Boulder Valley Schools vs. Jefferson County Schools (Arvada, Westminster: best schools, colleges)

[LATVA]

My husband and I are thinking of relocating to Arvada. We have a freshman in high school and a second grader. We have compared data and visited schools in Arvada and also in Louisville/Superior that have high ratings from Great Schools.net (9 and 10 out of 10). The test scores for schools in both school districts in those areas are comparable as are student/teacher ratio, ethnicity, and size of schools/classrooms. On paper they both seem equal, but everyone keeps saying Boulder Valley Schools are better. I don't know why or how. Any one have any thoughts on the differences between the two school districts in the areas I refer to above?

[Katiana]

I doubt there is much difference. My kids went to BVSD schools, but I know others whose kids attended Jeffco and got into "good" colleges. Jeffco is the biggest district in the state. It serves a very diverse student body, in the true sense of the word diverse. That may be why *some* feel that it is inferior to BVSD, which does have less diversity, e.g. only a few pockets of poverty, and not even that many blue collar families.

[suzco]

In this thread, where someone was asking about Westminster school districts, I posted this. It may be helpful for you to see it. It includes the list of the 10 top performing high schools on the CSAP exam for 2007:

While in my opinion the highest CSAP scores are not necessarily the best (and certainly shouldn't be the only) indicator of the best schools, it's a measure that many folks who are searching for the "best schools" rely on. For what it's worth, here's the list of the 10 top scoring on the CSAP high schools (and their districts) in the state for 2007, found at Colorado State Schools - CO School Rankings
1 D'Evelyn Junior/Senior High School Jefferson County R-1
2 Fairview High School Boulder Valley Re 2
3 Cheyenne Mountain High School Cheyenne Mountain 12
4 Cherry Creek High School Cherry Creek 5
tied:
5 Poudre High School Poudre R-1
5 Evergreen High School Jefferson County R-1

7 Telluride High School Telluride R-1
8 Monarch High School Boulder Valley Re 2
9 Merino Junior Senior High School Buffalo Re-4
10 Niwot High School St Vrain Valley Re 1

Note that two of the top ten high schools are in Jefferson County.