As a lifetime resident of St. Louis, I am the first to admit that we are a bit too hung up on high schools. We all laugh at the ongoing joke that the first thing that you’ll hear when you meet someone new is the question ‘Where did you go to high school?’. It’s hard to explain to people that have relocated to St. Louis why everyone seems to care so much about your childhood school.
What I do know is that there are a lot of misconceptions about which schools are good and which are sub par.
I just came across a great online tool by the St. Louis Post Dispatch that shows how every school district in Missouri did on the most recent MAP tests (unfortunately the article was taken down in the archives & I couldn’t find a current one). It shows communication and math testing results for grades 3-11, along with county and national averages. Check out your school district…plus the other districts that you consider comparable. I bet you’ll be surprised at some of the results.
I know that test scores aren’t the only way to evaluate the quality of schools, but it is definitely an important factor to consider.
So what surprised you most?
Leave me a comment about which schools did better, or worse, than you expected. I’d love to hear what you think.
