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We've relo'd every couple of years or so with my job, and the next move may take us to the Mooresville area.
We have elementary-aged kids and I was a little surprised to see how insanely low the school ratings are in the area. There are some in Mooresville that aren't too bad, but not great. And, the areas just outside of Mooresville are terrible. I totally understand that those scores don't tell the whole picture, but I'm curious what the deal is.
We've maybe been a little spoiled our last couple of moves where the scores have all been 9/10's in the area. My 3rd grader is in an accelerated enrichment program and I'm hoping to find schools with a great curriculum in an awesome environment, with awesome teachers where they'll continue to be challenged and do well. Opinions on if this will be an issue? Also, opinions on the private schools? I really prefer to put my taxes to good use and go the public school route, but if there's opinions about private schools in the area I'd love to hear that as well.
Yeah, they're good at 'B' but that's about as good as it gets for the most part. It does confine us to a pretty specific area. Ideally I'd like something on a little bit of land under $700k, and there's not a whole lot of options for that. If looking outside of Mooresville a bit to something more rural the scores range from mediocre to almost atrocious (i.e. Statesville, Huntersville, Troutman).
Have you looked at a map? Thats 5 elementary schools, which cover a pretty large area. Huntersville is in Mecklenburg County...both Huntersville and Davidson Elementary also are B graded. I wouldn't think you'd have that much trouble finding what you're looking for with a good school.
14 of the 22 elementary schools in Iredell County are rated A or B. Thats lots of options.
Last edited by Edward Teach; 02-28-2020 at 07:27 PM..
How much is a "little bit" of land? Huntersville isn't really rural by the way.
Generally speaking, I've always heard pretty good things about the Mooresville schools as a whole, but obviously that can vary by school. There are 2 districts - Mooresville Graded Schools which is most of what is east of I-77, which all go to Mooresville High School; and the part west of I-77 is part of Iredell-Statesville schools and goes to Lake Norman High School (both of which seem to get pretty good ratings on most sites). Since you mentioned taxes, they can be much higher on the east side.
By saying "9/10" I assume you're referring to greatschools? Didn't they change their algorithm recently? I think that resulted in a lot of schools getting lower scores in many places. For example, looking at Plainfield, IN, I see 5 elementary schools - 2 are 9's, no 10's.
But if greatschools is your starting point, and with that kind of budget, may also be worth looking in western Union County (Marvin, Weddington, Waxhaw).
How much is a "little bit" of land? Huntersville isn't really rural by the way.
Generally speaking, I've always heard pretty good things about the Mooresville schools as a whole, but obviously that can vary by school. There are 2 districts - Mooresville Graded Schools which is most of what is east of I-77, which all go to Mooresville High School; and the part west of I-77 is part of Iredell-Statesville schools and goes to Lake Norman High School (both of which seem to get pretty good ratings on most sites). Since you mentioned taxes, they can be much higher on the east side.
By saying "9/10" I assume you're referring to greatschools? Didn't they change their algorithm recently? I think that resulted in a lot of schools getting lower scores in many places. For example, looking at Plainfield, IN, I see 5 elementary schools - 2 are 9's, no 10's.
But if greatschools is your starting point, and with that kind of budget, may also be worth looking in western Union County (Marvin, Weddington, Waxhaw).
I perhaps put too much emphasis on the dialog around the high ratings, when my curiosity is more around the quite low ratings outside of primarily Mooresville. What I am wondering is if the low scores are truly an accurate representation of the schools. For example, China Grove, Statesville, Mount Ulla. Is there anything in particular in those 'outer areas' that contribute to that? Less funding? Curriculum? Other issues with the schools?
I'm not saying my kids have to go to an A+ school, but I also don't want their current progress to get derailed because of legitimately poor teaching. If the scores are lower because the teachers are legit teaching in a way that kids can apply the knowledge in real life instead of just teaching them to take a test then I'm all for it. However, if it's because the school systems in these areas are just bad, then that's a different story. I'm open to any area where the quality of teaching is good. I grew up in a very small town. I don't need a bunch of amenities, I'd just like to be within a half hour's commute to Mooresville.
Just looking for some perspective from those with personal knowledge of some of the schools in the areas just outside of Mooresville.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by junebug_77
I perhaps put too much emphasis on the dialog around the high ratings, when my curiosity is more around the quite low ratings outside of primarily Mooresville. What I am wondering is if the low scores are truly an accurate representation of the schools. For example, China Grove, Statesville, Mount Ulla. Is there anything in particular in those 'outer areas' that contribute to that? Less funding? Curriculum? Other issues with the schools?
I'm not saying my kids have to go to an A+ school, but I also don't want their current progress to get derailed because of legitimately poor teaching. If the scores are lower because the teachers are legit teaching in a way that kids can apply the knowledge in real life instead of just teaching them to take a test then I'm all for it. However, if it's because the school systems in these areas are just bad, then that's a different story. I'm open to any area where the quality of teaching is good. I grew up in a very small town. I don't need a bunch of amenities, I'd just like to be within a half hour's commute to Mooresville.
Just looking for some perspective from those with personal knowledge of some of the schools in the areas just outside of Mooresville.
Statesville? Statesville is commutable to Hickory. It's the county seat.
I perhaps put too much emphasis on the dialog around the high ratings, when my curiosity is more around the quite low ratings outside of primarily Mooresville. What I am wondering is if the low scores are truly an accurate representation of the schools. For example, China Grove, Statesville, Mount Ulla. Is there anything in particular in those 'outer areas' that contribute to that? Less funding? Curriculum? Other issues with the schools?
Its a combination of parental educational levels, family income, parental involvement, teacher pay, etc. Curriculum is the same statewide.
Quote:
Originally Posted by junebug_77
I'd just like to be within a half hour's commute to Mooresville.
There's plenty of good schools available to you. Not to sound harsh, but why not focus on the higher rated schools rather than the lower rated ones. You have lots of good options.
We've relo'd every couple of years6,021n or so with my job, and the next move may take us to the Mooresville area.
We have elementary-aged kids and I was a little surprised to see how insanely low the school ratings are in the area. There are some in Mooresville that aren't too bad, but not great. And, the areas just outside of Mooresville are terrible. I totally understand that those scores don't tell the whole picture, but I'm curious what the deal is.
We've maybe been a little spoiled our last couple of moves where the scores have all been 9/10's in the area. My 3rd grader is in an accelerated enrichment program and I'm hoping to find schools with a great curriculum in an awesome environment, with awesome teachers where they'll continue to be challenged and do well. Opinions on if this will be an issue? Also, opinions on the private schools? I really prefer to put my taxes to good use and go the public school route, but if there's opinions about private schools in the area I'd love to hear that as well.
Thanks!!
I think you also need to compare the amount of students in each area to make sure you're comparing apples to apples.
Plainfield Community School Corporation: Total students in the district for 2019/2020: 5,759
Iredell Statesville Schools: 20,585 (this is from 2015/2016)
Charlotte Mecklenburg County Schools (Huntersville is in CMS) 147,000
Mooresville Graded District: 6,021 (that is from 2015/2016 as I was trying to find the information quick)
Our schools around this area are county wide. I attended school in IN and went to a very small school in a very small town. The most important things that you could have in a school are great teachers, parental involvement/participation and a great administration. Greatschools.org doesn't tell you any of those things. Plan a trip and tour the schools personally and see for yourself. Don't let the internet make your decision for you. You could be missing out.
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