My public high school was located in a blue-collar exurb with a high percentage of ESL students. Test scores would have put it solidly in the bottom third of the state. Its one claim to excellence was a top-ranked football team.
And yet, I had an outstanding educational experience there. It was the first time in my life I was actually challenged and engaged. In some cases, the high school classes were superior in that respect to their collegiate equivalents.
The major reason why the quality was so good for an HG student in a bad school: it was LARGE. As a result, there was a large-enough pool of AP students that a particular AP class would be available most hours of the day, allowing for flexible scheduling. Want to do two histories or two lab sciences in the same year? No problem. Is your English preference for AP Literature or AP Composition? We have different teachers specializing on each. Trying to take full advantage of the top-notch fine arts and/or foreign language programs? We offer early AP subject classes before the start of the normal school day, and other required subjects during summer school, so you can make room in your schedule for more electives.
A large school also meant a large faculty, with the best qualified and evaluated teachers tabbed for the AP classes. With one glaring exception, all of my teachers were very knowledgeable about their subject matter, and passionate about sharing that knowledge.
I share this experience because there have been a number of parents reporting how the highly-ranked public or private school failed to meet the needs of their gifted children on this forum, and my experience is the converse, where a poorly-ranked public school served the needs of a gifted child surprisingly well. The takeaway is rankings or reputation tell you little about individual experiences within an educational setting.
