S.C. School Makes National Top 10?
WAIT, WHAT?
FITSNews - May 21, 2008 - The Charleston Post and Courier is reporting that a South Carolina Academic Magnet High School located in North Charleston ranks seventh-best in Newsweek’s list of top American high schools. Uhhh … wait, what? How the hell did this happen? From the story:
No other Lowcountry school was included in Newsweek’s ranking of more than 1,300 schools nationwide, and the next closest South Carolina school on the list was Eastside High School in Greenville at No. 342.
Hmmm … Sic Willie gets his man-thong in a wad every time South Carolina’s ridiculously shitty public schools are mentioned, yet for the second time this month he’s allowing us to blog positively about them. WTF? We’re not sure exactly what’s going on here, but the smart money is on breasts somehow being part of the equation. Seriously, we’re not exaggerating when we say that Sic would repudiate every core belief he ever had in exchange for a few topless photos, people.
Of course, the bad news is that of the top 350 schools in the country, South Carolina has only 2 of them - or precisely one-fourth of one percent . Meanwhile, we still lead the nation in dropout factories and have the worst graduation rate in Western Civilization. Anyway, a few schools are doing it right … including Sic’s new buds at Dutch Fork High School, who came in at No. 385 on the list.
Comments
By PalmettoCPA on May 21st, 2008 at 10:51 am
Nice choice of statistics. Although I’m not one to claim SC has all-around great public schools, I’ll still give credit where it’s due. The fact of the matter is, depending on where you live (a choice) there are some excellent options in proportion to the rest of the country.
SC had 19 of the 1,300 on the list for a whopping 1.462%.
Still looks pretty bad, until you have something to put it into perspective. According to the US Census Bureau, SC makes up a whopping 1.443% of the nation’s population.
What would make an interesting comparison would be looking at the poverty levels in those schools that are successful, and see how they compare to schools with similar demographics.
By baker on May 21st, 2008 at 10:52 am
Of course, Will, you took statistics out of this that favor your bias. If you go to the top 1,000 schools in this survey, there are 15 SC high schools (by my count). That’s of course 1.5%. (The list includes two right here in Spartanburg County, in fact.) Considering that not all states have the same number of high schools — I figure SC has far fewer than California, for instance, and probably more than Alaska — a ranking of states probably isn’t very worthwhile. But my guess is that having 1.5% of the national total speaks pretty well for our state — it may actually put us proportionally AHEAD of the national average. I don’t know.
In any case, while there is room to point out problems in SC’s schools, I don’t think skewing the data bolsters your ongoing battle against the state’s public education system.
Finally, this is kind of a funky survey, I think. If I recall correctly, this rating has to do with the percentage of students taking AP tests in a school. At an academic magnet, like the one in Charleston, it’s highly likely that most students will take those tests, right? At a regular public school, not as much.
Also, the rating doesn’t take into account scores (for example, “3″ or better) on the tests — only that taking having students take the tests is indicative of a challenging curriculum. That reasoning isn’t altogether faulty, in my opinion. But I do think success on the exams should be taken into account. At Spartanburg High School, for example, the percentage of students taking AP tests is high (the school is ranked in the Newsweek survey) AND the percentage of students making “3″ or better is quite high. That’s an impressive combination.
By baker on May 21st, 2008 at 11:13 am
Good stuff, CPA.
Again, the survey itself is interesting but not altogether on target, in my opinion.
By Natasha on May 21st, 2008 at 11:33 am
And the Post and Courier also points out that “Newsweek’s list did not include magnet or charter high schools with an average SAT score above 1,300 on the reading and math sections or an average ACT score above 29.
At least 17 top schools were not included on the top schools list, including the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics in Hartsville, but Academic Magnet’s scores were not high enough to exclude it from the list.”
By smart kid Grant on May 21st, 2008 at 6:34 pm
what South Carolina has 2 of the top 350? We seem to be moving up in the world, next thing you know, we will have .5% of the top 350 (gasp). We are only about 1/8 of where we should be if the states had equal representation…
By jared on May 21st, 2008 at 7:06 pm
wow south carolinas educational system is TERRIBLE….all i have to say is thank god for mississippi
By baker on May 21st, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I guess “smart kid” didn’t think too much of “cpa”’s incisive analysis.
By em on May 21st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
im not suprised that only two schools from South Carolina are ranked in the top 350 schools in the nation. My current issues class at Dutch Fork High School (which sic willie came to our class) has disccused the negtive points of South Carolina’s schools. Since our drop-out rate is one of the worst in the nations, i think our state needs to get off their butts and start making our state’s schools the best they can be and giving students the best learning possible. I know that education is the key to almost everything and we need to change our HORRIBLE education system and start going up in ranking of schools. South Carolina’s education system is just embarassing.
By Believe It Not (a.k.a. Sic Willie's Stalker) on May 21st, 2008 at 9:45 pm
sic(k) willie,
You’re riding a dead horse. The voucher scam has been exposed and has as much chance of getting through the Legislature as you have of getting back in the gubernator’s orifice. Sorry, ‘office.’
The most successful schools in S.C. prove our points.
Fix funding issues and latent racism and poverty and the rash of social ills that come with racism and poverty.
Then maybe we will talk about your voucher scam.
BIN News Editorial Staff
By Rachel on May 22nd, 2008 at 6:56 pm
i realize that only two of our South Carolina’s schools are ranked in the top 350 schools in our nation. But on the bright side, at least South Carolina is beginning to place. However, things would definitely be better if South Carolina schools would focus on the more important things like testing, rather than un-needed fluff that they continue to teach. It’s pretty pathetic.
By reggie on May 22nd, 2008 at 7:51 pm
im discombobulated whenever i hear that south carolina has placed high in something good. i would also like to thank will for calling us here at dutch fork his “buds”.
SC, lets shoot for less gun crimes, gang crimes, drunk driving, and lets also at least try to get 53.9% of students to graduate next year.
By you'll never guess : ) on May 22nd, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Ok this guy ahead of me is annoying…
but anyways I honestly think that Dutch Fork is an awesome school and deserves to be up there.
Sic Willie had really good points when he came to my current issues class and really made us think about what’s going on around us. The drop out rate is horrible though I do agree with that and also that the education system is embarrassing but their are good school’s just like Dutch Fork.
- and he’s not riding a dead horse cause technically I don’t think you’d go anywhere just like your point…
By baker on May 23rd, 2008 at 8:14 am
You guys keep putting forth this arbitrary 350 number. Why don’t we cut it off at top 10 and say that SC has 10% of the top schools? The fact is that the rating included more than a thousand schools in the United States, and as PalmettoCPA points out, SC is about right on target nationally — slightly ahead, actually — if you look at proportional population figures.
By you'll never guess : ) on May 23rd, 2008 at 1:03 pm
i was talking about sic willie’s stalker
not reggie : )!
By k on May 26th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Even though there are only two schools on the top 350 list from south carolina, dutch fork realllly should be on there! even though a lot of schools in south carolina do need to get their act together, there are some that should be recognized for its hard work. its good that there are at least two on the list, but we need to get that number up, and find ways to make the drop out rate less and the educational system more organized.