It's interesting to look a bit beyond Framingham's ranking to understand the real significance of it. The top of the list for the 352 high schools in Massachusetts is populated with some of the usual suspects - affluent towns without much economic or racial diversity and public exam schools like Boston Latin. Charter schools are also increasingly showing up high in the rankings; the Advanced Science & Math Academy in Marlborough, which draws students from Framingham, was ranked number two in the state.
Curiously enough, some of Framingham's more affluent neighbors scored lower than The Ham. Wayland came in at number 28, and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional came in at number 45. Natick was not ranked for some reason, but came in lower than Framingham on the college readiness score.
No doubt there are many who would rightly argue that measuring a school on just four criteria (college readiness, math and English proficiency, and student/teacher ratio) does not tell the whole story. Many of the schools that ranked lower than Framingham are well-known for their excellence, but with the vagaries of limited statistical measures some are going to fare better than others.
It's actually somewhat surprising that Framingham is ranked so high. We are a very diverse town - economically, racially, and linguistically - and with that diversity comes a set of challenges that some of our more affluent neighbors don't have. Buying a home (since they tend to have a small stock of rental housing) in those towns is widely believed (and no doubt true) to be a ticket to an excellent school system, but it effectively excludes a majority of people. Any town that is made up of mostly high-achieving, well-educated, affluent people certainly has a leg up on communities with broader demographics. Framingham, however, in the best American tradition, offers an excellent education to children from modest backgrounds, and an opportunity to move up the socio-economic ladder.
Having a child who graduated from FHS in 2011 I can readily attest to the quality of the education she received. The US News & World Report overview for Framingham noted that the Advanced Placement coursework and exam participation rate is 49% (the same as Wayland's, despite Framingham having a student body that is 27% economically disadvantaged, vs. Wayland's 7%). When my daughter brought home the AP course listing I was stunned - it was as large as some college course catalogs. She took a fair amount of AP classes at FHS and was very well-prepared to do college-level work. She is now a junior at UMass-Amherst (another excellent public institution) and a member of a national honor fraternity.
Kudos to Framingham High School - both the educators who work so tirelessly to achieve a level of excellence - and our students - who show the rest of the state and the country that great education results can come out of all sorts of communities.
2 comments:
With my children graduating FHS in '08, '10, and '12 I completely agree with everything you say! And all three attend(ed) UMass-Amherst. Framingham gave them an excellent education, and the broad diversity provided them the tools to deal with a large university setting.
Nice post. As the parent of a current FHS senior, I am well aware of some of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. One measure of a school is where it's top students go for college. I think the counseling department is understaffed as there is very little done to help guide students to get into appropriate schools. In my experience, the counselors do an awesome job of helping students through various crises, but I didn't see much effort on reviewing college options or strategizing. In spite of some amazing talent, college acceptance info shows us there is room for improvement.
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