50 Best Public High Schools - Atlanta Magazine (Alpharetta, Duluth: fit in, house)
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Wow, thanks for the update. Man... I wish Kimbro and Ericsonga would be here to chime in as they know how to analyze the re-zoning stuff inside & out for gwinnett county.
ATLJL, it seems like you are care a lot for Duluth HS. Did you goto high school there or are you living in that high school cluster now? I have my GA real estate broker's license so that i can have access to the MLS since I am very interested in investing in real estate in this area. I was suprised to notice that the inventory got absorbed very quickly in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster just in the last 6-8 months. I wonder if this due to the recent rezoning and lower price points to purchase.
Wow.. I mean wow! I just checked the MLS and
if you can believe this Peachtree Ridge cluster has a tighter inventory of homes than the Northview HS School cluster. We have 5 months supply of homes in Peachtree Ridge while Northview has 6 months. Dude.. this is Awesome! Seriously, I hope this is the end of the 5 year decline real estate prices in this area.
I am not making an "assumption." Why would I and what would I have to gain?
This is known by people "in the know"...and it something that many do not realize.
Buddy,
Re-read my comments, then read your comments and re-think your comment.
Okay?
Done?
Things being relatively equal? Do you really think anything about the 50th ranked student from MLK and Walton is similar? Your assumptions that these students have anything close to an equal SAT score, course load, extracurricular activities is a HUGE assumption.
Wow, thanks for the update. Man... I wish Kimbro and Ericsonga would be here to chime in as they know how to analyze the re-zoning stuff inside & out for gwinnett county.
ATLJL, it seems like you are care a lot for Duluth HS. Did you goto high school there or are you living in that high school cluster now? I have my GA real estate broker's license so that i can have access to the MLS since I am very interested in investing in real estate in this area. I was suprised to notice that the inventory got absorbed very quickly in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster just in the last 6-8 months. I wonder if this due to the recent rezoning and lower price points to purchase.
Wow.. I mean wow! I just checked the MLS and
if you can believe this Peachtree Ridge cluster has a tighter inventory of homes than the Northview HS School cluster. We have 5 months supply of homes in Peachtree Ridge while Northview has 6 months. Dude.. this is Awesome!
Oh no, have I become the go-to guy for GCPS info?
Well my two cents on the redistricting....
Truth is... I got really busy at the end of last year with work, which is all traveling, so I missed alot on this issue.
From what I understand though... the redistricting happened, but it was scaled back a bit and isn't quite what you posted.
Here is the current district map for Peachtree Ridge:
http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/gcps-mainweb01.nsf/7DAC1ABEEA3D0AB7852575E4006365F4/$file/Peachtree_Ridge_Cluster_Map_2011-12.pdf
and here is Duluth:
http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/gcps-mainweb01.nsf/DE4086839507ACA0852575DE0068ECD4/$file/Duluth_Cluster_Map_2011-12.pdf
The large yellow area on MrPanda's posted pdf is where the Gwinnett Place Mall is and the corridor north of it. It is largely townhomes and apartment communities. You can see where the original Yellow area was scaled back.
Back when they first made Peachtree Ridge there was a huge backlash from those being left in the Duluth Cluster. Originally Duluth was going to take the whole mall area (where it is zoned for lots of multi-family living...ie. apartments and townhomes). There was a compromise to equally split up these areas between the schools. This redistricting would have undone that compromise. However, in saying that... I must note... Gwinnett is continuing to zone multi-family housing further north along I-85 in the Peachtree Ridge cluster. The difference is they are far newer and the rent rates are higher.
The other thing I notice is the boundaries of the elementary schools. These are often a bigger issue to residents. Notice the proposed boundaries between Harris and Chesney.
Originally the redistricting was going to put the apartment areas in Harris and move some single family homes from Harris into Chesney. That wasn't done. All of the redistricted communities went to Chesney and those already zoned to Harris didn't get moved.
In other words Harris being mostly single family homes was preserved. However, that might make it harder to keep Chesney up to standards in the future. Too many apartments in one place tends to be a drain on the school.
This probably makes parents feel better in the Harris district, but from a planning stand point... it is concerning for Chesney.
--Now let me issue this disclaimer as I often do... about this redistricting situation --and-- rankings in general--
Duluth and Peachtree Ridge are both really good schools producing bright students and sending many to the state's and region's best schools.
Alot of basic statistics that overview a whole school loses sight of many things and only focuses on a few metrics.
Just because part of the population in a school is poorer and more transient and tends not to perform as well academically does not mean those who are settled into the area and are homeowners aren't doing well. It just means there are different types of populations within the same school cluster.
What is important is how well a school serves those different populations.
The basic overview statistics usually give a huge edge to schools that are entirely single family homes within the cluster/district lines, since there are no drain on avg or median scores. I'm afraid that is what is happening in Duluth and Peachtree Ridge too often (and for that matter Norcross). Many school systems develop more elaborate classroom divisions in high schools to deal with difference in learning speed and skill levels of students. AP and governor's honors programs become more important.
The way I choose to look at schools is looking at the district boundaries, look at the local zoning, (and by large part... google aerial imagine) and see what populations actually go to the school.
Then I would ask... How well does the school prepare children in each population. Even if the answer is very good... the metrics used in rankings tend to penalize these schools, especially when people tend to fixate on the top ones.
I would say Peachtree Ridge and Duluth are excellent schools for often being rated as high as they are, despite the apartments near the mall area. Of course, that won't stop most people from worrying (including myself).
Of course, the other issue is... every ranking is a little different. Different rankings use different metrics.... and there is no right one and there are pros and cons to every metric at actually measuring the subjective quality of the students a school produces.
Re-read my comments, then read your comments and re-think your comment.
Okay?
Done?
Things being relatively equal? Do you really think anything about the 50th ranked student from MLK and Walton is similar? Your assumptions that these students have anything close to an equal SAT score, course load, extracurricular activities is a HUGE assumption.
Brother Corn--
You are missing the point. I only commented to bring up the point about college admissions--yes, class ranking comparisons between schools would be different. That is why college admissions really only use them to see where students fall within their own schools. You can't compare 20th percentile class rank between high schools--never. And--many high schools don't even use/do class rankings...thus class ranking information/data would not even show up on a transcript.
My point is clear--all things being relatively equal, most college admissions would prefer/take a student from a more diverse/socio-economically mixed school over a student from East Cobb, Peachtree City, North Fulton, Parkview-Brookwood, etc...
Class ranking comparisons between schools do not matter when comparing students with relatively similar stats/data.
You are missing the point on purpose to make yourself seem intelligent and your worldview seem legit.
My point is clear--all things being relatively equal, college admissions would prefer/take a student from a more diverse/socio-economically mixed school over a student from East Cobb, Peachtree City, North Fulton, Parkview-Brookwood, etc...
Enough said. Case closed.
And so you won't try to continue to stir the pot unnecessarily, I never mentioned anything about ranked students/class rankings. Class ranking comparisons between schools do not matter when comparing students with similar stats/data.
No one is arguing that point. That point wasn't even being discussed because it is understood that "diverse populations" are given preferential treatment. That is a given. Somehow you felt the need to try to inject that point as if you were sharing some nugget of information that no one knew about. Thank you for providing this deep insight Captain Obvious.
Truth is... I got really busy at the end of last year with work, which is all traveling, so I missed alot on this issue.
From what I understand though... the redistricting happened, but it was scaled back a bit and isn't quite what you posted.
Here is the current district map for Peachtree Ridge:
http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/gcps-mainweb01.nsf/7DAC1ABEEA3D0AB7852575E4006365F4/$file/Peachtree_Ridge_Cluster_Map_2011-12.pdf
and here is Duluth:
http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/gcps-mainweb01.nsf/DE4086839507ACA0852575DE0068ECD4/$file/Duluth_Cluster_Map_2011-12.pdf
The large yellow area on MrPanda's posted pdf is where the Gwinnett Place Mall is and the corridor north of it. It is largely townhomes and apartment communities. You can see where the original Yellow area was scaled back.
Back when they first made Peachtree Ridge there was a huge backlash from those being left in the Duluth Cluster. Originally Duluth was going to take the whole mall area (where it is zoned for lots of multi-family living...ie. apartments and townhomes). There was a compromise to equally split up these areas between the schools. This redistricting would have undone that compromise. However, in saying that... I must note... Gwinnett is continuing to zone multi-family housing further north along I-85 in the Peachtree Ridge cluster. The difference is they are far newer and the rent rates are higher.
The other thing I notice is the boundaries of the elementary schools. These are often a bigger issue to residents. Notice the proposed boundaries between Harris and Chesney.
Originally the redistricting was going to put the apartment areas in Harris and move some single family homes from Harris into Chesney. That wasn't done. All of the redistricted communities went to Chesney and those already zoned to Harris didn't get moved.
In other words Harris being mostly single family homes was preserved. However, that might make it harder to keep Chesney up to standards in the future. Too many apartments in one place tends to be a drain on the school.
This probably makes parents feel better in the Harris district, but from a planning stand point... it is concerning for Chesney.
--Now let me issue this disclaimer as I often do... about this redistricting situation --and-- rankings in general--
Duluth and Peachtree Ridge are both really good schools producing bright students and sending many to the state's and region's best schools.
Alot of basic statistics that overview a whole school loses sight of many things and only focuses on a few metrics.
Just because part of the population in a school is poorer and more transient and tends not to perform as well academically does not mean those who are settled into the area and are homeowners aren't doing well. It just means there are different types of populations within the same school cluster.
What is important is how well a school serves those different populations.
The basic overview statistics usually give a huge edge to schools that are entirely single family homes within the cluster/district lines, since there are no drain on avg or median scores. I'm afraid that is what is happening in Duluth and Peachtree Ridge too often (and for that matter Norcross). Many school systems develop more elaborate classroom divisions in high schools to deal with difference in learning speed and skill levels of students. AP and governor's honors programs become more important.
The way I choose to look at schools is looking at the district boundaries, look at the local zoning, (and by large part... google aerial imagine) and see what populations actually go to the school.
Then I would ask... How well does the school prepare children in each population. Even if the answer is very good... the metrics used in rankings tend to penalize these schools, especially when people tend to fixate on the top ones.
I would say Peachtree Ridge and Duluth are excellent schools for often being rated as high as they are, despite the apartments near the mall area. Of course, that won't stop most people from worrying (including myself).
Of course, the other issue is... every ranking is a little different. Different rankings use different metrics.... and there is no right one and there are pros and cons to every metric at actually measuring the subjective quality of the students a school produces.
Great post, Kimbro...
And I would like to say--considering the single-family/apartment/demographic mix/make-up of a lot of school districts, many schools are a doing a fantastic job...and many are in Gwinnett.
Some that come to mind: Norcross, Duluth, Peachtree Ridge, Wheeler, North Springs, Centennial, Marietta, Riverwood...
No one is arguing that point. That point wasn't even being discussed because it is understood that "diverse populations" are given preferential treatment. That is a given. Somehow you felt the need to try to inject that point as if you were sharing some nugget of information that no one knew about. Thank you for providing this deep insight Captain Obvious.
Again--Brother Corn...you are missing the point...and which is why I shared.
I never mentioned anything about "diverse populations" and preferential treatment...(wonder why you took it there??? )
This is about all things being equal (race included)--college admissions prefering a student from a diverse/more socioeconomically mixed school.
A lot (maybe even most) of people do not realize this. Which makes the intense fervor to try to always get into or move to the "best" school or best school district often unnecessary.
Glad to drop some knowlege on you. Don't you feel enlightened/smarter?
Again--Brother Corn...you are missing the point...and which is why I shared.
I never mentioned anything about "diverse populations" and preferential treatment...(wonder why you took it there??? )
This is about all things being equal (race included)--college admissions prefering a student from a diverse/more socioeconomically mixed school.
A lot (maybe even most) of people do not realize this. Which makes the intense fervor to try to always get into or move to the "best" school or best school district often unnecessary.
Glad to drop some knowlege on you. Don't you feel enlightened/smarter?
But you know that is not the reality....college admission folks are looking for any black/hispanic student who has mildly competent stats....they will be admitted immediately over a far superior white student from Milton, Roswell, Johns Creek, etc. Its not so much about a "diverse/socioeconomically mixed school" as much as it is about a person "of color" who scores in the 60th percentile of the SATs who will be admitted before a person of "no color" who scored in the 90th percentile....that's the way the system works today....and we will reap what we sow.....
Awesome post as always Kimbro. Thank you so much for your insight into this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aries4118
Great post, Kimbro...
And I would like to say--considering the single-family/apartment/demographic mix/make-up of a lot of school districts, many schools are a doing a fantastic job...and many are in Gwinnett.
Some that come to mind: Norcross, Duluth, Peachtree Ridge, Wheeler, North Springs, Centennial, Marietta, Riverwood...
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Seriously, I hope this is the end of the 5 year decline real estate prices in this area.
)
