Moving to Huntsville area (Montgomery, Madison: renting, townhome, neighborhoods)

[flstatenolefan]

Wow...you all should enter a Master's Program in Education ;-) Has the thought occurred to you that the schools with the history of lower scores have been supplemented with extra teachers in an effort to boost the scores of those students??? Lower class sizes allow for more individualized study, which is particularly important in the early elementary years when a child is learning to read.

And, there must be a few engineers in this group responding...LOL. Statistics can be skewed to show whatever the reader wants to see. There are many variables that go into what makes for a "good school". If you want to rely solely on test scores, then you are missing the big picture. Also, someone mentioned previously that some schools have a larger number of students obtaining scholarships. While looking at the number of scholarships is telling, it doesn't necessarily mean that those are brighter students. It may mean that there is a more motivated guidance counselor that is taking the time to help these students obtain the scholarships (i.e. providing them with the information on the scholarships, hounding them to turn in the paperwork, etc.) But, if you have a high school student, that is a very important fact to know. However, I wouldn't base my housing decision strictly on that type of information.

The bottom line is that the more involved a parent is in the child's education, the better that child is going to perform in the long run. So, I feel confident that if I put my child in any school in the metropolitan area, she will do just fine Just my two cents.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by flstatenolefan

Lower class sizes allow for more individualized study, which is particularly important in the early elementary years when a child is learning to read.

A There are many variables that go into what makes for a "good school".

If you want to rely solely on test scores, then you are missing the big picture.

However, I wouldn't base my housing decision strictly on that type of information.

The bottom line is that the more involved a parent is in the child's education, the better that child is going to perform in the long run.

I don't think anyone is disagreeing with what was written in this post.

Most of us haven't used test scores as the only determinant of school quality.
Most of us did visit a couple of candidate schools.
Most of us did talk to parents at candidate schools.
Most of us are proactive parents. (I'd bet the majority of City Data forum posters are in the top 10% of many socioeconomic categories.)

[Southeastern]

Based on the data posted above --- Buckhorn, Hazel Green, and Sparkman -- (all County schools) are right in line with the 3 High Schools highlighted in red.

[Reactionary]

Originally Posted by flstatenolefan

Has the thought occurred to you that the schools with the history of lower scores have been supplemented with extra teachers in an effort to boost the scores of those students???

Well, duh

That's why I said I was "just kidding" about more teachers causing lower scores. The "not really" comment is because the administration doesn't seem to be consistent with student : teacher ratios. I expect that the City would use information similar to the spreadsheets Charles presented to surface problems. Statistics can be used to make things better.

Lincoln Elementary (SAT 55) is a good example: the school is recognized for 'punching above it's weight' or scoring better than one would expect given the school's demographics. It has a student : teacher ratio of 10 : 1 (best in the area). It also has a remarkable number of volunteers (mostly church), who provide students with 1 on 1 help. I hope that the City uses what works at Lincoln as a model to improve other failing schools.

But then, why does a poorly performing school like Highlands (SAT 33) have a high student : teacher ratio (16:1), which is the same s: t ratio as Mountain Gap (SAT 77). If administrators know that student : teacher ratio is important (which I accept) , then they should allocate resources better.

The correlation of SAT scores to s : t ratio is 0.35 in HSV City (think shotgun). That's not good if you're trying to allocate "extra teachers in an effort to boost the scores", because it shows that they are not. It indicates to me that they don't seem to be using a disciplined approach to improving school quality.

[flstatenolefan]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

Well, duh

But then, why does a poorly performing school like Highlands (SAT 33) have a high student : teacher ratio (16:1), which is the same s: t ratio as Mountain Gap (SAT 77). If administrators know that student : teacher ratio is important (which I accept) , then they should allocate resources better.

.

Because obviously there are a number of factors that influence test scores. Student:teacher ratio is just one of them. I would think that parental involvement actually plays a more important role, but there is little the schools can do about that

[Reactionary]

My point is that Highlands shares demographic characteristics with other low-scoring schools; they have s:t ratios of 16:1, which seems out of place when comparable schools have 10:1 to 12:1.

One could argue that they are actually doing better than the other schools for scoring as poorly with fewer resources. Part of this is probably due to relatively high levels of parental involvement, for which Highlands is known, BTW.

[bullittman]

Originally Posted by Keeper

It is close to Buck's Pocket Park.. Pretty much just a widespot in the road. I went through there a year ago and IIRC there is a Baptist church and gas station. It is not close to anything like hospitals, doctors or stores.

What are you looking for in a place to retire?

to escape the heat, humidity,traffic and crime of mobile. started looking in western north carolina, but the real estate is too expensive. now searching dekalb county because of elevation/mountains but has better value/cost of living. would like rural acreage but close to town.

[Stoneking80]

i am from hsv al, lived there most my life! we are in the service now and about to go to Vegas.=0( anyhow, i lived in hampton cove area, very nice homes and great school. very costy but worth the money. south huntsville is also nice as well, madison area is great..

[patrick1853]

You may want to look into north Lincoln County, TN (and other counties in TN, Lincoln is just where I'm most familiar with). No mountains, but plenty of hills, and the bulk of the demand for land is in southern Lincoln County so prices are still reasonable the farther north you go. It puts you roughly half way between Huntsville and Nashville (even more so if you look at Pulaski/Ardmore instead).

Originally Posted by bullittman

to escape the heat, humidity,traffic and crime of mobile. started looking in western north carolina, but the real estate is too expensive. now searching dekalb county because of elevation/mountains but has better value/cost of living. would like rural acreage but close to town.

[Charles]

Couple of tools people might like to check out in their moving efforts:

This maps all sorts of demographic information:
PolicyMap

This maps tons of census data (also the American Factfinder):
Tiger Map Server Browser
Alabama QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau
United States by State - TM-P002. Persons per Square Mile: 2000

This is a cool zip code mapping tool:
The Most Accurate Free USPS Zip Code Map Anywhere!

Here's a good table of demographic data arranged by zip code (Tip: The web page has the zip codes in row 1; You want the zip codes in column A; Copy and paste special transpose the table into excel and be able to sort demographic attributes against zip codes.)
Huntsville Alabama USA - ZIP Code Demographics (2000 Census)