Fort Wayne, IN (Carmel, Hope, English: credit, homes, top school)

[HELPTAN]

My family is considering relocating to the Fort Wayne Area. I have a 7th grader and 9th grader. We are from a smaller town and are looking for a nice, safe and friendly area. We are want to live in or near schools that focus on academics, they both have a desire to learn.

Are there any schools who offer International Baccalaureate (IB) program or a lot of Advance Placement (AP) classes.

We are open to public, private, charter or magnet schools.

[domergurl]

It looks like Fort Wayne Southside HS is an IB school. But I think that the Homestead school system in Aboite Twp is consistently one of the top school systems in the state overall.

[fabumom07]

Hey HELPTAN. I have 4 children in the Southwest Allen school system. The are is called Aboite. It is the second highest rated system in Indiana, second to Carmel. My older two are in 6th and 8th grade. The entire system has Alpha, which is AP that kids test into. It is a good program but can be stressful for some kids due to the workload. The non- Alpha classes are very challenging as well. We are not in the high school , Homestead, yet but my little brother attended in the 90's and said he was better prepared for Purdue than many of his peers due to the classes available. Many courses give college credit. There is a problem due to rich children with unavailable parents, but many middle class families who want a great education for their kids live here too.The security has been cited as excelling in magazines.Other good systems are Leo and Northwest Allen, and I would say the areas are more small town. Fort Wayne public schools(I attended) are not the best, in terms of comparison. They have less funding, I believe, a friend of mine in this district is choosing magnet schools for her kindegartener. Hope this helps, best of luck!

[fabumom07]

Sorry my parental controls blocked the word describing the controlled substance problem at Homestead.

[HELPTAN]

Interesting. I read some parent remarks on greatschools.net that stated there was a huge drug problem at Carroll. Greatschools rate both Carroll and Homestead as good. I noticed Homestead was rated high in either newsweek or US News. Have you heard any comments on Carroll?

Are there any charter or magnet highschools?

So the education is good at Homestead, but the drugs are a problem?

[fabumom07]

I have heard that Carroll is getting closer to Homestead in all respects, I have some hubby's cousins who attended. They are country s in 4H, horses etc. so they did well. Yes I have heard expensive substances such as are too easy to get at Homestead but there is also a very strong educational program to prepare the kids starting in middle school, as well as a task force. I will send my s there but it is something to consider.

[fabumom07]

I am not sure about charter highschools. Lots of people choose religious schools here like Concordia Lutheran High or Bishop Dwenger Catholic as an alternative.

[juliestephen]

FWCS high schools can be awesome as well. My son graduates this year from Northrop and is getting full-tuition scholarship to IU (academics). Don't disregard these schools on the basis of test scores alone. Some wonderful opportunities are available at the city schools! Please visit them and see for yourself!

[calista23]

Check out GreatSchools.net, you can research any school in the nation there. Stay away from the Fort Wayne Community School District, they have extremely bad test scores, but that may be due to the fact that they were testing 4 weeks after school starts, to test grade levels.

[TTrio]

If you are looking for a great program...it's Christian based.... Keystone Schools is a wonderful program. Keystone Schools - Main Page checkout the website. It's a growing program and Organic Chemistry is offered to the high schoolers. Test score are high and it has what is known as a Proficiency-Based Math and Language Arts program. Children are placed according to their abilities, not what grade they happen to be in. My son is in an Honors English class that includes 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. He is a 6th grader. It is a small program, for example, there are 12 or 13 6th graders.