Westford Academy is #27: Good or Bad?
Earlier this month, U.S News and World Report ranked Westford as the 27th best high school in Massachusetts, but behind other nearby schools. Is the ranking a reason to be proud or is there a need for improvement?
Last month, U.S News and World Report ranked Westford Academy as the 27th best high school in Massachusetts and the 493rd ranked high school in the United States when it came to their 2012 "Best High Schools in America" ranking, earning the school a "gold medal" from the magazine.
However, other nearby schools such as Acton-Boxborough, Lexington the Bromfield School (Harvard) and Nashoba Regional (Bolton) ranked higher.
Today we ask the readers of Westford Patch if it's a that cause for celebration that Westford ranked near the top of this poll among hundreds of high schools across the state and thousands across the country, or a cause for concern that Westford is still not doing as well as other nearby schools.
Or do you have a different view?
Let us know!
Franklin
4:26 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Since the Westford School Committee doesnt feel inclined to worry about the vast pay inequity between Westford and those top tier neighbor towns of ours, I for one dont see why we continue to compare ourselves to these towns. Westford has Ayer, Dracut, Billerica money per pupil to spend so these are the towns we should compare ourselves to. Therefore, #27 looks like a great 'bang for the buck' here in town.
Local
8:23 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
It got the "best high schools" gold badge so I would say its pretty good. My question is how many schools were in the running on the state and national level. Form that we can extract a percentile to out in perspective.
Ie 27th out of 50,000 is pretty darned good. 27th out of 50 is not so good. The preceding was hyperbole to prove a point.
Local
8:46 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
We analyzed 21,776 public high schools in 49 states and the District of Columbia.
So they placed top 2.26% nationally. Nebraska was not included because they had not submitted the necessarily info to the state in time.
7.22% in the state if they used all 374 public high schools. 374 seems low to me but that is what is reported by the state, and mathematically it makes sense so 374 it is.
http://www.usnews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2012/05/07/frequently-asked-questions-best-high-schools-rankings#2
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/profiles/general.aspx?topNavId=1&orgcode=00000000&orgtypecode=0&;
Local
8:53 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
The poll results are a little baffling with the majority thinking its medium or poor.
97th percentile in the USA and 92nd percentile in the state isn't good?
When only 492 high schools in the nation rank better, and 26 in the state and the $ spent per student, I'd say it's very good.