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Parents of high school students in the Boston area will be happy to know ratings are out for the top secondary schools in the city and its suburbs. Boston Magazine provides its annual list based on a number of factors that are carefully calculated into a single formula for ranking purposes. The magazine also breaks down rankings by various characteristics to make it easy for parents and students to get a complete picture of how schools across the city perform.

This video offers a look at how a survey is done.

How the Rankings are Calculated

According to Boston Magazine, there are 13 factors that go into the calculations for the annual rankings. The most weight was given to academic factors since the primary function of public schools is to provide a solid education to students. The criteria under academic performance included test scores for national tests like the SAT, as well as standardized examinations for the state. The magazine also took into consideration completion rates and the number of students heading to college after graduation.

Other factors that were not given as much weight but are still considered in the final calculations include the availability of extracurricular activities, such as clubs and sports. While these opportunities do not factor directly into academic performance, they do cultivate leadership and team-building skills, and they are valuable for beefing up college and employment

College preparation is one of the concerns facing secondary public schools across the country. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg, one of the largest school districts in the country, one solution to ensuring college preparedness may be found at an innovative high school that combines high school and college for a rich academic experience. Cato Middle College High was created as a prototype for the rest of the state, allowing high school juniors and seniors a taste of the college experience while they are still finishing high school requirements.

About Cato Middle College High School

Cato was established by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in 2007, as North Carolina’s first Middle College program. The school is located on the Cato Campus of Central Piedmont Community College, where students take both high school courses and earn college credits simultaneously. Only 100 students are enrolled at Cato at any given time, which ensures students get plenty of personalized attention from instructors while they are getting a head start in their college endeavors.

In this video, students describe some of the happenings at Cato.

Students take the last two years of their high school classes while on this campus. This typically consists of Advanced Placement or honors coursework. At the same time, students may take college classes through Central Piedmont Community College, tuition-free. Students can choose from any of the Central Piedmont campuses, taking courses in classrooms that are up

Washington, D.C., has become a school district where charter schools enroll nearly as many students as neighborhood public schools. As the charter model becomes more and more prevalent in the District, school officials are forced to look at the future path of public schooling in D.C. While some believe the exponential growth of charter schools is a good thing for education quality overall, others fear the expansion of these schools will permanently put traditional public schools in a minority position, where they will lack clout and resources to educate D.C., children, effectively.

Charter School Growth: Numbers Don’t Lie

Charter schools first came to Washington D.C. in 1996. The movement has slowly expanded across the school district to the point where 43 percent of D.C.’s students attend one of these schools today. According to Education Week, that translates to nearly 35,000 students at 100 campuses across the city. Charter school enrollment appears to be on a path to continue this expansion by approximately 10 percent each year.

According to the , enrollment in traditional public schools in the District was at just over 45,000 in 2012. The number indicated a one-percent growth in public school enrollment from 2011 to 2012. If that trend continues, it won’t be long before charter school enrollment outpaces enrollment at traditional public schools.

The competition with charter schools has taken its toll on D.C.’s public school system overall. This year, low enrollment numbers are forcing DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson

Like other school districts across the country, Chicago Public Schools is decrying a budget crisis that could lead to the closure of dozens of schools across the city. However, after a recent audit found a surplus in the district’s budget, some are accusing district officials and the mayor’s office of crying wolf. In fact, recent news about potential budget surpluses has fueled the fire over proposed school closures and sparked more protests by teachers, parents, community members, and the local teachers’ union.

This video reports on a CPS budget crisis.

Does Budget Surplus Suggest Fuzzy Math?

Officials of Chicago Public Schools continue to assert that a billion-dollar deficit in the district’s budget is fueling plans to close public schools across the city. However, reports that in the midst of discussions on school closures, a recent audit has discovered that instead of a deficit in the Chicago Public Schools budget, a surplus of $334 million was recorded! The district responded that the money came from early payments from the state and county. Other sources claim that the money is a combination of underestimating revenue for the year and underspending.

Truthout further claims that this is not the first time Chicago Public Schools has “played” with the budget numbers. The previous year, the district estimated it would suffer a budget deficit of $245 million. The district instead reported a surplus of $316

Like other school districts across the country, the Detroit Public School system has felt the pinch of the sluggish economy. In an effort to balance an already tight budget, the system has proposed a multi-faceted cost cutting approach that includes the closure of some schools throughout the district. Unfortunately, the repercussions of that decision may be felt by hundreds of students. Some of those hit the hardest could be the students attending Detroit’s vocational schools.

Vocational Programs in Jeopardy

The Detroit Free Press reports that the five vocational centers run by Detroit Public Schools could be in financial peril, due to dwindling enrollment numbers and budgetary constraints throughout the system. The centers have provided a wide range of vocational training to Detroit Public Schools students, as well as students from outside the district, for a number of years. Vocational training has evolved from the standard automotive and cosmetology offerings to incorporating everything from business administration to hospitality and construction.

Students in the vocational centers attend regular high school course at their neighborhood school before heading to the vocational centers for the rest of their education. In addition to providing students with career-centric training, the courses offer a pathway to a college education that might not otherwise be available. Many of the students and their parents see the centers as an effective way to break the poverty cycle in the city, by providing students with practical training and education they will be able to take with