Texans coming to the Springs (Denver, Frisco: spring break, school district, calculation) - Colorado Springs - Colorado (CO) - Page 8 - City-Data Forum

TCHP · 09-01-2017, 01:28 PM

Otowi can give a lot of insight to Cos schools and districts and I would tend to agree that most Cos area schools are going to range from decent to great. We do have a couple of very high performing districts, several above average, and some average. There has been, IMO, a few things that have happened that have driven down scores in Cos D11, which is the largest district in the city, while those in surrounding areas have held steady or inched upwards.

First, all the in-migration that has taken place over the last decade has taken place around the fringe of the city, so newer schools surround the city and all the new this and new that tend to attract more people to those areas than to the interior of the city. This has created a situation where a younger and/or more affluent demographic lives around the city and they are willing to support schools via taxes. D11's demographics are aging and tending to have less and less school age children. I've read 85% of D11 homes do not have school age kids any longer, so there is a reluctance to support schools via taxes any more than necessary. There also seems to have been a lot of changes in testing styles, types, methods and over all education philosophies that have occurred over the last decade. Looking at the chaos around the PARC testing of the last few years and peoples willingness to opt their typically higher performing students out of these tests has given some schools and the district overall a composite of the lowest performing students within the area instead of a cross section of the entire population. This has created a situation where decent performing schools have rapidly lost ranking. The high school my kids attend in D11 has dropped from 88 to 188 in only four years, but the top performing kids in that school are still nailing all their regular testing, taking AP and CU Gold classes, being awarded scholarships, scoring awards in national competitions and being competitive in sports, STEM, and other arenas against much higher rated schools throughout the state. Since the geographic areas and overall caliber of students they draw from from have not radically changed in the same period of time, I have to believe there is something else creating such a significant disconnect in results. So online ratings are a very precarious way to evaluate, although I can't suggest a much better way to start.

otowi · 09-01-2017, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TCHP

Looking at the chaos around the PARC testing of the last few years and peoples willingness to opt their typically higher performing students out of these tests has given some schools and the district overall a composite of the lowest performing students within the area instead of a cross section of the entire population. This has created a situation where decent performing schools have rapidly lost ranking. The high school my kids attend in D11 has dropped from 88 to 188 in only four years, but the top performing kids in that school are still nailing all their regular testing, taking AP and CU Gold classes, being awarded scholarships, scoring awards in national competitions and being competitive in sports, STEM, and other arenas against much higher rated schools throughout the state.

Just as another example of this, a high school I know in D11 was given the lowest state rating "priority improvement" last year because so many families opted out of the testing the spring prior (mainly the PARCC test). But this past spring, that same school had the best SAT and PSAT scores in the district - however the state does not use those in its evaluation/ranking system. That school also has the highest college credit completion rate in the region, all while continually rising in free-and-reduced lunch status and mobility rate for the past decade.

All this to say that the school ranking systems and tests, etc., really cannot give someone a full picture to judge what is a good school and what isn't. And further, what makes a good school for one family will not necessarily be the same criteria for another. Ranking tends to tell you mainly about the SES of the area - there is a strong correlation when it comes to the Socioeconomic status of a district or school and its corresponding ranking in that type of system. However, there are lots of schools out there serving more 'average' or blue-collar areas, etc., that are providing solid educational opportunities for the students they serve.

In my personal opinion, one of the biggest factors over whether a school will be 'good' or not is who the principal is. That can change a good school to a not-so-good one or vice versa in a matter of a few years. So if I were school shopping, I would ask what people think of the principal, and I would ask about the staff turn-over rate - higher turn-over compared to nearby schools usually signals a problem. Generally speaking, most people should do just fine in their local neighborhood schools wherever they end up.

Jonesie14 · 09-01-2017, 04:31 PM

Thanks so much to all of you for the responses. I hadn't considered the possibility of kiddos opting out of testing and how that might affect rankings. Does that happen a lot here?

The things we value in education for our girls (ages 3 and kinder) - we really just want them to get a solid well-rounded education. The husband and I are both teachers and have been in schools on both ends of the spectrum. I'd like my girls to be able to go to specials types of classes, like art, music, computer, etc. These programs are gone in California public schools, but Texas still has them. I want them to be challenged academically and prepared when they enter the real world, you know? Texas schools are very rigorous, and while I like it, I can do without the emphasis on the state tests. Life isn't about a test �� I know I'm being broad, but we'd really just like to know they are in a safe school receiving a solid education.

otowi · 09-01-2017, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonesie14

Thanks so much to all of you for the responses. I hadn't considered the possibility of kiddos opting out of testing and how that might affect rankings. Does that happen a lot here?

It's mainly been the last few years because people were not happy with the testing structure the state had mandated - too many tests, too stressful for students, and ultimately not useful for the students and not fair assessments of their learning or the quality of the schools, etc., in the opinions of many. A couple years ago our school had less than half the students show up to take some of the tests because their parents refused - some schools it was nearly everyone not showing up, and some schools did not have such a big effect - kind of depended on parents talking to each other, etc. The state has started taking away some of the tests and choosing more nationally norm-referenced tests from the College Board and so people are a little happier now, but the culture of opting out still remains just to lesser degree, but enough to still be a factor sometimes.

It sounds like most of our comprehensive, traditional schools would work well for you, particularly some of the ones that have been around for 30+ years. I might suggest Coronado or Doherty in D11, maybe Air Academy, Liberty, or Rampart in D20. I think D12 might not be the best fit given your interests even though they are known for great test scores. The predominant family type in that area is test score driven, imho. D8 might also be a good fit. I wouldn't restrict yourself to just those, however - if you find a place you like elsewhere you can ask about the schools and we can weigh in. I don't think you'll find many people who would recommend Mitchell in D11 or Harrison District 2 in general. Those areas have just been struggling for the last decade or two in many ways - economics is a big piece, and while there are lots of good teachers and noble efforts, lots of fine kids there as well as anywhere, but there have also been misguided reformers and lots of instability in staff and leadership, etc.

BenBoosted · 09-03-2017, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonesie14

Hey! Your post was fantastic. We are from So Cal but have lived in Katy for 2 years. We're on our way to check out Colorado Springs. We've entertained the idea of Colorado for maybe the past year (Houston just doesn't feel like home for us) and Harvey put us over the edge... �� You mention the schools - how did you go about researching them? Zillow makes it look as though all of the schools are terrible, and I know that can't be the case! Any advice? Thanks so much!

I predominantly used Greatschools.org with the school my kids were in as a baseline. I then searched around the various High Schools in COS, since both of my kids are in HS, and looked for schools that were at least +1 or -1 from what our High School in Texas was rated on the web site. I didn't consider anything other than High Schools simply because both of my kid are in High School.

I did some cross referencing on Zillow as well but I didn't seem to get as consistent results.

robcat33 · 09-03-2017, 05:23 PM

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Originally Posted by DrDog

So glad you mentioned this. Can't count the number of times I read that people here weren't friendly. But everyone we meet is friendly, helpful. Don't know where the unfriendly theme comes from.

Agreed.Ive been visiting CO almost my whole life(family in Nederland) and Ive never got any bad friction, very friendly small towns. Occasionally you'll run into some malcontent on these forums that makes everything about themselves, bashing the "outsiders", but never once have I experienced that in person and I've backpacked many areas there. A great place if you like wilderness for sure.

lazlo409 · 09-21-2017, 08:52 AM

Thanks from Austin. We've nurtured a Rocky Mountain retirement dream for quite some time and have narrowed our choices to locales on the southern end of the Front Range corridor. Your case for CoSp was a comforting read.