Ranking of the best schools by “Reitingai”: Polish schools among the best ones

What subjects are taught the best in secondary schools in Lithuania? As it turns out, the Russian language and computer science. However, when it comes to mathematics, the situation is terrible. This is the conclusion of the authors of the annual ranking of junior high schools and universities. The ranking of the best schools was published by the journal “Reitingai”.

The schools were evaluated based on the results of this year’s national final examinations in the following subjects: Lithuanian, English, German, French and Russian language, history, mathematics, computer science, biology, chemistry, geography and physics. In each category the top 50 schools were chosen (out of about 450 high schools and junior high schools in Lithuania).

“What is interesting, computer science and Russian language are taught the best in Lithuanian junior high schools. For example, in all schools from the top 50, the average Russian language examination grade varies from 88,17 to 100 points and science examination grade – from 77 to 100 points” – noted Jone Kučinskaitė, journalist from the newspaper “Reitingai”. Unfortunately, when it comes to mathematics, in her opinion, the situation is terrible: on the list of the best institutions we could find schools where high school graduates’ average rating was lower than 50 points – from 49.8 to 43.78. “We have learned about the bad math, science and reading comprehension results of our students from the latest PISA survey. One of the answers to the question of why our children find mathematics difficult is, as it turns out, the fact that they have way less hours of mathematics during the week in comparison with other countries participating in the study” – said Kučinskaitė during the presentation of the results of the latest ranking of the journal “Reitingai”.

Despite the overall negative results, non-Lithuanian schools did better during the survey “I would like to distinguish several schools where Lithuanian is a teaching language, but it is not the mother tongue of the students. All graduates of St. Casimir High School in Medininkai, Słowacki Junior High School in Bezdonys and Scholom Aleichem ORT Gymnasium School in Vilnius have passed the state examination in Lithuanian better than students for whom it is the mother tongue” – said Jone Kučinskaitė.

Polish schools can also be find on the list of the top 50 – both large Vilnius schools as well as rural institutions.

In last year’s ranking of the 50 schools that teach Lithuanian language the best there were no Polish schools. This year, there are three: St. Casimir High School in Miedninkai (13th place), Junior High School in Rukainių (19th place) and Słowacki Junior High School in Bezdonys (25th place).

Among the 50 schools with the highest level of English in Lithuania there are two Polish schools: John Paul II Junior High School in Vilnius (37th place) and Władysław Syrokomla High School. The German language is not as popular as English. Among the 35 awarded schools, there is five Polish ones: Junior High School in Buivydžiai (20th place), Ludwik Narbutt Junior High School in Kalesninkai (23rd place), Józef Obrembski in Maišiagala (27th place), High School in Eišiškės (30th place), Adam Mickiewicz Junior High School in Dieveniškės (34th place).

Traditionally, the cathegory where we can find the most Polish schools, as many as sixteen, is the cathegory of schools with the best assessment of the Russian language examination. These are: St. Casimir High School in Miednikai (19th place), Adam Mickiewicz Junior High School in Vilnius (26th), Stanisław Kostka Junior High School in Paberžės (27th place), Konstanty Parczewski Junior High School in Nemenčinė (28th place), Joahim Lelewel High School in Vilnius (29th place), John Paul II Junior High School in Vilnius (31st place), Słowacki Junior High School in Bezdonys (32-33 place), High School in Rukainių (34th place), High School in Avižieniai (38th place), Józef Obrembski Junior High School in Maišiagala (39th), High School in Mickūnai (40th place), Władysław Syrokomla High School in Vilnius (42nd place), Ferdynand Ruszczyc Junior High School in Rudaminos (46th place), Paweł Ksawery Brzostkowski Junior High School in Turgeliai (47-48 place), Urszula Ledóchowska High School in Czarny Bór (47-48 place), Rafał Kalinowski Junior High School in Nemėžis (50th place).

When it comes to history, on the list of 50 schools we can find only one Polish school: Joachimas Lelevelis High School in in Vilnius (16th place). “Lelevelis” was also listed among the schools with the best results in mathematics (14th place). Other outstanding Polish schools are: John Paul II Junior High School in Vilnius (27th place), Juzefas Obrembskis High School in Maišiagala (37th place), Józef Ignacy Kraszewski High School in Vilnius (39th), Władysław Syrokomla High School in Vilnius (43rd place).

Among the schools with the best results of the examination of computer sciences was Urszula Ledóchowska Junior High School in Czarny Bór (5-6 place), John Paul II Junior High School in (22nd place). John Paul II Junior High School took also the 15th place among schools with the best results in physics; Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Junior High School took 31-32 place, and Stanisław Kostka Junior High School in Paberžės took 47-48 place.

Second place among the 50 schools with the best results of the exam in chemistry took Junior High School in Eišiškės, 7-8 place went to M. Baliński Junior High School in Jašiūnai, which last year’s winner.

Władysław Syrokomla High School in Vilnius (9th), Urszula Ledóchowska High School in Czarny Bór (17th place), M. Baliński High School in Jašiūnai (27th place), High School in Rukainių  (42 place), Konstanty Parczewski Junior High School in Nemenčinė (47 place) are among the 50 schools with the best results in biology.

Best results of the geography exam obtained the graduates of Słowacki High School in Bezdonys (15th place), Urszula Ledóchowska Junior High School in Czarny Bór (26-27 place) and Adam Mickiewicz Junior High School in Vilnius (47 place).

“Reitingai” publishes also a ranking of primary schools and junior high schoolscreated on the basis of the results of Science Olympiads. According to the achievements of the students Władysław Syrokomla Junior High School in Vilnius took 8-10 place, 33-39 place went to Marian Zdziechowski Primary School in Sudervė. Among other primary schools Primary School in Kiwiszki was mentioned. The winners of the Science Olympiads attended, among others, Władysław Syrokomla Junior High School in Vilnius (16th place), Szymon Konarski Primary School (38-51 place), Konstanty Parczewski Junior High School in Nemenčinė (73-78 place) and Adam Mickiewicz Junior High School in Vilnius (79-80 place).

The authors also asked themselves what universities and subjects are chosen by the graduates. In the Vilnius region, 469 students were accepted at Lithuanian Universities (48.6 percent of the graduates). They chose from Vilnius University, Vilnius Technical University. Gediminas University Michael Romer, Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Chosen subjects are: entrepreneurship, management, education, finances, electronic engineering, computer science, nursing.

196 graduates of the Šalčininkai district (57.1 percent) started studies in Lithuania. They chose: Vilnius University, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences. They study entrepreneurship, management, law, nursing, pedagogy, medicine and health, finances.

Based on: delfi.lt, “Reitingai”