinalists, 200 commended</p>
<p>17.5% admit rate into the high school from the application pool.</p>
<p>Draws from the following counties: Arlington, Fairfax, Faquier, Loudoun, Prince William and Falls Church/Fairfax City. Some people have very long (1 hour+ ) bus rides, but some are local.</p>