Characteristics of Top High Schools
What are some of the commonalities shared by the best high schools in America? As a follow-up to our article “What Makes a Great High School?“, the Around Dublin Team sifted through data provided by School Evaluation Services to identify some of the themes of the gold and silver medal high schools in America.
Perhaps the most compelling finding is that charter high schools represent 18% of the Top 100 gold medal schools – although they represent a small fraction of all high schools in America. Additionally, nearly half of the gold medal high schools have selective admissions criteria and a full 68% of the gold and silver medal schools are located in affluent areas. Arguably this creates a self-selection bias where these schools perform well because they attract the high achievement oriented parents and students.
Another major finding is that high school enrollment numbers did not determine performance. While the #1 high school in America has an enrollment of 1,802 students, the #6 school in America has an enrollment of 148 students. The average enrollment for the Top 10 high schools in America (4 are in California) is a surprisingly low 681 students. This is a revelation given that the common belief has been that high schools require a minimum of 2,000 students to provide kids with the breadth and depth of courses necessary to achieve academic success.
Please visit U.S. News & World Report for more information about the best high schools in America.
2:51 PM on July 1st, 2009
This said it all, throw out the argument that we need 2000-3000 students to have a successful High School. The only reason anyone argues this fact is that they just don't know how to provide such a high level of education at a smaller school while many other districts nationwide in this study have successfully done so with schools that had well less than 2000 students.
Unfortunately wealth seems to play a roll in this though. I as an Eastern Dublin Parent truly believe we can have two highly rated and highly regarded High Schools in Dublin East and West, even at 1500 students or less each. Students on both sides are equally capable if given the opportunity to reach new heights. If our leaders can be a bit creative, we can create an environment or system in which the two schools will compliment and challenge each other. Creative in terms of the ability to being able to provide a top notch curriculum for two smaller sized schools liek other districts have done. I know they can't print money thus financing is the tougher issue which no one has answers to right now, especially in this current economic environment.
We need to keep an open mind though and leave ourselves a chance for a second High School should funding is ever figured out, even for a campus of 1000-1200 students instead of 2000-3000 as some claim we absolutely need.
If families in the East would have a reason to stop migrating out of Dublin to other communities, we may actually be ablet to retain enough students in our District to eventually have two 1500 student high schools at City buildout.
We cannot continue to shut the possibility out because so of called studies claim that we need a campus of 2000 plus students each to be successful academically. This finding could not be more wrong!!
3:56 PM on July 1st, 2009
The problem is that current school board members are only willing to look at the facts that support their prejudice. Even a lot of posters have posted numerous facts that completely rejected their conclusion about the relationship between school quality and student population, they are not willing to accept them.
The only way to change the situation is to vote them out in the next election. East Dubliners need to show their political power, otherwise, we will always be ignored.
4:19 PM on July 1st, 2009
I think I've explained this about 3 times on this blog. Here's a fourth:
Who here likes having AP classes in a school? Okay. Probably all of you. Now here's a scenario. Let's say a school wanted to create two new AP classes, we'll say an AP economics class, and an AP English literature class. Registration time comes and goes, and let's say only 19 kids signed up for AP econ, and 20 kids signed up for AP Brit Lit. Guess what happens? Those classes are scrapped! The school can't afford to pay teachers to teach 2 small sections. Therefore, the school is deficient those two college-level, specialized classes, all because there weren't enough kids that wanted to take it.
Scenario #2: The school wants to create a remedial algebra class for students that need the extra help, because gosh darn it, they need to increase the API score! But only 20 kids actually require this class. The school can't afford to have such a small class, so it's scrapped as well.
Here's my point. In comparable economic situations, a school with 1000 kids simply cannot afford to offer as many specialized classes as a school that has 2000 kids.
4:37 PM on July 1st, 2009
Anonymous July 1, 2009 4:19 PM:
Your reasoning is flawed. It is very possible that a better high school will have much higher percentage of students attending AP classes. So you do not really need that big of a student population in order to get enough students for AP classes.
4:42 PM on July 1st, 2009
I disagree. No matter how great a school is, you're still going to have your middle-of-the-road and lower-performing kids. Out of 1000 students, it's a matter of statistics. Not everyone in a "great" high school is going to be able to take AP classes. Possible, yes…but comparing a population of similar demographics of 1000 to 2000, there will definitely be more eligible AP kids in the larger school. I don't see how you can dispute that.
5:05 PM on July 1st, 2009
Here are some data from US News and World Report:
Pacific Collegiate Charter, ranked #3 nationally, AP Participation Rate 100.0%
Mission San Jose High, ranked #60 nationally, Participation Rate 75.1%
Campolindo High (Moraga, CA), Silver Medal, AP Participation Rate 55.3%
California High (San Ramon, CA), Silver Medal, AP Participation Rate 33.2%
You can see there is a big difference in terms of AP Participation Rate. So for some of the top schools, even the student population is smaller, they can still offer many AP classes because of much higher AP Participation Rate.
You need to do your own DD. Do not always take conventional thinking as the truth. Thanks.
1:39 PM on July 13th, 2009
U.S. News and World Report’s methodology on computing AP participation is outdated. They are only looking at Senior level AP classes. Presently more and more students are taking AP classes in their sophomore and junior years.
5:11 PM on July 1st, 2009
Can you provide some figures regarding student population at those schools?
5:18 PM on July 1st, 2009
You can do some research yourself. Here are the numbers I got from US News & World Report:
Pacific Collegiate Charter, 417 students
Mission San Jose High, 2108 students
Campolindo High (Moraga, CA), 1372 students
California High (San Ramon, CA), 2598 students
Pretty much all the bronze schools have participation rate not even listed because it is lower than 20%.
1:13 PM on July 2nd, 2009
This is where a Charter school can come into play if class sizes or participation is of concern. Parents would have to pay a premium anyways to send their kids there, although it may be less than a full fledge private school. With the higher tuition and requirement to get in, wouldn't the charter school operator be able to offer AP classes even if there was only 20 students in each? The Charter school option could be a complement to Dublin High. Students both East and West could choose to go to either School. If a student qualifies academically and their parents can afford the extra cost of sending their kid to the charter school, then why not have that option?
Reality is if kid (east or west) qualifies for higher academics and their parents could afford higher tuition fees, it is highly likely that this kid won't be attending Dublin High anyways given the current ratings vs our neighbors. So really the Charter School is no threat to Dublin High in terms of taking students away as they weren't coming anyways in the first place. It only helps to keep families in Dublin, East or West as they don't have to move out.
Having a complimentary Charter High School adds to the quality of life for Dubliners with kids. Instead as it currently stands, the high school issue has an adverse affect on quality of life as parents would have to find a way to get their kids across town (25 minutes) to get to school, or having to find a way to finance and send their kids to far away private schools.
6:01 PM on July 2nd, 2009
Ok, comparing schools is like comparing a grape to a watermelon. They are both fruits but to say the grape is superior to the watermelon is a leap in logic. To take such a braod approach is unfair to both the grape and the watermelon. Dublin High is a fantastic school and getting better each year. The way funding works in public education that determines what can be offered. Also, money matters. Schools in wealthier areas do better than schools in poorer areas. If you are so unhappy with the quality of education in Dublin, you are free to move to Pleasanton or San Ramon. My guess is most if not all of those writing on this blog do not have or have never had a student at DHS. If you did, you would know what a fantastic school it is and that DHS sent kids to UC Berkeley, Standford, Ivy League Schools as well as many other high performing colleges. Stop putting down DHS and start working to help make an even better school. We will all benefit from it.
1:32 PM on July 8th, 2009
I had TWO kids go through Dublin High School and it was the WORST educational experience of our lives. I regret ever moving to Dublin and being forced to send my kids to this horrible high school with it’s louzy excuse of a principal and an even worse athletic director. Do yourself and your children a favor and don’t send them to DHS. And working to help change it does not work…been there and done that!
3:58 PM on July 8th, 2009
Louzy? I call fake on this post. Either that or someone’s kid apparently didn’t get enought playing time.
3:25 PM on July 9th, 2009
I second this, let’s help DHS become a better high school in its academics, athletics and administration. We can vote for school board members that look to enrich children’s lives. We can attend school meetings regularly as our busy schedules permit. And we can promote growth and diversity for our children–be proactive in our children’s lives.
6:09 PM on July 2nd, 2009
Here comes another one who is trying to deny the hard facts. US News & World Report offers very objective analysis/ranking of high schools and colleges. DHS is not even in the Bronze list. Period.
I am pretty sure DHS is sending students to UC Berkeley, Standford, Ivy League Schools as well as many other high performing colleges. But the real question is how many?
10:46 PM on July 2nd, 2009
Charter schools are typically magnet schools. Kids from the West side will have to travel to get to it. Call me selfish, but I think it should be on the West side.
11:03 PM on July 2nd, 2009
Hey, you are right. We could use the closed down Nielsen school to save money for land and buildings for a charter school. This is good since DHS is in the middle of town and the West Hills has no high school.
10:02 AM on July 3rd, 2009
I have experienced both a 5000 and a 300 student high school. what makes the difference is the class sizes and mission of the school.
The larger the school the larger the admin part , and it is harder to keep a standard quality of the teachings.
I prefer well run, small size schools whose charter is to provide the advantage to my kids to start the life ahead of their peers – in every aspect.
In many foreign education systems public school system is augmented with schools for this purpose.
This is not to say that public school systems are substandard but public school students (thus their parents) needs to take more responsibility for their own education and there are more opportunities to fail. and the bigger the school size , it is harder to offload that responsibility from the kids.
11:39 AM on July 3rd, 2009
A highly rated Charter School, either built on the East or West I would not mind driving my kid across town to as it is the price I'd have to pay for a quality top rated education. I do mind driving my kid across town to a somewhat OK school that currently has potential and shiny buildings and that is all for now. With the latter option, I might as well drive them to a private school in another city.
I'd take a charter H.S. anywhere in Dublin, east or west.
2:47 PM on July 3rd, 2009
To Anonymous on July 3, 2009 10:02 AM
Acually, in our systems, the larger the school the more funding for special AP and other programs.
You hit the essence of the problem though. Public schools by definition ae not designed for assuring "yours to start the life ahead of their peers" . They are built for the mainstream kids with chances at both ends to succeed. Yours is an elitist concept.
12:31 AM on July 4th, 2009
The more important question is how to build a charter HS? Whose support is essential? Whose opinion is irrelevant?
It is a waste of time to argue about BigHS vs SmallHS. Dublin already has a big and shiny DHS, we need a smaller charter HS for students who like a small and cozy campus. This way, every student can choose the school best suited to his/her needs and goals.
12:34 AM on July 4th, 2009
Can everyone support a charter HS in Dublin? I support a strong DHS, why can't others support a charter HS? They will complement each other, not competitos.
12:40 AM on July 4th, 2009
It seems obvious that we can ignore the school board since they will oppose any proposal for a new HS school in east Dublin, charter or public.
Assume they will oppose, what's needed to build a charter HS? We have to rely on ourselves. Do not count on anyone else.
8:54 AM on July 4th, 2009
My prediction:
Within the 1st couple years of charter High School openning, housing price will increase 60% in west Dublin, 40% in east Dublin.
Based on this prediction, the idea of charter HS will be strongly supported by all the Dublin residents.
The new charter HS will create more jobs for our teachers. Dublin teachers will strongly support charter HS.
The new charter HS will
attract many more families with high school aged students. The total number of high school students in Dublin will double the projected number from previous estimate.
The new charter HS will bring highly qualified workforce for local companies. More and more great companies will move to Dublin to fill our vacant commercial buildings. More office buildings will be built. This will provide more high paying jobs to Dublin residents.
Please realize that the wonderful positive impact the new chater HS will bring to everyone in Dublin. Think positively. This is the key to a open minded city with a wonderful location. Dublin has a lot of potential to increase its attractiveness to homebbuyers and businesses.
8:55 AM on July 4th, 2009
My prediction:
Within the 1st couple years of charter High School openning, housing price will increase 60% in west Dublin, 40% in east Dublin.
Based on this prediction, the idea of charter HS will be strongly supported by all the Dublin residents.
The new charter HS will create more jobs for our teachers. Dublin teachers will strongly support charter HS.
The new charter HS will
attract many more families with high school aged students. The total number of high school students in Dublin will double the projected number from previous estimate.
The new charter HS will bring highly qualified workforce for local companies. More and more great companies will move to Dublin to fill our vacant commercial buildings. More office buildings will be built. This will provide more high paying jobs to Dublin residents.
Please realize that the wonderful positive impact the new chater HS will bring to everyone in Dublin. Think positively. This is the key to a open minded city with a wonderful location. Dublin has a lot of potential to increase its attractiveness to homebbuyers and businesses.
9:39 AM on July 4th, 2009
The charter HS will bring huge real estate appreciation to west Dublin homeowners.
Parents will have the option to send kids to the school they prefer, charter HS or DHS. All students will thrive at their choice HS.
How can this hurt west Dublin? No way! Parents can choose to send students to DHS to avoid paying higher tuition. Residents with no high school students will notice nothing but improved traffic.
Long time Dublin residents will be grateful to be able to sell their west Dublin houses at appreciated price to eager incoming parents. They can use the proceeds to enjoy a wonderful retirement at a new east Dublin senior condo, or move to their dream retirement places like many Cupertino residents did. An average west Dublin house can sell for $1.5 million in Cupertino vs 500k in Dublin. A new charter HS is the easiest way to fill the valuation gap.
West Dublin will strongly support charter HS. This is much much better than a second public HS.
9:56 AM on July 4th, 2009
If this discussion about a Charter HS in Dublin and how it could potentially benefit any student, and how it could benefit the community as an alternative option, then it is a worthy discussion.
If it is a discussion about how DHS isn't good enough, worthy enough for some of our students, who seem to be concentrated in one geographic area of the city, it will not be a worthy discussion, but a divisive one.
I'm a west side resident and if folks are interested in a charter school, then make me an argument that makes sense. But if this devolves into a discussion about how your kid is smarter than mine and therefore deserves a better place to go to school, then I will fight it with considerable energy and passion.
11:02 AM on July 4th, 2009
The deception in your charter HS desires? If land were found in the west hills for a smaller, magnet school based on a charter concept, folks on the east side would not support it.
My prediction? When DHS is built out and the new standards are being met those people who moved away will deeply regret it. And good riddance to those selfish people who can't jump on a pretty good bandwagon.
7:46 AM on July 10th, 2009
I wonder if we can leave East vs. West out of this conversation. The topic is about our kids education and how parents want their kids to grow up. I’m sure there are great examples of successful people graduating from DHS; however that level of success may not meet the expecations of parents who live here now given the levels of academics in our neighboring cities.
There are clearly some expecations that are not being met by DHS — or at least it’s *perceived* that way. In Dublin Ranch alone, there are 3 families moving out to San Ramon because they want to send their to a high school in San Ramon. Maybe those at DUSD Board don’t want the level of competitiveness or stress that the San Ramon or Pleasanton high schools have, and that’s fine, but then they need to state that and then let everyone else make up their own minds on where they want to send their kids and live.
As it stands now, there seems to be some denial that San Ramon or Pleasanton schools are better academically than DHS when there shouldn’t be — the API scores tell it all. That doesn’t mean DHS isn’t a good school, because there is more to school than API scores, such as culture, character, and other non-academic traits, but I think the expecation of the parents of upcoming high school students of Dublin is to have an academic powerhouse of a high school in Dublin, whether this is a charter school or DHS and they want the API scores to back it up.
1:43 PM on July 13th, 2009
I have yet to hear what Dublin Unified has determined to be the reason Dublin schools as a whole score lower than their neighbors? What is the plan to raise the scores? New facilities will help but will not be enough to raise test scores.