What's the deal with the schools?

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by whocares811

I can only speak from personal experience going back about ten years when my kids were in school, so the following might not be worth very much, but I greatly dislike Colorado public schools -- or at least those in Jefferson County.

We adopted our two kids when they were six and four. As they had been severely neglected with NO discipline, they had severe behavioral issues and did not respect adult authority at all. Trying to install a work ethic, responsibility, respect, etc. was a HUGE challenge from the day they entered our home until they left it as adults.

Now, although they often (not always) had wonderful teachers, the school policies did not support our parenting efforts at all. My kids simply refused to do any homework, despite our doing everything to encourage that, but because they had above average intelligence, they learned and did well on most tests. (My son would "ace" math tests, but he never learned the basics of punctuation and spelled abysmally although he had an outstanding vocabulary and was way above average in reading, also; and pretty much likewise for our daughter.) So, when I asked the school to hold the elder one back after the third grade for at least a week or so, to teach her the consequence of not doing what was expected, I was told they could not hold a child back unless (1) they were undersized for their age so they would "fit in" physically with the younger kids, and (2) they were below average in intelligence, and (3) the child agreed to be held back! Therefore, my kids learned very early that as far as school was concerned, they could get away without doing what teachers told them to do with absolutely no consequence (!); and not only did this attitude of "I can do whatever I want" [outside our home] continue throughout high school, but also into adulthood, and they both greatly suffered for it in both their jobs and in their personal relationships.

I would be very curious to know if all public school administrators throughout the U.S. have the same "oh, we can't hold kids back" attitude; and if they do, no wonder kids are so messed up today!

Well, the Louisville schools are not part of Jeffco, so none of that matters. They are part of Boulder Valley.

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

I've never heard anything bad about Monarch, but you could always open enroll into Fariview HS.

My kids went to Monarch, though it's been 10 years (!) since the youngest one graduated. We all felt they got a great education and were well prepared for college. I really don't put a lot of stock in these ratings. Fairview is considered a very good school as well, but it's big, as in about 2000 students, so it's easy to get lost, at least from what I've heard.

[vestalvespa]

My experience with schools in Colorado (and yes, this was about 16 years ago, but still...) was that it took exceptional students to get exceptional results in the learning environments provided. I went to Skyline High (Longmont) in the late 90s and although I had great teachers, and I think I did fairly well, the funding just wasn't there for a lot of programs and as a result, many kids fell through the cracks.

My theory is that Colorado doesn't invest much in its public schools because so much of its workforce comes here pre-educated from states who do invest in theirs. The schools in wealthier neighborhoods are good enough for the families with the means to send their kids there, but I just read a statistic that even if a low-income student does graduate from high school in Colorado (which is not as likely as it should be), that student is 60% more likely to need remedial classes in college, severely damaging his or her chances of graduating in six years. No wonder we don't retain many locally-born people in the state. It's tough to compete against people with Ivy League degrees vying for entry-level positions when all you have is an associate's from Metro.

That said, I remember swimming against the Monarch and Fairview teams in high school- they seemed like really well-appointed schools with dedicated staff and students.

[Notakicker]

You cannot go wrong with any of the schools in the Louisville and Superior areas. Monarch High offers more CU Succeeds classes than any other school. These are not just AP classes, but true college courses for college credit. The rating systems refer to growth and the achievement gap. Monarch High has some low scorers that's for sure. The charter schools score higher on GreatSchools, but they force out the special needs kids in earlier grades and don't provide for ESL kids. If you look just at course offerings, teacher education, and quality, Monarch High is superior to Peak to Peak or even Fairview. Fairview is more of a performing arts/IB school, with hardly any technology offerings. I wouldn't recommend Fairview to a STEM student.