[Isk8ingcoach]

The best high schools in Jonesboro are Jonesboro High School and Valley View. Valley View likes to take the credit for being the best school in Arkansas. While they do have the highest in test scores at the Elementary Level, their high school offers little to no Advanced Placement classes and is very limited in the Electives. At JHS, there is a wide variety of Advanced Placement Classes, Electives and the Student Body is much like a larger city. There really are more opportunities at JHS for an aspiring student.

[GRITS06]

People in this situation should consider the smaller towns in NE Arkansas. I live in a small town (approx 700) that has a good school, several houses on the market at reasonable prices and is only about 25 minutes from Jonesboro who has all of the amenities (drs, dentists, hospitals, shopping, etc). The real esate prices in our small town are much more reasonable than Jonesboro, etc. You get more and get nicer for your money. Our community is about the same distance from Memphis as Jonesboro. Takes about an hour to reach Memphis.

[junkman18]

Originally Posted by a095800

I've recently relocated to Jonesboro, Ar. and daily commuting/working in Memphis, Tn.
I'm curious if there are others out there that have taken on this distance and how it has worked out?

How far is it from Jonesboro to Memphis? How long is the drive?
I guess when the road a finished it will be some quicker..

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by pannod

What concerned me with the Marion schools was the literacy percentage, which, for 11th grade was at only 19%; however, seems to have jumped to 40%. Still not great, but much better than my previous check, which could indicate some progress in the school system. The Middle and Junior High level percentages are higher than the High School grades. What I like about Marion schools is the schools are not crowded with over 2,000 kids like a lot of high schools I've researched. The Marion school district has a building for about 2 or 3 grades. For example, the middle school educates 6-7 grades, the junior high educates 8-9 grades, and the high school educates 10-12 allowing for small teacher-student ratios. This is a plus for their system, IMO.
Good luck to you!

Since there was some discussion about using test scores to decide where to move to in this thread, I wanted to make a quick statement on that. One thing you really need to beware of is vast and quick improvements in a school's standardized test scores!!! Very much like pannod noted for Marion schools. This is often an indication of "teaching the test" and not real learning at all. I now live in MD and this is a problem here, especially with the troubled inner city schools. But it doesn't just happen there. There's a lot of incentive and pressure for school officials in the high dollar areas to put lipstick on their pig. If you see jumps in test scores from 19% to 40%, start questioning why that happened. Now, for Marion, this could possibly be attributed to the influx of new residents whose children have been better educated elsewhere or it could also be just what I mentioned above. It could certainly be legitimate also but it seems a bit unlikely.

[Richard Grippo]

The commute between Jonesboro and Memphis does get boring but it is getting "shorter" all the time. The speed limit through Marked Tree was just raised from 55 to 70 mph about two weeks ago so fewer speed trap worries and a faster trip. Traffic gets a little crazy going into and out of Memphis but the rest of the trip is rural and you can watch the crops change during the growing season.

[Richard Grippo]

Originally Posted by Isk8ingcoach

The best high schools in Jonesboro are Jonesboro High School and Valley View. Valley View likes to take the credit for being the best school in Arkansas. While they do have the highest in test scores at the Elementary Level, their high school offers little to no Advanced Placement classes and is very limited in the Electives. At JHS, there is a wide variety of Advanced Placement Classes, Electives and the Student Body is much like a larger city. There really are more opportunities at JHS for an aspiring student.

The above information is quite wrong or out-of-date. Valley View has a good number of pre-AP and AP courses and an assortment of electives, most with a better student/teacher ratio than Jonesboro High School. Reported disciplinary incidents are much higher at Jonesboro High School, likely a result of their "larger city" student body. Recent new buildings include a new high school, elementary school, a state-of-the-art fine performing arts center and under construction is a new middle school. Most athletic facilities have been upgraded and Valley View added both soccer and football programs within the past 5 years. Valley View has been ranked the top school in Arkansas, earning the THV Golden Apple Award, based on district-wide benchmark exams (not just elementary as implied above) for the past three years running. Valley View has plenty of opportunities for an aspiring student.

[TruthSeeker]

Apparently those who posted earlier do not realize Vally View also has the highest ACT scores of any school in NEA, therefore their secondary programs are just as strong as their benchmark and Iowa basic testing scores. In addiiton, their end of course exams are also well above all other schools in the county

[Isk8ingcoach]

Ah, yes, time has truly made a difference. Valley View did very well on the end of course exams for the 11th grade. But, from my college stats class, I do remember that in order to make an educated guess on the validity you have to know if all the students were tested............ Not making allegations, but sometimes stats can be skewed. For instance if most of the lesser achievers in Jonesboro were removed from the equations, then the numbers would look different. My child is in AP classes; I would not expect a child in non AP to score as high as one who is. I would also not expect a hispanic first language speaker who takes the test with the non ap to score as high. If we really should compare then make it apples to apples so to speak. A lump sum score can be misleading.

[Richard Grippo]

"Ah, yes, time has truly made a difference."

Well, yes, time does make a difference. Have not been on this forum in a while. Seems like someone has sour grapes about the Valley View School system being better than the Jonesboro School system.

"Not making allegations, but sometimes stats can be skewed. Valley View did very well on the end of course exams for the 11th grade. But, from my college stats class, I do remember that in order to make an educated guess on the validity you have to know if all the students were tested............ "

You claim to not be making allegations, then immediately do so?!!

"For instance if most of the lesser achievers in Jonesboro were removed from the equations, then the numbers would look different. My child is in AP classes; I would not expect a child in non AP to score as high as one who is."

So, what do you think Valley View has been doing the last four years they had the highest test scores in the state? Do you think they made all the lesser achievers go stand out in the woods while the rest of the students took the tests?!!!

"I would also not expect a(n) hispanic first language speaker who takes the test with the non ap to score as high."

I wonder what Lily Gomez at Valley View, one of the hispanic girls I have coached in soccer, would think of your unsubstantiated statement? Sounds pretty defamatory to me.

"If we really should compare then make it apples to apples so to speak. A lump sum score can be misleading."

Here's an apples to apples comparison. Valley View has the highest school tax rate (called "millage") in the greater Jonesboro area (but still low compared to the rest of the country; I only pay about $350 a year in school taxes) and the Jonesboro school district has one of the lowest school tax rates in the area. The patrons of JSD have repeatedly voted down (for at least the 13 years that I have lived here) a desperately needed tax increase (increased millage). They are on the verge of going into fiscal distress with the state of Arkansas. Jonesboro School District does not get low test scores because they do not make the lessor achievers "go stand in the woods". They get low scores because the patrons are not willing to provide the support needed to achieve a high quality education.

But they do have a nice, recently upgraded football stadium.

[grmasterb]

Grippo, that was an old post to which you replied. On your point, however, I could help but notice that JHS was rated by Newsweek as one of the best high schools in the country. No such accolade for VVHS.

http://highschools.newsweek.com/schools/base/expandZ/Rank/1351/1300/100/2007/ (broken link)