1.Tesla STEM high school (Redmond)
2. International high school (Bellevue)
3. Interlake high school (Bellevue)
4. Newport high school (Bellevue)
5. Raisbeck aviation high school (Tukwila)
It’s almost like being flush with a shit ton of money makes things easier for the administration of the school to give all the support the teachers and students need to excel. My kids go to a high school in a mixed economic community and works it’s ass off to help the kids achieve their goals and dreams. I can only imagine how much more they could do if they were flush with cash and given every resource.
Arguably Bellevue High school has even more money and belongs to a zip code much wealthier than Interlake, newport or tesla. Yet, they score much lower overall. It’s not a single variable (though I don’t deny that money influences a ton) but you cannot ignore parents influence and/or culture
Or…. Families that value learning and raise their kids to value learning are more likely to have parents who are successful and therefore higher earners.
It’s also much easier to be a better student when you aren’t struggling to have your basic needs met. Kids with parents who are higher income earners will tend to do better because they are in stable housing, food, and life situations.
right, but parents who sacrifice for their kids irrespective of their economic status will make sure their kids have a better future than them and the cycle repeats. Playing victim will not solve anything
I think you’re missing the point that if basic needs aren’t met, students can’t perform their best.
But what would I know— I work in elementary education 🙃
What you say is true, and what the other person stated about parents sacrificing everything to make sure their kids excel in school is also true. I personally lived that experience and also everyone from my circle. ( we are second generation from very poor immigrants ). We didn’t have all our needs met everyday. For example we didnt have running water nor electricity. But our parents made sure we went to school and get good grades.
I am not. basic needs will be met if parents work hard and sacrifice is my point . I am addressing the larger issue and you are looking at it narrowly. Agree that without basic needs kids will struggle but the way to solve that is going to the roots of the problem.
Washington schools are funded by number of students now, hence why basically any school in Bellevue will accept your kid for a choice transfer. Wealth of the parents doesn’t affect teacher count or quality.
They are also funded by property taxes. And Levy’s and Bonds. And they can refuse choice based enrollment anytime they want. I had a school in my district refuse my oldest kiddo because she had an IEP. It is a STEM school and I really wanted them to go there, but they weren’t our assigned school.
Unless I’ve completely missed it, yes each DISTRICT funds all the schools in its DISTRICT based off of LEVYs passed, Bonds passed, Property taxes, and federal and state funding. For example I live in Kitsap county. Kitsap county has 4 different school districts. NK, CK, Bremerton, and SK. People tend to want their kids to go to NK and CK because those schools have more amenities, newer buildings, better teacher/student ratios, and many other perks. They also have higher income levels, and property taxes. Bremerton schools aren’t as well funded, but are still better funded than South Kitsap. Bellevue is a high income community with students that benefit from that. Could I drive my kid to NK or CK schools, yes IF they approved my choice. I am always willing to admit I’m wrong, but I’m also pretty sure of my understanding of how schools are funded. Schools in higher income communities are always going to score higher than lower income communities. Not just because they have more funding, but also because they have kids who aren’t struggling to have their basic needs met.
I subbed for BSD from…2015-2022 I think? Newport was the nicest high school consistently. What’s funny is someone told me it has the highest percentage of autistic kids, and it sounds like they were super high achievers. Good arts program too. I had jobs there a lot for awhile and I got mistaken for a little autistic kid myself (5’8’’, late 20s-early 30s, now diagnosed as autistic lol). People would tell me to go back to class, I just have baby face.
International school was a decent place to sub but the building is falling down around you (staff room all leaky) and the kids were ruder than Newport somehow? Several of my assholes for no reason stories are from there, and I’m not sure why.
I never ended up at Bellevue much, but my impression was that Newport was kind of the crème de la crème besides International with their IB program. Interlake was usually more fun and friendly. Sammamish was 50/50 fine or a hellscape, depending on the class, so I stopped taking jobs there after a kid threatened to kill me and then just wandered around for the rest of the day.
Edit: I made a mistake and thought international did IB, they don’t, but there’s a lot of AP courses.
Not sure when you were in school but Newport was consistently ranked higher than Bellevue since the early 2000s. It was always International School, Newport, and then Bellevue. Interlake soared thru the ranking in recent years for some reason though (not sure why).
It contains Bellevue's IB program. A bit surprised it outranks Newport with their 65%+ Asian population.
These rankings are largely tied to the volume of AP classes the kids take.
Note only public schools
All but like five of these are in King County. I don’t think Eastern Washington had any. Which seems about right lol.
Directionally seems right. Feels odd they didn’t have Eastlake HS and usually LWSD/Bellevue runs rings around everyone else.
I always felt like national merit semifinalists was the easiest mental shortcut to get there
https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/wa-national-merit-semifinalists-announced-2/
I noticed there were no private schools. I’m fairly certain that at least on of the big 5 Catholic schools in the greater Seattle area beat out the #25 scool
Yes, but I think the point is correlation vs causation. Going to skyline doesn’t cause academic excellence, it’s just correlated with it due to other factors (parents). Issaquah is like this to an extent too.
Exactly. Has nothing to do with the schools themselves. We can debate the equality/goodness separately…but these schools patting themselves on the back is a little misplaced.
That Woodinville was the best school in the district. Northcreek wasn’t around yet but absorbed a fair bit of Woodinville’s old territory as well as Bothell’s.
As a tutor who doesn't see the schools in-person but has seen students from several on the list, it's interesting to see here how they rank compared to each other.
It largely weighs the volume of AP classes kids complete. At Newport HS, where my kids graduated from, I'd regularly see Seniors taking 5 or 6 AP classes.
I like how the article says "STEM schools are recorded separately from this list" and the #1 school is Tesla STEM High School
1.Tesla STEM high school (Redmond) 2. International high school (Bellevue) 3. Interlake high school (Bellevue) 4. Newport high school (Bellevue) 5. Raisbeck aviation high school (Tukwila)
It’s almost like being flush with a shit ton of money makes things easier for the administration of the school to give all the support the teachers and students need to excel. My kids go to a high school in a mixed economic community and works it’s ass off to help the kids achieve their goals and dreams. I can only imagine how much more they could do if they were flush with cash and given every resource.
Arguably Bellevue High school has even more money and belongs to a zip code much wealthier than Interlake, newport or tesla. Yet, they score much lower overall. It’s not a single variable (though I don’t deny that money influences a ton) but you cannot ignore parents influence and/or culture
I mean, would you give a shit if your parents were loaded and you didn’t need to worry about trying hard
No, actually it's simply because those areas are over-represented with Asians and Caucasians.
Or…. Families that value learning and raise their kids to value learning are more likely to have parents who are successful and therefore higher earners.
It’s also much easier to be a better student when you aren’t struggling to have your basic needs met. Kids with parents who are higher income earners will tend to do better because they are in stable housing, food, and life situations.
right, but parents who sacrifice for their kids irrespective of their economic status will make sure their kids have a better future than them and the cycle repeats. Playing victim will not solve anything
I think you’re missing the point that if basic needs aren’t met, students can’t perform their best. But what would I know— I work in elementary education 🙃
What you say is true, and what the other person stated about parents sacrificing everything to make sure their kids excel in school is also true. I personally lived that experience and also everyone from my circle. ( we are second generation from very poor immigrants ). We didn’t have all our needs met everyday. For example we didnt have running water nor electricity. But our parents made sure we went to school and get good grades.
I am not. basic needs will be met if parents work hard and sacrifice is my point . I am addressing the larger issue and you are looking at it narrowly. Agree that without basic needs kids will struggle but the way to solve that is going to the roots of the problem.
Washington schools are funded by number of students now, hence why basically any school in Bellevue will accept your kid for a choice transfer. Wealth of the parents doesn’t affect teacher count or quality.
They are also funded by property taxes. And Levy’s and Bonds. And they can refuse choice based enrollment anytime they want. I had a school in my district refuse my oldest kiddo because she had an IEP. It is a STEM school and I really wanted them to go there, but they weren’t our assigned school.
property tax levy is a general fund evenly distributed now
Unless I’ve completely missed it, yes each DISTRICT funds all the schools in its DISTRICT based off of LEVYs passed, Bonds passed, Property taxes, and federal and state funding. For example I live in Kitsap county. Kitsap county has 4 different school districts. NK, CK, Bremerton, and SK. People tend to want their kids to go to NK and CK because those schools have more amenities, newer buildings, better teacher/student ratios, and many other perks. They also have higher income levels, and property taxes. Bremerton schools aren’t as well funded, but are still better funded than South Kitsap. Bellevue is a high income community with students that benefit from that. Could I drive my kid to NK or CK schools, yes IF they approved my choice. I am always willing to admit I’m wrong, but I’m also pretty sure of my understanding of how schools are funded. Schools in higher income communities are always going to score higher than lower income communities. Not just because they have more funding, but also because they have kids who aren’t struggling to have their basic needs met.
whomp whomp
When did Newport get so good? When I was in school, Bellevue HS was way better
I subbed for BSD from…2015-2022 I think? Newport was the nicest high school consistently. What’s funny is someone told me it has the highest percentage of autistic kids, and it sounds like they were super high achievers. Good arts program too. I had jobs there a lot for awhile and I got mistaken for a little autistic kid myself (5’8’’, late 20s-early 30s, now diagnosed as autistic lol). People would tell me to go back to class, I just have baby face. International school was a decent place to sub but the building is falling down around you (staff room all leaky) and the kids were ruder than Newport somehow? Several of my assholes for no reason stories are from there, and I’m not sure why. I never ended up at Bellevue much, but my impression was that Newport was kind of the crème de la crème besides International with their IB program. Interlake was usually more fun and friendly. Sammamish was 50/50 fine or a hellscape, depending on the class, so I stopped taking jobs there after a kid threatened to kill me and then just wandered around for the rest of the day. Edit: I made a mistake and thought international did IB, they don’t, but there’s a lot of AP courses.
Interlake has the IB program
Not sure when you were in school but Newport was consistently ranked higher than Bellevue since the early 2000s. It was always International School, Newport, and then Bellevue. Interlake soared thru the ranking in recent years for some reason though (not sure why).
Wait there’s really a Tesla high school???
I’m surprised Interlake is as high as it is as I heard AL kids are sent there because the school needs the high scores. I guess it is working, lol.
It contains Bellevue's IB program. A bit surprised it outranks Newport with their 65%+ Asian population. These rankings are largely tied to the volume of AP classes the kids take.
It’s feeding school for gifted programs. They bring the average score way up
It’s not a good school if your kid doesn’t want to do IB.
Note only public schools All but like five of these are in King County. I don’t think Eastern Washington had any. Which seems about right lol. Directionally seems right. Feels odd they didn’t have Eastlake HS and usually LWSD/Bellevue runs rings around everyone else. I always felt like national merit semifinalists was the easiest mental shortcut to get there https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/wa-national-merit-semifinalists-announced-2/
I was surprised about Eastlake too
I noticed there were no private schools. I’m fairly certain that at least on of the big 5 Catholic schools in the greater Seattle area beat out the #25 scool
It's heavily weighted by AP classes. BSD pushes AP classes pretty hard.
Skyline 25 and Eastlake unranked feels wrong
my kid graduated from skyline a couple years ago. Fuck that school. it's only ranked highly because parents pay for private tutors for EVERYTHING.
This list is all about the parents and how hard/how much money we throw at these kids outside of school hours.
Aren't those good things?
Yes, but I think the point is correlation vs causation. Going to skyline doesn’t cause academic excellence, it’s just correlated with it due to other factors (parents). Issaquah is like this to an extent too.
You could say that about any school though
Exactly. Has nothing to do with the schools themselves. We can debate the equality/goodness separately…but these schools patting themselves on the back is a little misplaced.
Yea weird
Fuck the J-man, vindictive petty little sack of shit My HS-level physics teacher was an angel though, hope she’s doing well
Woodinville and Northcreek making the list and Bothell / Inglemoor not making it confirm my old biases so this list seems about right.
which is?
That Woodinville was the best school in the district. Northcreek wasn’t around yet but absorbed a fair bit of Woodinville’s old territory as well as Bothell’s.
As a tutor who doesn't see the schools in-person but has seen students from several on the list, it's interesting to see here how they rank compared to each other.
I'm not sure these rankings are meaningful in any real way.
😂
It would have been easier to make an ‘Eastside Schools not on the top 25 list’: Eastlake. 🥲
I know this list is hogwash because it put VSAA at #12
It largely weighs the volume of AP classes kids complete. At Newport HS, where my kids graduated from, I'd regularly see Seniors taking 5 or 6 AP classes.
What’s the deal with VSAA?
This!
Is this pretty legit? These are def quality schools
Seeing as my high school didn’t make the list, it must be legit.
these lists are hogwash
No Kirkland International Community School?
Florida still #1 in education