Classen 17th Best High School In America!

[writerranger]

I was going to post in the Chalk Board, but this is BIG news! Newsweek and The Washington Post did a major study (annual study) looking at the top high schools in the United States, and the Classen School of Advanced Studies ranked at number 17! Very impressive! Congratulations, Classen!!!
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12532668/site/newsweek


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[Doug Loudenback]

Outstanding!

[Patrick]

I'm not really surprised. This school is really the top school of the OKC School District. Not only does it have the cream of the crop, but the programs there to challenege the cream of the crop are outstanding. This is definitely one of the OKC Public Schools we can all be proud of.

I was just telling my wife the other day.......one of the areas we're considering buying a house in later is in the OKC Public Schools. Even as a doctor, I'd consider sending my kids to Classen over a private school.

One of the docs I've been working with has his kids at Classen and says it's outstanding. And that's coming from a pretty wealthy man that could afford any private school in the city.

[Midtowner]

Classen is overrated from what I'm told.

There's a school called Harding Charter Preparatory Acadamy that actually takes their academics seriously.

Also, Classen SAS uses does not do AP, instead they use some Bacclaureate International system which does not get college credit and is generally inferior. I expect HCP to surpass Classen in most quantifiable respects in the near future.

HCP is most well known for its newspaper, yearbook, and computer classes. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

[bandnerd]

Liar. HCP is known for offering AP classes to all students. That's the whole mission. Offering these classes to kids to help them get into college, stay there, and succeed there.

Comp Apps, Yearbook, and Newspaper are just electives there.

They are also known for being the only school in the state that offers the AVID program. Look it up.

As for Classen--congrats to them, but I think more of their success comes from great students, not necessarily outstanding teachers. And that's not entirely their fault--it's the IB program.

Yay for OKC getting on a map with good things!

[Doug Loudenback]

Classen is overrated from what I'm told.

There's a school called Harding Charter Preparatory Acadamy that actually takes their academics seriously.

Also, Classen SAS uses does not do AP, instead they use some Bacclaureate International system which does not get college credit and is generally inferior. I expect HCP to surpass Classen in most quantifiable respects in the near future.

HCP is most well known for its newspaper, yearbook, and computer classes. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

According to the Newsweek article, the Classen school

Gave both IB and AP tests. AP and IB participation are indicators of a school’s efforts to get students to excel and prepare for college.

This stuff is beyond my knowledge, but is that what you were referring to?

[Shake2005]

My high school had/has the IB program, it's far harder than AP, often a class will be a combo AP/IB, anyone with an IB diploma is a complete stud (academically speaking that is.

[Patrick]

As for Classen--congrats to them, but I think more of their success comes from great students, not necessarily outstanding teachers.

For once, congratualte the student. Ha Ha! Had to through that in there.

[BDP]

I don't think there is anything to prevent a student from taking an AP test (except the fee). One could easily go through an IB program and be prepared for an AP test. In fact, I am sure some students take AP tests without going through formal advanced studies.

In any event, OKC should be proud of Classen. If those schools represent the top 5%, then Classen is in the top .09 percetile. If that raises compeition with any schools, including a charter or private school, I'm all for it. In the end, we don't want one school to be that good, we want the entire system to be that good.

[bandnerd]

Okay, so the article basically just talks about the ratio of graduating seniors who take the AP test, regardless of if their school is on an IB program or an AP program. Yes, of course you can take an AP test if you have been in the IB program, since no IB test exists. Most colleges, though, take the AP over the IB, unless it is a ritzy private/ivy league university.

Look for some other schools in the OKC area to be added to this list in the next few years. Classen isn't doing anything out of the ordinary, they are doing what is tried and true and what works. Good for them, but they are not alone.

[BDP]

Classen isn't doing anything out of the ordinary

So all the schools are doing this? That'd be great, but I doubt it.

Why all the animosity towards Classen here, anyway? Is this credit not deserved? We get a school ranked 17th and people are like, "they're not doiung anything special". Well, if a school ranked 17th isn't doing anything special, then the rest of our schools are really hurting.

Hey, it's not like they're ranking football teams

[bandnerd]

I mean they aren't doing anything out of the ordinary by having kids take the AP exam. Most high schools do this.

I'm a teacher in the OKC system, but at a charter school, not a regular OKC high school. We have kids at our school that started at Classen and I've heard several testimonies about how Classen isn't this golden child of education everyone wants to think it is.

I'm happy that OKC is getting recognized for good things, don't get me wrong--I'm just saying that Classen isn't the only really good school in OKC for kids to go to.

[shadow713]

So all the schools are doing this? That'd be great, but I doubt it.

Why all the animosity towards Classen here, anyway? Is this credit not deserved? We get a school ranked 17th and people are like, "they're not doiung anything special". Well, if a school ranked 17th isn't doing anything special, then the rest of our schools are really hurting.

Hey, it's not like they're ranking football teams

maybe they are a bit biased towards other schools like i dont know...Harding Charter Preparatory High School? I go there and i must say its great. Classen is great too! kudos to ranking 17th! i just hope that our school will rank up there (and it should soon we are close to classen and we're only 3 years old. isnt that cool?) classen deserves it and i am glad for them, but i must say to them watch out cause we'll be passing you up pretty soon

[The Old Downtown Guy]

Classen's music program has produced a top rated nationally recognized orchestra and some smaller chamber performance groups that have also received national awards. Their focus is on liberal arts education and they are producing excellent results. Proving again that providing a solid liberal arts foundation is the way to teach basic education skills in math, reading etc. Teaching liberal arts teaches kids how to think and how to learn.

[shadow713]

Classen's music program has produced a top rated nationally recognized orchestra and some smaller chamber performance groups that have also received national awards. Their focus is on liberal arts education and they are producing excellent results. Proving again that providing a solid liberal arts foundation is the way to teach basic education skills in math, reading etc. Teaching liberal arts teaches kids how to think and how to learn.

teaching liberal arts isnt always the best way. We have another school in our building called Harding Fine Arts School, where quite a bit of liberal arts are taught there, yet many of those kids there spend their time trying to do stuff against our school and such that they do not follow their charter and they dont learn as much because most of them are slackers.

i am not against liberal arts but obviously it doesnt always get the job done.

[TStheThird]

Most schools offer AP. At Edmond North, I graduated with 21 hours of AP credit. Many of my friends had over 45 hours. Not a bad deal to start college a second semester sophomore.

[The Old Downtown Guy]

teaching liberal arts isnt always the best way. We have another school in our building called Harding Fine Arts School, where quite a bit of liberal arts are taught there, yet many of those kids there spend their time trying to do stuff against our school and such that they do not follow their charter and they dont learn as much because most of them are slackers.

i am not against liberal arts but obviously it doesnt always get the job done.

As with any educational undertaking, there are several components in the equation. A quality physical plant, sufficient financial resources and motivated personnel are all essential to producing a good educational foundation. Perhaps the students at Harding Fine Arts are being short-changed in some way and the result is a less than top notch performance by the students. I assume that by “slackers” you mean the young people in question are lazy, don’t study or show much interest in learning. There could be other causes that should be addressed by providing the appropriate resources or better quality instruction.

The reason I refer to educational foundation rather than calling what you are receiving at Harding an education, is that learning is a life long process; a process that works best when students are exposed to the liberal arts during their formative years. My point is, that including liberal arts in the educational package provides an expanded opportunity for enlightenment on a level that is missing when only the educational basics of reading, writing and arithmetic are taught.

[bandnerd]

Currently talking to two students of mine who came to my school from Classen. Their take on this is:

1. AP is harder than IB. They have done both.
2. They know they are stressed right now, but it will be worth getting their education from an AP curriculum.
3. Classen SAS really only started doing AP this year and students aren't really prepared.

Sure, you can have a lot of students take the AP exam. But how many will actually get that 3 or higher that really counts?

[wolf2006]

I went to Classen for my freshman year of high school, and I can say with all honesty that it has done absolutely nothing to deserve a reward for its academics. First of all, the school only accepts students who test well into its IB program, so they already have it made. When I was there I knew some of the smartest high school students I have ever met, but they were students, not teachers. Teachers at Classen have let the legacy of high grades get to them, and they take the easy route by not putting much effort into teaching the students. In fact compared to the teachers at my second high school, many of the teachers at Classen are downright lazy.

As for the IB program...I have taken both the IB program at Classen and the AP program at another school, and I say that AP is hands down more difficult than IB. IB (International Baccalaureate) is designed more for European schools than American schools, and the AP program is more widely accepted among American universities.

I'm all for giving Classen credit for having good test-takers, but that does not make them one of the best schools in the nation. They have an outstanding arts program, and more attention should be given to that aspect of the school because it actually does deserve a lot of credit, unlike their academics.

[brannonterry]

Dont forget my school Booker T. Washington is on the list too.

[BDP]

Dont forget my school Booker T. Washington is on the list too.

It must be a piece of crap then, too.

Just kidding.

[BDP]

maybe they are a bit biased towards other schools like i dont know...Harding Charter Preparatory High School?

Sounds like it. I guess I haven't been to high school in a long time, so I guess I have forgotten the tunnel vision environment in which they exist.

[bandnerd]

Okay, so I'm partial to my school. What's the big deal about that? I have said this several times--I'm happy that Classen was on this list, that OKC was represented, but all I'm saying is that calling a school "one of the greatest" by the number of students who take AP tests is not the best way to measure their academic achievement.

[Patrick]

Actually the results of the study were based on how many students took AP tests.

[{la_resistance}]

Well if thats the case then obviously Classen will win. They have a decent AP program(I say decent because it doen'st include all students), but they have a large number of people. We have 300-350ish. So all they really have to do is have large facilities,with many kids, and have all of them take a test.