I have some questions about public education...

[battleknight24]

1. What states have the best and worst public school systems? Are there any rankings?

2. What exactly is a Magnet School, and how is it funded? Do students pay tuition?

3. What is a Charter School and how is it different from a Magnet School? Where do charter schools get their funding?


Peace,

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Arkansas and Mississippi are dead last

That I know. You have to be related to the school board to get a teaching job. That's the important qualification. Found out by experience.

[battleknight24]

2. Did you go to school there?

?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

11. No way

University of Illinois. Taught in Illinois for 17 years, moved South, and was appalled at the cronyism. In Illinois, you can't be hired if you are a relative of a school board member. School districts are encouraged to recruit people from other areas of the state, not just locals. I have substituted here in AR (because they don't have to pay me any more than a high school graduate, which is the only qualification for substituting here), and was not impressed.

[sam sarrha]

3. Texas just became first in high school drop outs..

[battleknight24]

4. I know... I am from Texas... A lot of people thought that Dubya...

... solved the high school dropout problem... but it turned out that during his term, students who dropped out of school and enrolled in GED programs were NOT classified as drop outs, even though you are supposed to (many who were supposed to enroll in the GED programs didn't anyway...)

[lazarus]

12. Texas is officially worst, btw

Thanks to W's legacy, of course.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Answers to #2 and #3

Both magnet and charter schools are public, and the students do not pay tuition.

A magnet school concentrates on a special area of study, like science, international studies, or fine arts. A famous example in New York City is the Bronx High School of Science. Students either apply on a first-come-first-served basis or take an entrance examination.

A charter school is publicly funded but allowed leeway in self-governance and curriculum. Minneapolis has a charter school that follows the Waldorf curriculum and another that emphasizes Native American culture.

[bigwillq]

6. So a magnet school isn't really better than a public school except

that it specializes in a certain field?

Cause my friend is raving how is daughter just got accepted into a magnet school. His English is not too good and I don't know if he knows what a magnet school really is or not. To tell you the truth, I didn't exactly know what it was either.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. It could be better

Since magnet schools tend to attract either students who are highly motivated or students whose parents are highly motivated, you'll have a lower than average population of slackers and behavior problems.

For example, admission to the Bronx High School of Science is highly competitive. To get into Portland's Arts Magnet, students have to audition.

[sir_captain]

10. It's a lot more complicated than that

A large percentage of NYC students who attend Bronx Sci. and Stuyvesant (which is the most selective of the schools) are former prep school kids. Since schools like these accept solely on the basis of standardized testing, middle and upperclass children have a large advantage due to their generally better preparation for the tests. Does this end up with schools with fewer slackers and behavior problems? Yeah, probably--but it is due more to socioeconomic backgrounds than simple motivation. There's almost no kid in the 1.5 million or so students in NYC who wouldn't love to go to those schools.

[sir_captain]

9. Technically

Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, and Brooklyn Tech are not magnet schools. NYC has other magnet schools, like Beacon. The aforementioned three are really in their own category, receive different funding, etc.

[LWolf]

8. Some answers:

1. That depends on the criteria you use to rank or grade schools. The bottom line, regardless of what criteria you use, is the bottom line. Pun intended. The quality of the school, individually and/or collectively, is directly related to the demographics of the student population. Students from poor, less-educated families attend schools with less funding and with less intellectual stimulation in their home environments, birth through school age. Students from prosperous families generally receive more intellectual stimulation birth through kindergarten and beyond, and their schools get more funding from property taxes and from local fundraising. Even standardized test scores correlate more closely to the socio-economic level of the family than anything the school actually does or doesn't do.

2. Magnet schools are public schools with a particular focus. They are funded the same and run the same as part of their local school district. They tend to be more "successful" because they draw a higher number of actively involved, motivated families.

3. Charter schools are public schools that are their own "district." In my state, CA, they do have to get permission from the local district to operate, and be reviewed by the local district periodically. And they pay actual $$ to the district that "sponsors" them, with no service other than permission and a yearly visit in return. They act as their own school board/district, and provide all their own materials, services, etc. on their own. They are in charge of themselves, but must still comply with the state ed codes. They do their own budgeting, etc., and don't use the local districts contracts or payscales for employees.