Wikipedia

Wikipedia:WikiProject Schools/Assessment/Archive/2008

< Wikipedia:WikiProject Schools‎ | Assessment‎ | Archive


January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

  • Bret Harte Middle School (San Jose, California) (Start / Low) has not that much info, but has some basic information LegoKontribsTalkM 04:02, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
  • Central High School (Burlington, Illinois) (Stub / Low) A short article with basic information and no references. Loopla (talk) 05:11, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
  • Central High School (Camp Point, Illinois) (Stub / Low) A very short article with basic info. Loopla (talk) 05:41, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
  • Tiffin School (B / Mid) Requested externally on my talk page. This has become quite a strong article with many sections, pictures, references, and content. I see many of the sources used are primary - to improve try and expand the source pool to include more secondary sources. I would suggest trying to get references for the alumni section and expand the introduction as it is currently a little short for an article of this size. Also I would recommend expanding some sections further down the article such as the Tiffin shop if possible, pictures here would be good too. I am giving this article mid importance for its alumni and history. Camaron | Chris (talk) 20:12, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
  • Butterfield Elementary School (Lake Elsinore, California) (B / Mid) Current collaboration. Most elementary schools are not notable but this article shows quite an exception to this. This is quite a good article and could even meet the Good article criteria with work. My first thoughts when seeing the article were - external links, there are a lot of them, too many. The article should contain a few external links in the external links section, usually the official site and a few other important relevant ones. All other links should be part of in-line citations using <ref></ref> tags, external links within the text should be kept to a minimum, and individual news articles should really only be in in-line citations unless they have particular importance to the article. See Wikipedia:External links for further guidance. The section set-up can also be improved, try and not repeat the article title in section tiles, and if possible create sub-sections to seperate large amounts of text. The introduction is rather short for an article this size, consider expanding it, use Wikipedia:Lead section for guidance. Finally, try and consider moving the logo into the info-box, where it generally should be for school articles. I am giving this article mid importance for the schools quite notable visual and performing arts program, history, and awards. Camaron | Chris (talk) 20:35, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
  • Magnet school (Start / High) Not sure why we hadn't already assessed this... Very important article to the project. Has minimal reference material. Needs authoritative sources and statistics. I would push for some project effor on this and all such "Types of Schools" articles. Adam McCormick (talk) 04:44, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
  • Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík (Start/Top) A very important old school in Iceland founded in 1056 which has educated most of the country's Prime Ministers and is therefore of top importance. The article needs more content, especially about the history of the school, and especially references to advance to a B. Dahliarose (talk) 09:42, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
  • La Salle College (B / Mid) Requested. A well-written article with lots of factual information and very neutral tone. Alumni list, history, and content make this one of the better Hong Kong school articles I've seen. Could still use more references and a stronger lead but otherwise very close to GA. Adam McCormick (talk) 03:49, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
  • Stonyhurst College (B / Mid) Requested. Looks solidly-written and well referenced with plenty of references and pictures. All it needs to be GA is a review request. (Mid may be low, but I need a UK person to confirm) Adam McCormick (talk) 00:44, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
I have upgraded this school to high importance. It's a leading Catholic school with a long history in an important historical building. There aren't many schools which can boast that Oliver Cromwell slept there, and even fewer with saints amongst their alumni, let alone seven Victoria crosses. The school already has three Wikipedia articles in other languages which testifies to its international recognition. Dahliarose (talk)

April 2008

  • St. Bees School (Start/high) Requested re-assessment. This article is developing well. It should really be a B, but is lacking in references. Trivia needs trimming. I'm upgrading the article to high importance based on its history and the alumni, which include Fletcher Christian and three Victoria Crosses. Dahliarose (talk) 22:51, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Winchester College (B/Top) Upgraded to top importance. It already has Wikipedia articles in seven different languages. It is one of the oldest and best known English schools and a large number of books have been written about it testifying to its importance. It also has a very long list of important alumni and a long list of fictional alumni too! Dahliarose (talk) 22:51, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Morton Memorial Schools (Stub/low) - Needs a lot more content and references and maybe a picture to reach Start class. Bsrboy (talk) 23:00, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
  • St Paul's School (London) (B/high) I'm surprised we haven't already assessed this school. It is one of the original nine 'public' schools in England and one of the highest achieving schools in the country easily justifying high importance. The article is well written but has a lot of subjective claims and a lot of work is now needed on referencing. Dahliarose (talk) 11:02, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Haileybury and Imperial Service College This article has been expanded since it was last assessed and is now a B. The alumni would be best split into a separate article. More content should be added particularly about the curriculum and extra-curricular activities. Most importantly there is a lot of work needed on the referencing. I am upgrading the article to high importance based on the alumni (which include Rudyard Kipling, three George Crosses and seventeen Victoria Crosses – only Eton and Harrow have more VCs) and the history. Dahliarose (talk) 11:02, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

May 2008

There were no article assessment requests completed in May 2008.

June 2008

Clearly a B-class article of Mid-importance as it adds to the issues facing Muslims in America. (See Khalil Gibran International Academy above for more on the same issue) — Calebrw (talk) 22:58, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

July 2008

Note: I will be helping to assess a few article here and there, but I probably won't write the summaries here unless I rate the articles at B-class or Mid-importance and higher. --Jh12 (talk) 17:26, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

  • Sammamish High School (B / Mid) I am rating this article as a B because it is pretty well organized and referenced. It will need further expansion, including a history section. I have told them to consider reviewing other similarly rated schools for ideas, and putting in for a peer review as the article develops. I am assigning a mid-importance due to its consistent Newsweek ranking. --Jh12 (talk) 17:26, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
  • Thomasschule zu Leipzig (Stub/Top) With its status as one of the oldest grammar schools in Europe and the impressive collection of alumni and teachers (Bach and Wagner) I agree that this school merits a top importance rating. The article needs a lot of expansion and many more references. Dahliarose (talk) 13:20, 23 July 2008 (UTC)
  • Rossall School (B/High) Following a re-assessment request on my talk page I have now upgraded this school to high importance because of its pioneering status in a number of fields. It is the first school in the UK to have a combined cadet force, one of the first to offer the International Baccalaureate, and has the unusual privilege of being the home of a science and astronomy centre. There is also a unique game of hockey named after the school. This is an excellent page which is close to being a good article. There are two sections consisting mainly of lists (the campus section and school terms) which would be best converted to prose. These sections are also lacking in references. The school terms section could probably be trimmed as most of it is of a somewhat trivial nature and is really only of interest to people at the school. Dahliarose (talk) 23:16, 24 July 2008 (UTC)
  • Westtown School (Start/Mid) This article needs lacks any references. In particular, the claim that it is the "second oldest continuously operating co-educational boarding school in the United States" needs to be sourced. Due to the alumni listed and the age of the school, I am currently placing it at Mid importance. Without citations, however, it is impossible to verify the content in the article. --Jh12 (talk) 14:14, 26 July 2008 (UTC)
  • Taipei First Girls' High School (Start/Top) I am placing Taipei First Girls' High School as Top importance as the most prestigious girls' school in Taiwan (ROC). It's typically paired with the top boy's high school "Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School". Feel free to reduce it to high; an article describing last years' entrance examination cutoffs for the two schools is here: [1] --Jh12 (talk) 20:53, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
  • National Tainan First Senior High School (Stub/High) I am also placing National Tainan First Senior High School as High importance. It's also a pretty well known school; the list of alumni on its Chinese Wikipedia page is extensive, but just from a western perspective it has prominent alumni in the form of the last Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Ang Lee. --Jh12 (talk) 20:53, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
  • Deerfield High School (Illinois) (B/Mid) Needs many more refs, but still has quite a few as of now. Good pictures. Calebrw (talk) 21:00, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
  • St Michael's Grammar School (B/Low) This article has decent size and organization, but needs more referencing. --Jh12 (talk) 13:01, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
  • Ligon Middle School (Start/Low) Not yet a C. Needs some work on the references, should be in proper format, and used again, see <ref name="example">. Also, Phone and fax numbers should not be included. See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Schools/Article_guidelines#What_not_to_include The Lockdowns don't seem to be that encyclopedic. My middle school had a couple of bomb threats one year, but I'm not going to go add them to the page. Also, Courses should be changed to Curriculum and "Clubs/Sports Teams/Councils" should be put in its own section called "Extracurricular activities" and the Chapters section should be expand with an explanation of what chapters are. Calebrw (talk) 13:37, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
  • Florida Virtual School (Mid) I changed to Mid because of the historical implications of being on of the first, if not the first online high schools in the USA. If you would like to change the class of this article from start, please do what is listed in the To-Do section of the articles talk page. Calebrw (talk) 13:47, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
  • Port Charlotte High School (C/low) Normally, this would be B, but based on the sheer number of citations needed, I'm rating C. Calebrw (talk) 14:28, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

August 2008

September 2008

  • Yeah, I can where you are coming from there. A lot of those articles linked are not of that good quality compared to this one, so there importance is more difficult to recognise. We also want to keep the distribution of top importance articles reasonably balanced around the world, though some countries will always have a quite a lot more than others. There are currently 28 individual school top importance articles, of which 5 of them (17%) are in England. I was interested to discover that there are only 6 in the USA by comparison, despite the fact the country is a lot bigger in population and land mass (I think the lack of history for a lot of the schools there is a cause). So from this area there is certainly no more demand for any Top importance England school articles, though it would be good to have one from another part of the UK such as Scotland. Also, I will add that out of the currently listed top importance England school articles I heard of three of them before coming to Wikipedia, I had never heard of any of the above before now. Camaron | Chris (talk) 20:53, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • There is possibly an argument for a greater proportion of English schools in the list as our public schools (in the English sense) were so influential in the rest of the world, and schools in India, Australia and elsewhere modelled themselves on our system. However, there is still a lot of work to be done identifying the top importance school articles. Perhaps we can do a review when (if?) all the importance ratings have been added. I think we need the Americans to identify their top importance schools. There should surely be many more top American schools than have currently been identified. There's only one school from Africa and not a single South American school on the list at present. I did do all the Scottish schools a while back, and made Gordonstoun top importance. I did wonder about Fettes College but the article was very poor and the rating didn't seem justified on the existing content. I'd heard of all the English schools on the list, though I'd not heard of Stonyhurst. However, I don't think I could have named a single American school before discovering Wikipedia. Dahliarose (talk) 23:00, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • I can help with adding more Top importance American schools. Most will essentially be the private and private boarding schools around New England: the ones I've heard of, the ones identified by the Wall Street Journal, and from the Selection Bot results. I have to admit, I only knew two British secondary schools before Wikipedia: Eton College (which I've seen in person) and Stonyhurst, because I read a biography on J.R.R. Tolkien. But reading your discussion, it looks like High for Stonyhurst is fine. Placing a few of the other UK schools as Top is not a problem for me, however, because there are so many schools with established histories. Some of the top scoring public schools in the US, mostly magnets like Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, are less than 50 years old. In regards to African schools, the page Africa Almanac could be useful --Jh12 (talk) 07:23, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
  • I missed that there was a Scottish school on the list; it is good to have at least one non-England UK school there. Camaron | Chris (talk) 17:36, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Assumption High School (Louisiana) (Stub / Low) Still at Stub level: too many lists currently, and not enough references. Have added some advice at the talk page --Jh12 (talk) 18:26, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Royal College, Colombo (C/Top) A substantial article but only two references. A prestigious school in Sri Lanka with a lengthy list of prominent alumni including two prime ministers and a sultan. Dahliarose (talk) 23:15, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • St Patrick's High School, Karachi (Start / Top) Reassessing from Mid to Top importance. School from Pakistan educated both the former and present Presidents of Pakistan, two Prime Ministers of Pakistan, and others. Currently borderline Start-C level; a bit too much of it perhaps is uncited to place as C. --Jh12 (talk) 07:02, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Victoria Institution (Start/High). Re-assessment of this Malaysian school after being picked up by the selection bot. Changed from mid to high importance on the strength of the alumni which include the Sultan of Brunei. Probably a top importance school but the article is completely lacking in references and it is difficult to judge based on the existing content.
  • Raffles Institution (B/Top) The oldest school in Singapore with a president and a prime minister amongst its alumni. Lots of books have been written about the school. Another one picked up by the bot. Bafflingly it was previously assessed as low importance. Now upgraded to top. Dahliarose (talk) 12:04, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Hwa Chong Institution (C/high). Another prestigious school in Singapore picked up by the bot. It was previously assessed as B/low. I've downgraded it to a C because of the lack of references and the large amount of trivia and copyvio (school songs). I've bumped it up to high. If references can be provided to back up the article then this will probably be top importance. Dahliarose (talk) 12:04, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Middle School (Start/Top) Selected for inclusion in the next Wikipedia DVD release. Upgraded to top importance to bring into line with the other key terminology articles (high school, secondary school, etc.). An embarrassingly poor article at present with many unreferenced sections. Dahliarose (talk) 12:04, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Auckland Grammar School (B/Top) Selected for inclusion in the next Wikipedia DVD release. A top boys' school in New Zealand, and one of the largest schools in the country. The alumni include Russell Crowe and a former president of the United Nations. The school's international importance is testified by the astonishing number of articles on the school in foreign language Wikis. Upgraded from high to top importance.
  • Geelong Grammar School (C/High). Another school picked up by the bot. It is a prestigious Australian school. The alumni include Kerry Packer, a prime minister and a former King of Malaysia. Prince Charles also spent some time at the school. The school is easily high importance. I wonder if it merits top importance. Would an Australian editor like to comment?Dahliarose (talk) 12:30, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
I agree with C-class; needs far more references. --Jh12 (talk) 13:21, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

1. Scotch College, Melbourne Top
2. Melbourne Grammar School High (previously unassessed)
3. Melbourne High School (Victoria) Top
4. Geelong Grammar School High
5. Sydney Boys High School High
6. Wesley College, Melbourne High
7. Sydney Church of England Grammar School High (previously Mid)
8. Fort Street High School High
9. North Sydney Boys High School High (previously unassessed)
10. Sydney Grammar School Top
--Jh12 (talk) 20:20, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

  • I'm uncertain about the following changes for the girls' Who's Who rankings, and will wait a bit to make them (last number is a quick count of alumni with Wikipedia pages):

1. Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne High (previously unassessed) 21
2. SCEGGS Darlinghurst High (previously unassessed) 12
3. Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne High (previously unassessed) 14
4. Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney High 18
5. Melbourne Girls Grammar School Mid (previously unassessed) 4
6. Mac.Robertson Girls' High School Mid 5
7. North Sydney Girls High School High (previously unassessed) 9
8. Sydney Girls High School High (previously Mid) 15
9. MLC School Mid (previously unassessed) 8
10. University High School, Melbourne High (previously Low) 40
--Jh12 (talk) 20:51, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

High importance seems reasonable for all these schools based on the content of the current articles. They all have a worrying lack of references, and I suspect that much of the material is copyvio. The importance rating can always be reviewed at a later date when the articles have been improved and have proper references. Dahliarose (talk) 23:25, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

October 2008

  • American School for the Deaf (Start/High) - Assessed High for importance in American deaf education, but could be significantly expanded. --Jh12 (talk) 20:50, 1 October 2008 (UTC)
  • Lord Byron School (Gyumri) (C/High) - Assessed High by Victuallers. This might be a slight difference of opinion, but I actually would have rated this one Mid. I look for an extensive listing of alumni, age, and some form of national/international designation as a school of excellence. It's a little more similar to the Mid-importance article I've worked on: Benjamin Franklin High School (New Orleans, Louisiana) --Jh12 (talk) 20:50, 1 October 2008 (UTC) Hi - just to justify the high ...in fact I think its top because there are only 3 Armenian schools on en:wikipedia. Seems to me that every country is entitled to a top. If a non-alumni school in New York was the only school on the wiki then it would be Top. But obviously you are the consensus Victuallers (talk) 21:02, 1 October 2008 (UTC) (Oh and pleased to see schools assessment is so healthy)
I whole-heartedly agree about every country having High/Top-importance schools and even from my view the article is around Mid to High, but I look at the importance assessment slightly differently. Every school of Top importance will definitely have the extensive alumni and background to support such a rating, it's just a matter of when the article develops to the point where it can demonstrate that importance. If that supporting material isn't there, I'd rather assess lower because there may be far more notable institutions that just haven't made their way to Wikipedia yet. --Jh12 (talk) 21:14, 1 October 2008 (UTC)
Valid view, but when (nearly) every American footballer is notable then its a bit unfair to wait for Armenians to make their fame apparent in Wikipedia. Although I can see your point I think that it will be a long time before they make it. This school was previously named after a famous Armenian playwright called Gabriel Soundukyan - not only has Wikipedia not heard of him but Google only just shows you a statue built in his honour but no idea who he is. If we wait for these people to be notable on an English language wikipedia then these countries will wait a long time for schools rated as "Top". I prefer to guess with three we have and downrate them as we find American footballers who went to them (last bit was an attempt at a joke). Oh and this school will be on the front page of wikipedia in the next few hours. Cheers. Victuallers (talk) 08:29, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
Well done Victuallers on another excellent article! I would endorse the high importance rating, especially in view of the lack of other Armenian schools with Wikipedia articles. We need to do our best to encourage articles on schools in other countries to counter the systemic bias in Wikipedia (just compare the number of American schools on Wikipedia with the number of Chinese schools for instance). Of the three existing Armenian school articles this seems to be the most interesting and important school. In countries where English is not the first language it can be difficult to judge schools by alumni lists, as often very important people (politicians, writers, etc) don't have their own Wikipedia articles. Dahliarose (talk) 23:17, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
All good points, but I will probably continue to trend lower importance unless given other indication. My reasoning is that regardless of systemic bias, the burden of proof is still on the editor, not the assessor. Unless a person has first-hand knowledge of the country, it's hard to tell if a school is notable, particularly if it lacks references. For instance, I know with a high degree of confidence that there are two definite Top-importance schools in Taiwan: Taipei First Girls' High School and Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School. I also know from first-hand knowledge that High School attached to Tsinghua University is a highly prestigious school in mainland China. But none of that knowledge is of use unless the articles support it. --Jh12 (talk) 00:33, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

All assessed/reassessed Start/High, but requesting second opinions on these schools --Jh12 (talk) 01:37, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

I think this could possibly be top importance. The alumni list is relatively short at present but includes some internationally recognised people such as Michael Douglas, Indira Gandhi and the Queen of Thailand. As the school where the IB programme was created it has international recognition. It's also on the Guardian list of top international schools [3]. Dahliarose (talk) 17:37, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
This school could well be top importance if the claims can be referenced and if the alumni list is expanded. Dahliarose (talk) 17:37, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
Has now been assessed as high importance. Dahliarose (talk) 17:47, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
I just did some research to check. We may want to wikilink Education_in_France#Secondary_education as well. The lycées listed should serve at least the Lycée stage of secondary education: ages 15 to 18, except for Lycée Saint-Louis, which only offers the CPGE (hopefully it will all be individually referenced in the future). I'm not sure, then, if Lycée Saint-Louis is WPSchool, WPUni, or both. Prytanée National Militaire serves ages 11-15 in its Primary cycle or Collège stage [5], and it serves ages 15 to 18 in its second cycle or Lycée stage http://www.cofat.terre.defense.gouv.fr/PJ/Documents/Decouverte/ODF/Lycees/Documents/2CYCLE.pdf. More information is available at the French ministry of defense site in terms of admission requirements, and there's a very brief profile page. Lycées de la Défense Prytanée National Militaire profile

November 2008

December 2008

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Schools/Assessment/Archive/2008&oldid=1141871525"