US Public School Rankings for NC (stolen from SC forum)

[Jerseyman4]

This is great news for Charlotte but searching 1139 schools, only the major cities and suburbs are doing well. Only a few rural schools INCLUDING mine were to be found

16 Myers Park** Charlotte

53 Raleigh Charter Raleigh

59 Enloe** Raleigh

66 Harding University** Charlotte

72 Grimsley** Greensboro

101 East Chapel Hill Chapel Hill

126 Providence Charlotte

127 Butler Matthews

158 South Mecklenburg Charlotte

197 Olympic Charlotte

212 Western Guilford Greensboro

214 Page Greensboro

249 Mount Tabor Winston-Salem

254 Hopewell Huntersville

267 Southwest Guilford High Point

271 Jordan Durham

276 Needham Broughton** Raleigh

303 High Point Central** High Point

313 Chapel Hill Chapel Hill

323 East Mecklenburg** Charlotte

326 Andrews High Point

343 West Windsor-Plainsboro South Princeton Junction(NJ)

452 West Windsor-Plainsboro North Plainsboro(NJ). The SOUTH high school campus was ranked #1 in the state of NJ but nationally at 343???

470 Northwest Guilford Greensboro

481 Green Hope Morrisville

493 Independence* Charlotte

494 Southern Guilford Greensboro

509 Vance Charlotte

526 Garinger Charlotte

540 South Brunswick Southport, Brunswick County (First RURAL school in the state to be found)

556 Salisbury Salisbury

561 New Hanover Wilmington (this received a better ranking than Southport? wow)

565 Northwest School of the Arts Charlotte

598 Rose Greenville

601 Ragsdale Jamestown, Guilford County

702 Southeast Guilford Greensboro

747 Pinecrest** Southern Pines (yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy my old stomping grounds )

755 Dudley Greensboro

811 Asheville Asheville

815 Eastern Guilford Gibsonville

821 West Charlotte Charlotte

839 Northeast Guilford McLeansville

902 Riverside Durham

911 Watauga Boone

981 Waddell Charlotte

987 Northern Durham

1016 Manteo Manteo

1069 West Mecklenburg Charlotte

1119 Smith** Greensboro

*Gave just IB tests.

**Gave both IB and AP tests. AP and IB participation are indicators of a school’s efforts to get students to excel and prepare for college.

[DanRNC]

This ranking is garbage. Its based solely on the number of students taking AP and IB tests rather than the overall quality of the school. It doesn't even take into account the number of students who passed the AP tests.

[blburton]

ditto

This ranking is garbage. Its based solely on the number of students taking AP and IB tests rather than the overall quality of the school. It doesn't even take into account the number of students who passed the AP tests.

[krazeeboi]

This ranking is garbage. Its based solely on the number of students taking AP and IB tests rather than the overall quality of the school. It doesn't even take into account the number of students who passed the AP tests.

The researchers actually address this in the methodology section (question #3).

[Jerseyman4]

The researchers actually address this in the methodology section (question #3).

Yea, my high school started doing the IB courses during my junior year (2000-2001) and its great to see my high school in a national ranking being its in a rual area in NC. Only other places that are in rural areas in NC according to the list are Manteo, Boone and Southport.

[suburban george3]

Yea, my high school started doing the IB courses during my junior year (2000-2001) and its great to see my high school in a national ranking being its in a rual area in NC. Only other places that are in rural areas in NC according to the list are Manteo, Boone and Southport.

Watauga High School in Boone is constantly highly ranked in the state for academics, it's probably mainly thanks to the influence of Appalachian State being in town. I find it hard to believe that out of all the cities in the state, Winston-Salem/Forsyth Co. has ONLY 1 school on this list!!!

[AuLukey]

That is also school size biased. Larger schools will of course have more students in AP and IB. It should go by percentage of students in the school taking those exams. And also the pass rate as stated before.

Jay M Robinson in Cabarrus County consistantly ranks in the top 20 in the state since its inauguration and it's not on that list. In fact Cab county doesn't even have a single school on that list. I find that hard to believe.

No offense to anybody that went there, and I have a few friends that did; but there is no way Independence or most of the Mecks would've make the list if judged by overall performance.

[monsoon]

Exactly what is Harding University? Is this Harding high school located off Freedom Drive?

[intcvlcphlga]

Watauga High School in Boone is constantly highly ranked in the state for academics, it's probably mainly thanks to the influence of Appalachian State being in town. I find it hard to believe that out of all the cities in the state, Winston-Salem/Forsyth Co. has ONLY 1 school on this list!!!

Reynolds used to be considered a better school than Mt Tabor and West Forsyth was on par with it. What happened to those schools?

[partial]

That is also school size biased. Larger schools will of course have more students in AP and IB. It should go by percentage of students in the school taking those exams.

That is exactly what it does:

We take the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school in May, and divide by the number of seniors graduating in May or June.

Why do you divide by the number of graduating seniors, and does that mean you only count tests taken by seniors? Don

[peaceloveunderstanding]

Exactly what is Harding University? Is this Harding high school located off Freedom Drive?

Yes it is.

http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/allschools/jump/j...asp?Courier=405

[AuLukey]

That is exactly what it does:

Graduating seniors? What about failing seniors?

This should be the equation used, if any:

Average score on test * (tests taken / TOTAL school population) = Rating

this way you get an unbiased performance rating based not only by score but also by percentage of the student body actually taking the test. This more accurately represents a school as a whole, rather than just the upper-classmen.

[TriadDoug]

One major question: Are these rankings for students of a school or do they reflect classes taken by students at these schools? Most Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools do not have AP programs, as there is a central campus (The Career Center at Forsyth Tech) that houses the vast majority of AP classes. I think the reason that Mount Tabor is on the list and Reynolds and West Forsyth are not is because Mount Tabor had a large addition made to their school and have classroom space for AP courses. To the best of my knowledge students at West and Reynolds still commute to the Career Center.

[rjp212]

I am suprised Lake Norman or Mooresville isn't on the list either. They are both some of the best schools in Region if not state.

[intcvlcphlga]

One major question: Are these rankings for students of a school or do they reflect classes taken by students at these schools? Most Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools do not have AP programs, as there is a central campus (The Career Center at Forsyth Tech) that houses the vast majority of AP classes. I think the reason that Mount Tabor is on the list and Reynolds and West Forsyth are not is because Mount Tabor had a large addition made to their school and have classroom space for AP courses. To the best of my knowledge students at West and Reynolds still commute to the Career Center.

I didn't realize that Mt Tabor students don't go to the Career Center anymore. Before it was built, Reynolds was the only school in the system with AP classes and I assume students from those other schools had to come to Reynolds. Is the idea of Career Center unique among the large NC public school systems?

[tiblerbrit]

I'm sorry but going solely on knowledge of Charlotte schools, Waddell, West Charlotte, Garinger and arguably Vance are not better schools than North Meck which isn't on the list.