from Diane

According to SchoolDigger.com,* using the CAPT for Mathematics and Reading, the ranking of 10th graders by school for 2011-2012 covered 192 CT High Schools. The highest ranked school was New Canaan High School (public) with a combined score of 583.8. By contrast, the Academy was ranked 71st, with a combined score of 515.2. The Academy’s ranking has changed little from 2007 when its ranking was 70th, out of 180 high schools, and its combined score was 510.9.

For further comparison, New Canaan School District was the highest ranked district in the state, 1/165, while the Woodstock School District was 52/165 and Brooklyn School District was 95/165. The Academy is its own district and ranked 80/165, barely better than half the districts in Connecticut.

What this shows is that the Academy’s “private” agenda includes complete renovation and construction of a lovely new sports complex but its board is apparently uninterested in providing a top notch education for its students. Mediocre yes. Top drawer, no.

So what to do if you are dissatisfied with the Academy’s arrogance? Well, the Academy’s life blood is the money it gets from the nearby public school districts. If Connecticut is like many other states, when a student from one district is enrolled in another district’s school, for whatever reason, the “home” district loses its funding for that student, both local and state and the money goes to the district where the student actually attends school. Often it is not up to the “home” district to pass on the change, only the parents and the proposed district of attendance.

Did you know there are 39 high schools within 30 miles of 06281? Granted some are unranked and others ranked lower than the Academy but there are two that are ranked higher, Tolland High School (public) in Tolland, CT, at 18.86 miles from 06281 and Bolton High School in Bolton, CT (public), a distance of 25.76 miles. There are also another six high schools ranked equally with the Academy, two of them less than 17 miles away.

Because Woodstock is right in the corner of the state, I did some additional checking for RI and MA. Ponaganset High School (RI) has the same level of ranking as the Academy and is about 25 miles from Woodstock and Sutton High School in Sutton, MA, ranked higher than the Academy, is about 30 miles away.

Do parents want to do all this driving? No, of course not. However, as the kids in Brooklyn are showing, albeit unintentionally, there IS a way to hit the Academy where it hurts, in its pocketbook, and at the same time get a more satisfying educational experience.

http://www.schooldigger.com/