I thought it would be a good idea, considering my statements about Columbus public schools, to do some side-by-side comparisons. I used the State’s web site to compare districts. Both charts represent high-school graduation rates.
First, Columbus compared to the other major Ohio cities.
Here’s Columbus compared to the immediate sub-urbs:
I just wanted to mention that I believe Columbus Schools count all students who leave the district, not just those who drop out. So, as some people might be able to leave the district for the better schools of the suburbs, or for private or charter schools, they are classified as non-graduates.
I have nothing to back this up, but it seems as though “good” suburban schools probably have fewer people fleeing than the Cols. city schools do.
So the statistics might be sightly skewed. I’m not defending the sad state of the schools! And I always vote for the tax levies, just for the record. Just wanted to point that out. You might want to double check.
Any metrics of this type are tricky. Medary is a Columbus School that’s slated for closing this year. My wife and I visited their open house several years in a row and loved it (my daughter’s a year from K). They had poor test scores but an energetic staff (a Ph.D. kindergarten teacher) and, practically speaking, a latino immersion language program (but, they taught in English).
I think before judging by the scores or graduation rates, you simply have to visit the school and see what your kid’s going to face day-to-day. I think in the suburbs, your child will demand her own cell before 5th grade whereas in the city, she may not be under such peer pressure to get that cell and also be in a more diverse group. We investigated private and public options and will continue to do so. But, so far, we’re going public and we’ll supplement what they don’t provide.
Sorry for the babbling.
And, good point Lisa.
Nice quick-reference graphs!
FWIW, I think the test score results and other ratings information are at *least* as important as graduation rates in examining the quality of an education. Nothing beats actually visiting the school(s) as Dave said, either.
As for the Columbus graduation rates, just anecdotally based on the sheer number of folks I know who went to my (CPS) high school and did NOT graduate, I feel pretty safe saying that Columbus’s numbers are NOT inflated *significantly* by “moving away” vs. “just didn’t graduate”.
Both are good points. I went to an inner-city high school in Minneapolis…a school that was considered the dregs of the metro area. We had, however, several language programs, satellite links with schools in Russia, a handicapped hockey team, and other very innovative programs.
Regardless of the school or the district, parent and community involvement is crucial to any student’s success.