Best Huntsville High School? (Decatur, Madison: how much, new house, transfer to)

[wisebeard1]

My girlfriend is moving to Huntsville Alabama with her 17 year old daughter. I'd like to see her daughter attend the best public high school in the district. I have heard there are some schools to avoid at all cost.
What is the safest school with the best learning environment?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by wisebeard1

My girlfriend is moving to Huntsville Alabama with her 17 year old daughter. I'd like to see her daughter attend the best public high school in the district. I have heard there are some schools to avoid at all cost.
What is the safest school with the best learning environment?

What does "best" mean?

How much research have you already performed?
From where did you get your data?
What schools were you advised to avoid at all costs? From whom did you hear this?

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by wisebeard1

My girlfriend is moving to Huntsville Alabama with her 17 year old daughter. I'd like to see her daughter attend the best public high school in the district. I have heard there are some schools to avoid at all cost.
What is the safest school with the best learning environment?

There have been discussions ad nauseum. Just search the forum (The Huntsville-Madison-Decatur forum, not the entire city-data forum).
To answer your question, probably Randolph. But it's a private school.

[zenjenn]

She did specify public high school.

The short answer would be Grissom, based on what's on paper.

But Grissom like all schools, has its problems. In order to keep their peak scores I have heard, for example, that parents of kids with learning disabilities or other issues that prevent them from being peak performers, feel pushed aside and ignored by Grissom's staff. (No idea if that's true, by the way - that is just what I've heard.) Huntsville High is more well-rounded and diverse while still performing quite well, Lee High School has excellent programming for students who excel in performing arts, etc.

[wisebeard1]

Originally Posted by zenjenn

She did specify public high school.

The short answer would be Grissom, based on what's on paper.

But Grissom like all schools, has its problems. In order to keep their peak scores I have heard, for example, that parents of kids with learning disabilities or other issues that prevent them from being peak performers, feel pushed aside and ignored by Grissom's staff. (No idea if that's true, by the way - that is just what I've heard.) Huntsville High is more well-rounded and diverse while still performing quite well, Lee High School has excellent programming for students who excel in performing arts, etc.

I have also heard positive things about Virgil Grissom High School.
Have you heard anything at all about S. R. Butler High?
It appears this school will be the geographically closest to the new house.

[gsp4ever]

Here is the state "report card" for Butler. They've had some problems with their graduation rates. ACT scores are also low. School enrollment numbers are dropping as well.

ftp://ftp.alsde.edu/documents/Report...59/1590020.pdf

Grissom HS is generally considered to be the "best" school in the Huntsville City Schools system from an academic perspective.

[Southeastern]

Check into Sparkman High School in the Madison County School system.

[Dittow]

I just read recently where Butler was the only high school in Huntsville that scored low enough that students could opt to transfer to another school if they wanted. I wouldn't recommend it. There is New Century Technology High School. New Century is a pubic school in the Huntsville school system where students choose from five fields of study, either medical, aerospace, computer technology, and I honestly do not remember the other two. Students have to apply and be interviewed to attend, but it truly is not a difficult process at all. I don't have their number handy, but do call and ask to speak with Sharon Brown, the registar, and she can give you any needed info. New Century had some of the highest test scores in Huntsville last year and they're fast catching up with Grissom in that field. Their students also do well in scholarships and I speak from experience on this, having a son that graduated from there several years back that was awared a full tuition/housing scholarship for four years. If you happen to have any more questions about New Century, let me know. Good luck to your friend.

[Charles]

Here are the Huntsville City, Madison County and Madison City High School 2008 proficiency data sorted by subgroup for both reading and math.

Huntsville High School did quite well as did Grissom and Bob Jones.

(Click on the image expansion bar at the top of each image.)


Math



Reading

[wisebeard1]

The response to our request to transfer into Grissom High was denied, but Columbia was ok'd. Now I need to research Columbia High, it appears to be superior to Butler with respect to test scores. However, it is twice as far from my girls house. My initial thought was to go for it. Does anyone have a reason to not attend Columbia as opposed to Butler? Am I correct in thinking it would potentially be a safer learning environment for a senior with college aspirations etc.?