Fort Mill or Union County?

[the 7 oh 4]

Originally Posted by moet

HI

Like the orginial poster, I too am trying to decide between Union County Schools and Fort Mill in SC.

I have read over and over again on how both of these school systems are suppose to be great.

I checked out schoolmatters.com and this is what I found

Weddington MS
Reading 95%
Math 92%

Weddington HS
Reading 94.8%
Math 93.5%

Fort Mill MS
Reading 37.7%
Math 43.7%

Fort Mill HS
Reading 71.5%
Math 70.7%

After looking over these scores I just don't get how people can say that Fort Mill Schools are great.

Is there something I am missing? Is there another website that rates them better???

Ask any long time resident of this area and they will tell you about Fort Mill schools.

The OP did NOT mention Weddington High. You are comparing -1- High school to Fort Mill High...what about Nation Ford High in Fort Mill. Brand new this year.

Monroe High, Sun Valley and the other high schools (Union County) are not on par with Fort Mill. Plus Fort Mill is so much closer to Charlotte with easy Interstate access.

This is just an opinion...what the OP is asking for.

[moet]

Originally Posted by the 7 oh 4

Ask any long time resident of this area and they will tell you about Fort Mill schools.

The OP did NOT mention Weddington High. You are comparing -1- High school to Fort Mill High...what about Nation Ford High in Fort Mill. Brand new this year.

Monroe High, Sun Valley and the other high schools (Union County) are not on par with Fort Mill. Plus Fort Mill is so much closer to Charlotte with easy Interstate access.

This is just an opinion...what the OP is asking for.

HI,

My computer is acting a little crazy this morning and I deleted my "double post" however it took both of them away. Glad you copied my post in your reply.

I looked at Sunday Valley and their scores are much better than Fort Mill.
87.3 for Reading and 91.9 for Math, this is at the H.S.

And Monroe is a little better with scores of 79.7 for Reading and 86.3 for Math.

Compared to Fort Mill at 71.5 for Reading and 70.7 for Math.

Since Nation Ford is new this year, there is no way for ratings on this school so no one can really say for sure if it is a great school. I'm sure it is since it is new, but until it has been rated it's just some ones opinion.

The OP asked which schools were better and I can just go by the numbers, since I don't have first hand experience.

With that said, I just don't undertand how anyone can say that a school that has nubmers in the low 70's and in the high to low 40's is a good school?

I know I did a search on Fort Mill High School/Middle School, but from what I have read on other posts about schools, and I have read alot of them, how can people think these are great numbers for the schools to have for them to say they are great schools.

Not trying to argue, just trying to understand what all these numbers mean compared to what people are saying on these boards.

[the 7 oh 4]

Originally Posted by moet

HI,

My computer is acting a little crazy this morning and I deleted my "double post" however it took both of them away. Glad you copied my post in your reply.

I looked at Sunday Valley and their scores are much better than Fort Mill.
87.3 for Reading and 91.9 for Math, this is at the H.S.

And Monroe is a little better with scores of 79.7 for Reading and 86.3 for Math.

Compared to Fort Mill at 71.5 for Reading and 70.7 for Math.

Since Nation Ford is new this year, there is no way for ratings on this school so no one can really say for sure if it is a great school. I'm sure it is since it is new, but until it has been rated it's just some ones opinion.

The OP asked which schools were better and I can just go by the numbers, since I don't have first hand experience.

With that said, I just don't undertand how anyone can say that a school that has nubmers in the low 70's and in the high to low 40's is a good school?

I know I did a search on Fort Mill High School/Middle School, but from what I have read on other posts about schools, and I have read alot of them, how can people think these are great numbers for the schools to have for them to say they are great schools.

Not trying to argue, just trying to understand what all these numbers mean compared to what people are saying on these boards.

I totally understand and didn't think you were trying to argue.

All I know is that when we put our house up for sale in Fort Mill...we sold in 6 days FULL asking price and I ask the new owners out of curiousity why did you buy our house...they said 2 reasons...her husband was a golf fanatic (and we lived in a golf course community) and she said the Fort Mill Schools.

Don't have any 1st hand experience (since felines dont go to school) but that is all hear say!

[cball75]

The only thing with test scores between the 2 areas you need to also consider are; they are testing different things (2 different states = 2 different curriculums) and passing rates are different to be considered "on grade level." It really boils down to this, they are both great school systems and highly sought after with the new families that are looking to move here. Good luck on your decisions.

[underadividedsky]

Fort Mill.

[michellelf]

I read an article that stated that SC had some of the highest standards in the country. I will try to come across it and post the article. It stated that SC schools would rank a lot higher if they lowered their standards. So it is hard to compare by just looking at those statistics. I've even seen some people post on city-data that when they moved to Fort Mill their kids were actually behind. The taxes are also less in SC aren't they? We chose to buy a house in Fort Mill for these and other reasons but can't sell our home in Florida so we are probably going to stay down here for now.

[groove1]

Originally Posted by moet

HI,

My computer is acting a little crazy this morning and I deleted my "double post" however it took both of them away. Glad you copied my post in your reply.

I looked at Sunday Valley and their scores are much better than Fort Mill.
87.3 for Reading and 91.9 for Math, this is at the H.S.

And Monroe is a little better with scores of 79.7 for Reading and 86.3 for Math.

Compared to Fort Mill at 71.5 for Reading and 70.7 for Math.

Since Nation Ford is new this year, there is no way for ratings on this school so no one can really say for sure if it is a great school. I'm sure it is since it is new, but until it has been rated it's just some ones opinion.

The OP asked which schools were better and I can just go by the numbers, since I don't have first hand experience.

With that said, I just don't undertand how anyone can say that a school that has nubmers in the low 70's and in the high to low 40's is a good school?

I know I did a search on Fort Mill High School/Middle School, but from what I have read on other posts about schools, and I have read alot of them, how can people think these are great numbers for the schools to have for them to say they are great schools.

Not trying to argue, just trying to understand what all these numbers mean compared to what people are saying on these boards.

I can EASILY answer that question for you. SC's testing is much more difficult than NC (and most other states). This is actually why SC schools overall actually rank low when compared to other states, but it;s all in the standards of testing.

As for how well the districts are run (these are mostly opinions on the first link):

http://www.greatschools.net/city/Fort_Mill/SC

http://www.greatschools.net/schools....9&p=4&state=NC

http://sc.localschooldirectory.com/s...chool_id/76431

FM MS is 8th of 227 in SC:

http://www.schooldigger.com/go/SC/sc...55/school.aspx

FMSD test scores above average (nationally):

22.8% Reading

23.0 % Math

And I can also contradict and argue some of your other numbers:

http://www.trulia.com/school-distric...ol_District_4/

In 2006-2007 South Carolina used the High School Assessment Program (HSAP) to test grade 10 students in English/language arts and math. The HSAP is a high school graduation requirement. The HSAP is a standards-based test, which means it measures how well students are mastering specific skills defined for each grade by the state of South Carolina. The goal is for all students to score at or above the state standard.

(See graph which shows over 90% both English and Math for FMSD Grade 10 students)


Moet, can you please post sources for your numbers? You don't have any in your post and just an FYI it's Sun Valley, not Sunday Valley.