lexington elementary schools (buying a house, neighborhood, buying)

[Jhutt]

Hello Everybody;
We are about to move to Lexington to the Munroe Hill neighborhood. The neighborhood looks great but I just looked up the schools and the neighborhood school, Bowman has the lowest test scores in the area. I also noticed that while Fiske and Harrington have been completely renovated, Bowman has a 60's older look and seems in desperate need of a renovation. Is there something wrong with the school? If anybody has any advice or information about the school in comparision with other schools in the area, please let me know. My wife and I are racking our brains trying to decide if buying a house in this neighborhood is the right thing to do. Once again, thank you in advance for the advice. It is greatly appreciated and I love this forum for all of the helpful and amazing advice I have received.

[Beachcomber4]

I looked at the scores and while they may not be as high as other schools in town, they are still very good. They look to be, on average, in the top 15% to 20% in the state. I think you will find your children will be well prepared for the upper grades. I am not saying MCAS is always the best indicator of a good school but it is definitely a good indication of the quality of the curriculum.

I do not know anything about the school specifically but it's possible that remodels were done at a time when funds were available and that school might not have had as great a need at that time.

If you are still concerned, I would inquire is if there is a curriculum coordinator for the district and if so, how do they insure that all students are working in such a way that the transition to middle school is smooth and children have had the same instruction so as not to be behind students from other better performing schools. I would also find out if the school has consistently made AYP and if not, is it a situation where you have school choice. (based on the scores I find that would be unlikely but you never know)

Good luck.

[Dayne411]

You'll be fine with Bowman, my sister went there 10 years ago and its a great school relative to the state. Also, once your child hits 6th grade, they'll go to Clark middle school which has always ranked highly in entire state (top 5). I went to Lexington High School myself and thought it was great. (This coming from someone who went to private school in London for several years before relocating to MA)

I was always in the top 5% of my class in private school, however when I came to Lexington, there were far more students that did better than me. I also found the classes were a little more advanced for the same age level when I moved here.