Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Education
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 07-21-2011, 05:19 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,159,120 times
Reputation: 35920

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by hiknapster View Post
Excuse me?

School district - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Perhaps that is what the OP meant but he wrote "school district" and that means the local system, not a particular area or school.

I'm on the state forums a lot and people do not "get" that some districts are completely different than others and by an enormous margin. There are people that put their kids in Florida schools after moving from up north and the kids are two grades ahead.

In any event, if the OP meant schools within a district he should have said so.

Why so haughty?
I was trying to stay on topic. If you want a thread about the differences in school districts around the country, start one. I'd be happy to participate.

Last edited by toobusytoday; 07-21-2011 at 08:53 PM.. Reason: removed personal comment
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 07-22-2011, 12:04 AM
 
Location: Hollywood North
428 posts, read 1,177,455 times
Reputation: 732
I see this all the time on city-data. It seems so foreign to me as a non U.S citizen. The vast majority of canadians don't seem to obsess about school districts at all. I think this is because there just isn't the vast educational disparity that there is in the U.S. Most people here just buy/ lease the house they can afford and send their kids to the local school. The differences in schools here tends to be in things like sports teams or extra curricular activities.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2011, 06:11 AM
 
613 posts, read 987,617 times
Reputation: 728
Quote:
Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd View Post
I wanted to first start off by saying that I am not a parent (yet). I am not a kid either just got out of college.

A trend I have noticed here on city-data is this obsession regarding "best school district". Now to clear things up, when moving to a new place with a family, I can certainly see that as being a top 3 choice of neighborhood to move into.

However, it strikes me as odd, when helicopter moms freak out about the situation. I mean, I recently bought a house in San Diego. Its beautiful here in San Diego, but the "school district" where I live, is not the most prominent nor is it at the bottom when it comes to API or performance index scores.
It seem parents get crazy about these scores and the apply it to their child(children). What am I missing here?

When I grew up, my parental units were very involved in my life, for which I am grateful for. It was their close eye that kept me inline, made sure I made good deisions and gave me the freedoms I required growing up.
I was never a great student in school and chose to put more focus on my athletics.
Now, my "scoring" as a student probably skewed statistics for the whole of the school because I was again, mediocre but by no means was I a bad kid, nor a kid that was NOT going to be a productive member of society at some point. School was just something that never engaged me and it wasnt because of a 'bad' environment due to overall API scores, it was me.

Why do parents worry so much about this? Do some parents just want the schools to do all the work?
There are plenty of kids that dont go to very good school distrcits that go on to very well respected universities and become somebody in life. My neighbors kids are going to USC and UCLA. The families they come from a modest, blue collar folk. They are just good kids that have the aptitude to take on more that others.
But again that has more to do with the individual and the parents influence than anything else.
Fast forward to today and I am what most would call 'successful'. But I am also someone that makes sound decisions and have a good moral compass.

Can someone please shed some light on this? I am really having a hard time coming to grips with this. As I potentially start arriving into parenthood, this strikes me as odd.
Forgive me if this has already been mentioned as I did not read through the many pages of this post.

It is really quite simple; the reason you don't understand it is because you don't have any children yet.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2011, 06:41 AM
 
Location: Whoville....
25,386 posts, read 35,393,971 times
Reputation: 14692
Quote:
Originally Posted by wsop View Post
Forgive me if this has already been mentioned as I did not read through the many pages of this post.

It is really quite simple; the reason you don't understand it is because you don't have any children yet.
There is something to be said for sending your children to school with the children of parents who think like you.... Peers are a stronger influence than parents so if you make sure your children's peers have the same kinds of parents, you increase the odds of your children turning out how you want them to turn out.

I, totally, understand wanting the best district. Especially if your child isn't in the top 10% (they seem to do well no matter where you plant them which is why we've allowed our youngest to stay in the local school rather than move to the school I teach at. The local school is rated 7/10 and the school I teach at is rated 10/10!) Dd surrounds herself with kids like her so there's no problem here. I don't need to send her to a better district to make sure she has the right kind of peers. Kids like her end up grouped together. They really don't fit with the general population. Now, dd#1 is in the general population. She needs to go to the better school.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2011, 06:45 AM
 
Location: Whoville....
25,386 posts, read 35,393,971 times
Reputation: 14692
Quote:
Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd View Post
I wanted to first start off by saying that I am not a parent (yet). I am not a kid either just got out of college.

A trend I have noticed here on city-data is this obsession regarding "best school district". Now to clear things up, when moving to a new place with a family, I can certainly see that as being a top 3 choice of neighborhood to move into.

However, it strikes me as odd, when helicopter moms freak out about the situation. I mean, I recently bought a house in San Diego. Its beautiful here in San Diego, but the "school district" where I live, is not the most prominent nor is it at the bottom when it comes to API or performance index scores.
It seem parents get crazy about these scores and the apply it to their child(children). What am I missing here?

When I grew up, my parental units were very involved in my life, for which I am grateful for. It was their close eye that kept me inline, made sure I made good deisions and gave me the freedoms I required growing up.
I was never a great student in school and chose to put more focus on my athletics.
Now, my "scoring" as a student probably skewed statistics for the whole of the school because I was again, mediocre but by no means was I a bad kid, nor a kid that was NOT going to be a productive member of society at some point. School was just something that never engaged me and it wasnt because of a 'bad' environment due to overall API scores, it was me.

Why do parents worry so much about this? Do some parents just want the schools to do all the work?
There are plenty of kids that dont go to very good school distrcits that go on to very well respected universities and become somebody in life. My neighbors kids are going to USC and UCLA. The families they come from a modest, blue collar folk. They are just good kids that have the aptitude to take on more that others.
But again that has more to do with the individual and the parents influence than anything else.
Fast forward to today and I am what most would call 'successful'. But I am also someone that makes sound decisions and have a good moral compass.

Can someone please shed some light on this? I am really having a hard time coming to grips with this. As I potentially start arriving into parenthood, this strikes me as odd.
Read the book "The Nurture Assumption". It will shed a lot of light on this. Peers are a very strong influence on kids. Where you live and where your kids go to school determines the quality of your children's peers.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2011, 10:43 AM
 
Location: 92037
4,630 posts, read 10,232,943 times
Reputation: 1955
Quote:
Originally Posted by wsop View Post
Forgive me if this has already been mentioned as I did not read through the many pages of this post.

It is really quite simple; the reason you don't understand it is because you don't have any children yet.
Yes, this thread is quite long and admittedly I dont help it with my marathon contributions

Yes absolutely, one of the big reasons I may not understand is because I do not have children. This is is why I actually listed this right in the beginning to get all cards out on the table.

This thread has many levels of opinions that are quite vast in depth.

The question was very general in nature, but intended that way. I honestly had no idea the thread would turn out the way it did.

So while I may not "have" children, I was a child once as were you AND I have nephews and nieces that are about to go into school.

When I went to school in the 80 and early 90s, schools were schools (more or less). Back then choices were private, catholic or public in the northeast.
Yes there was data available on how a school or district performed via state testing or SAT/ACT scoring and even in my schools those scores were all across the board and clearly dependent on the child and thee childs aptitude for testing.
However, as computers are now the norm in 2011, the accessibility of this kind of information and beyond is available from a just a few key strokes.
This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending how the person using the data wants to formulate their opinions to ultimately apply it and make a decision.

Now, in the broad sense when I asked the question, I meant it almost exclusively for city-data posts that I see in the forum that I contribute to the most.
San Diego regarding "a la Moving to SD: BEST school district?". For me, made me curious as to how "best" is truly realized. Typically in an SD post when a poster replies to said topic, scores are the first data piece thrown out when making comparisons. Fine, I get it, totally makes sense. But then how that data is applied is what made me curious to ask said forum topic and how the translated into a childs success.


Now granted there are plenty of easy answers to the OP question which have been stated or so I thought.
Clearly with 11 pages to this thread and the opinions contrasting from how to define 'quality' education to socio-economics of "best school district" its been interesting and at times almost getting off topic but at the same relevant to make a point.

I am just curious how parents apply data drive statistics to a human being to ultimately make a decision. In this case, its why parents obsess about "best school districts" and more specifically how that applies to their childs success.
Success is relative to the child (see special talents etc) so I cant see how this can be a blanket reply unless a parent wants their kid to just fit in with the status quo.

There is no general answer as everyones family reading this is only subjective to their own experiences. So it truly is an existential question that really has not right or wrong answer. More so the methodology or process a parent goes through to provive for their kids and ultimately what is the threshold at which that is determined between a school rated 7/10 or 10/10 by peers and sets of data?

Off topic thought
How many of you know a kid that may have an extraordinary talent at something but neither parents are gifted in that way? Like say music. Parents are clueless as to how to approach the matter, yet have a gifted child. Do they stray from the "best school districts (academically)" in given region/state even though it may not apply to the childs given talents/strengths necessarily?
I only ask because I have seen it with friends growing up etc including my wife who was a professional ballerina at a very young age. She grew up in the northeast and was sent to boarding schools all over the place that specialized in said talent. So again, this begs the question. Does "best school district" help dictate these types of talents? Do parents solely rely on schools to find this in their children?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2011, 12:51 PM
 
Location: The Conterminous United States
22,584 posts, read 54,029,539 times
Reputation: 13612
Quote:
Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd View Post

When I went to school in the 80 and early 90s, schools were schools (more or less). Back then choices were private, catholic or public in the northeast.
I grew up in the 60s and 70s in the northeast and guess what? My parents built a house that was dependent on being near the best schools and this was a tiny town. There was only one junior and senior high school but there were four elementary schools and where you went determined your fate to some degree. The kids that went to the best schools hung out in the top echelon, dated the top guys.

It's always been that way.

Once again, you should be generationally moving your family up or at least holding steady.

Trust me. It will all become very clear once you have a child. The day he or she is born it will click. Suddenly the notion of moving mountains for the child, for making sure he or she moves in the best circles seems like a sane thought.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2011, 01:13 PM
 
Location: 92037
4,630 posts, read 10,232,943 times
Reputation: 1955
Quote:
Originally Posted by hiknapster View Post
I grew up in the 60s and 70s in the northeast and guess what? My parents built a house that was dependent on being near the best schools and this was a tiny town. There was only one junior and senior high school but there were four elementary schools and where you went determined your fate to some degree. The kids that went to the best schools hung out in the top echelon, dated the top guys.

It's always been that way.

Once again, you should be generationally moving your family up or at least holding steady.

Trust me. It will all become very clear once you have a child. The day he or she is born it will click. Suddenly the notion of moving mountains for the child, for making sure he or she moves in the best circles seems like a sane thought.
hiknapster,

I agree.

I am not certain if you read the entire post, because that one line was a preface to what I was trying to get at.

How does a parent do it these days? The methodology/process to formulate an opinion is what I am curious about in a world where data is abundant and opinions vast.

This applies only to regions that are dynamic, not necessarily a small town. Where the variations are sometimes in the metrics can be fractionally different from one district to another (this is why I mention this happening in the San Diego forums).

Socio-economically speaking: A place where 500k homes are considered the top of the market with a good school district and right across the street the lowest homes start at 600k but have a better school district dependent on metrics and again, only marginally better based on that data.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2011, 01:15 PM
 
4,352 posts, read 4,190,941 times
Reputation: 5776
Quote:
Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd View Post
hiknapster,

I agree.

I am not certain if you read the entire post, because that one line was a preface to what I was trying to get at.

How does a parent do it these days? The methodology/process to formulate an opinion is what I am curious about in a world where data is abundant and opinions vast.

This applies only to regions that are dynamic, not necessarily a small town. Where the variations are sometimes in the metrics can be fractionally different from one district to another (this is why I mention this happening in the San Diego forums).

Socio-economically speaking: A place where 500k homes are considered the top of the market with a good school district and right across the street the lowest homes start at 600k but have a better school district dependent on metrics and again, only marginally better based on that data.
I think a lot of the "data" is anecdotal, which would help explain why there were so many queries on C-D. The raw numbers only tell you so much.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2011, 02:15 PM
 
Location: 92037
4,630 posts, read 10,232,943 times
Reputation: 1955
Quote:
Originally Posted by lhpartridge View Post
I think a lot of the "data" is anecdotal, which would help explain why there were so many queries on C-D. The raw numbers only tell you so much.
Yes.

Better this question to a parent. When it comes to formulating what is good enough for your child. What method is used besides raw data?

I mean where does it draw the line?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Education

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top