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Old 06-26-2014, 01:24 PM
 
168 posts, read 273,607 times
Reputation: 171

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thelawsons View Post
do they use common core in Texas? I guess what I'm getting at is in Arizona public schools aren't even an option, private charter schools are the way to go.
No, Common Core is not used, but we still have standardized testing (STARR) that is pushed very strongly.
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Old 06-26-2014, 01:49 PM
 
Location: Funky town
953 posts, read 1,823,951 times
Reputation: 648
Quote:
Originally Posted by keribeth818 View Post
Ive seen the list. I would argue a 20 point difference between Allen and Liberty is significant. In fact, the year before, Allen beat both schools by an even larger margin. Superior would not be the right word here. That aside, SAT scores arent always the best metrics to weigh the quality of the school. Scores are strongly correlated to the family income of the students. Taking into consideration the demographics of both schools, the ranking is a nod to Allen, not Frisco. I dont want this to turn into a thread on how to rank schools but the statement you made simply isnt true.
You are entitled to your opinion, of course.
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Old 06-26-2014, 07:19 PM
 
37 posts, read 125,540 times
Reputation: 80
So, you've touched on what is typically one of the "third rails" of these discussion boards. Personally, I find the people who want to make absolute / declarative statements about whose relatively wealthy suburban school district is better hilarious. Its as if their own personal self worth is being assaulted if their suburb's (schools, housing, shopping, RE value, roads) isn't considered the best.

To answer your question the public schools in those areas you mentioned (and beyond) - are all really very good. You mention class size. In elementary, you won't find much difference between the districts - they average I think (I could be wrong here) 18-22. So if you're looking for like 10 or so kids, yeah, you're going to have to go private. In high school is where most of the differences exist between these districts. There are the large HS districts like Plano and Allen, and the "smaller" HS districts like Frisco. That said, the quality of education for 90% of the students will be same in any of these districts.

The 10% quality differences come at the tails of the distribution or in specialized areas. If your kid aspires to be a National merit scholar, they will probably find more opportunity for like minded folks in the Plano west HS. If they like smaller schools - Frisco or Lovejoy or one of those districts might be better. If they want to play ice hockey or do competitive clay shooting on a HS team, or just about any other extracurricular you can imagine, Allen is a good choice. From a baseline perspective, each district, whether small or large, is great, so you really can't go horribly wrong. You've just got to decide if there is something down the road that is really important to you or your child, and will that school district be able to provide it. For most kids the answer is yes regardless of where you choose, but like I said, in some specialized areas there are some important differences.

Sorry for the complicated reply - probably more than you wanted. In the end, if it were me, I'd live close to family. That's more important than any slight differentiator these schools would provide.

Full disclosure - I live in Allen.
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Old 06-27-2014, 08:17 AM
 
Location: Southlake. Don't judge me.
2,885 posts, read 4,630,477 times
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One bit to add to the last poster's excellent reponse - there are many factors that you can't predict or have control over that will influence your child's education and life, and you won't really know them until you're at a school. Will they make friends at the school, or will they feel like a fish out of water? Will they relate to the teachers or no? Sometimes there's that One Special Mentor who helps them greatly, often there isn't. None of that can be found by looking at average SAT scores. You can analyze and evaluate forever, but sometimes you have to go with your instincts.

As noted, all 3 districts are pretty darn close by most measurements, so it's likely to come down to what schools/neighborhoods/whatever just "feel" the most comfortable/best fit for you and your family.
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Old 06-27-2014, 09:30 AM
 
419 posts, read 550,597 times
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The previous two posters pretty much nailed it. Just be aware of the overlapping ISD/City boundaries. It was hard to wrap my head around when I first relocated. Also, some folks alluded to shifting school zones in Frisco and it is true. Most of the established neighborhoods won't change much but attendance boundaries are shifting in developing areas. The actual ISD lines (Frisco ISD in the City of Plano, Plano ISD in Allen, etc) are pretty set and not likely to change.
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Old 06-27-2014, 09:57 AM
 
117 posts, read 149,779 times
Reputation: 52
All are good schools.

You can use this USA link to break down a lot of data. Click on the school district and you will find a tab for "schools" from there you can break down the individual campuses.

Texas Public School Performance School District Rank

Texas schools are governed by the TEA (Texas Education Agency). They have some good tools on there website to break down statistics.

Texas Education Agency - Welcome

This is a good breakdown by district
Snapshot 2013: Detail Search

Academic Excellence Indicator System (on TEA website): This can break down historical data.
Academic Excellence Indicator System

2012-13 Texas Academic Performance Reports*
2012-13 Texas Academic Performance Reports

Picking one of these all depends on a lot of things such as:

Budget
Commute (doesn't sound like there will be one for work, but consider how close or how far you want to be from the family)
What kind of environment

Depending on your budget is sounds like Frisco may be the best option since you want to remain close to family. Another option not listed so far is Prosper. If your family lives in Northwest Frisco you will be really close to Prosper schools as well. The previous post was dead on... You can actually live in the city of Frisco but will attend a different school district. Call the school districts directly and give them the address of the house you are interested in. The school district can tell you if the house is in their attendance zone.

As another poster stated you have a lot of really good options. It all depends on what you are looking for. All of these districts have Gifted and Talented programs.


Welcome to Texas!

Full disclosure (in case my username didn't give it away), I live in the Lovejoy District.
Lovejoy does not directly connected to Frisco ISD boundary lines and is further East. Depending on where you live in Lovejoy and where the in-laws live in Frisco the distance would be a lot greater than it sounds like what you are looking for... North End of Lovejoy and Southeast Frisco are pretty close. The South end of Lovejoy and the Northwest area of Frisco ISD is a long commute.

Last edited by Lovejoy_family; 06-27-2014 at 10:07 AM..
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