The Phoenix Business Journal reports that fifteen of the Valley’s high schools were recently named among the nation’s best by Newsweek magazine.
Newsweek ranked schools by calculating the number of students per school who take either an Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests, divided by the total number of students at the school.
It’s an enduring urban legend that metro Phoenix’s school systems stink. Some years ago the state department of education insituted a grading system and now grades schools as “excelling” (the best), “performing”, “underperforming” and so on.
Personally, I don’t have kids so I can’t comment on the myth and I’m unfamiliar with the criterion used at the state level to determine who’s Excelling. I’d bet that if you ask people “Are Arizona’s schools sub-par?” you’d get a lot of Yes answers. But if you ask parents “Do you have confidence in YOUR child’s school?” you’d also get a lot of Yes’s. In other words, people are prone to think “the system” stinks but “my kids’ schools are OK.” That’s just human nature.
Regardless, it is nice to have a national newsmagazine name a handful of Arizona’s high schools “best”. Arizona schools on the list were:
- #5, Basis Charter School, Tucson
- #25, University High School, Tucson
- #89, Northland Prep Academy, Flagstaff
- #298, Pinnacle High School, Paradise Valley (Phoenix)
- #472, Catalina Foothills, Tucson
- #845, North Canyon, Phoenix
- #870, Hamilton High, Chandler
- #1125, Desert Mountain, Scottsdale
- #1142, Cactus Shadows, Cave Creek
- #1230, Chaparral, Scottsdale
- #1268, Horizon, Scottsdale
- #1402, Chandler High School, Chandler
Want to search for homes for sale in these school districts? Email us and we’ll hook you up.
Heather Barr is a Realtor. She's a chow hound, a gym rat, and a political junkie and a happy workaholic.
Tagged as:
Northeast Valley,
Schools / Education
by Chris Butterworth on January 23, 2008
in Buyer Help
My local board, the West Maricopa County Board of Realtors, recently began offering continuing education classes online. I need a few more credit-hours before I renew my license, so I was excited to learn about this new format. I took my first online class yesterday.
Since I wasn’t sure what the format was going to be, and how long it was going to take, I wanted to take a class on a subject I was already very familiar with. I also thought it would be neat to see what the Board is trying to teach its members in this area. My class was titled “Internet 101″. There were positives and negatives about the class:
The Good: The class only took 90 minutes, compared with the typical 4 hours (including travel).
The Bad: Where do I start?
1. This was a class on the internet – a technology which changes at the speed of Moore’s Law. But the class was written in 2003!! No mention of the word Blog. And their advice for building a successful website is completely obsolete.
2. Buying a new computer? It better meet these standards:
I just wrote a post a couple of days ago about proper disposal of computers that are about this speed. Maybe instead of spending $10 I could have sold it to another Realtor who just took this class…?
3. In order to obtain my certificate for completion of the class, I need to:
A. Download a form, print it out, and complete it by hand (including the blanks that ask for duplicate information.)
B. Mail or Fax it to the school providing the course.
C. Wait 5-7 business days for my certificate to be faxed back to me.
What? Are you kidding me? For an ONLINE class on a TECHNOLOGY subject?
Geez. It’s no wonder why the real estate community at large has a reputation for being technologically behind the times.
Your surprised they accept faxes Realtor,
Chris Butterworth
[tags] online education, continuing education, WeMAR, West Maricopa County Board of Realtors, Fletcher Heights [/tags]
Chris Butterworth spends more time analyzing statistics and reading economic reports than is healthy. He's also a husband, father, writer, and amateur photographer. In his spare time he trained for and competed in his first triathlon.
Tagged as:
Schools / Education
