Niche, a website that incorporates both student/alumni survey results and harder data into their college and K-12 school rankings, recently released their list of top public high schools in Georgia for 2015.
In it, Decatur High School ranked 11th in the state and received an overall score of an “A”, receiving the following scores in individual areas:
- A+ in “Educational Outcomes“
- A in Academics, Administration & Policiesv and Resources and Facilities
- A- in Extracurriculars, Student Culture & Diversity, and Teachers
- B+ in Sports and Fitness
- B in Food and Health & Safety
Click on the links above to learn more about what went into these individual grades.
Meanwhile, Renfroe Middle School ranked 10th in the state among middle schools, while all of Decatur’s elementary schools (with available data) ranked in the top 50 elementary schools in the state.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
I’d really like to know what the percentage of free and reduced price lunch is in each of the top 20 schools. Two of those schools have selective admissions, and many of the others are in relatively affluent neighborhoods. Now, Decatur is probably somewhat affluent, but we also have a fair number of students of modest means. I think we are justifiably proud of our school system. We may pay more than other communities to support these schools, but I think it’s worth it.
Proud that my children attended a top public high school, and now are at a top Georgia public college.
Decatur wasn’t this paragon when I moved here 20 years ago, either. What could other communities do to replicate our success?
“What could other communities do to replicate our success?”
Spend 60 cents of every tax dollar on local schools, have the parent county schools get their accreditation put on probation, and have the city next door get wrapped up in a system-wide cheating scandal.
Decatur has done a lot of things right with schools. But, let’s not overlook the fact that nearby alternatives did a lot of things wrong.
“Proud that my children attended a top public high school, and now are at a top Georgia public college. ”
And thus by implication parents who send their kids to private schools are somehow not as good/righteous/whatever as you. What a load of tripe.
Pat yourself on the back much?
That’s a bit defensive. I read that comment as pride in her local public schools and children, not a dig at other choices.
fbenario, why get nasty? I agree with AHID that your comment is defensive–no need to assume the worst about a fairly innocuous remark from another poster.
Looks like in the top 50 high schools, only 3 are ITP.
Can anyone comment on the methodology of Niche in general? I agree with their rankings in this particular case, just because I want to, but I don’t know if they are considered legit.
Seems a little odd to me. The APS schools seem to not be represented as well. I found Inman Middle ranked 212 in Georgia. I know they have had some issues with the redistricting, but I find 212 hard to believe. In other rankings they usually were on par with Renfroe, usually a little higher. Elementary schools like Morningside and Mary Lin are in the 400’s. and they are generally on par with out elementary schools.
Glad to See Decatur ranked well.
I have several friends whose children have had excellent experiences at Mary Lin, Inman Middle, and Grady. One of those children is now at Harvard. So I find the ranking puzzling as well. Actually, I find most rankings useless because they use values and assumptions that don’t match mine. The fit of a family to a school is much more complex and subjective than the measures that go into most rankings. For anyone making school decisions, I would say that an hour spent talking to families already in the school and an hour spent meeting the principal and touring the school is worth much more than 40 hours researching schools online by rankings and other scales.
Westchester just reopened and so there isn’t data on how they are doing yet. My daughter is still in preschool and we are now in the Westchester district instead of Clairemont. I would assume that all Decatur elementary schools have the same standards and curriculum. However, I am still curious since Clairemont ranks so highly… Does anyone have an experience with newly reopened Westchester that they would like to share?
I can sense you’re a worried mom. Both my children attended the old Westchester, and it was considered one of the best in the city. I wouldn’t spend much time worrying about how well once CSD school does versus another school. I’ve been in all of them, and they’re all good.
You can go to the link DM posted and see how they weight the grades. Apparently diversity counts for 10 percent.
I’d be interested in knowing more about their methodology, too. COD is ranked 11th, but our Math/Reading proficiency percentages are 72/92, respectively, while Chamblee Charter, which is ranked 21st, has Math/Reading proficiency percentages of 81/94, respectively. Curiouser and curiouser!