Best place to raise well-educated children in NC? (Raleigh, Cary: chapel, homes)

[3110happy]

May be moving to NC - have children - really want quality education - we have other state options, but would like to live near the coast.
Want to know the good, the bad, the ugly. Would like abundance of activities, recreational and cultural. Good shopping, dining as well.

[alice_61]

Do you want strictly public schools?

[businessperson]

For public schools I go to Chapel Hill.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by 3110happy

May be moving to NC - have children - really want quality education - we have other state options, but would like to live near the coast.
Want to know the good, the bad, the ugly. Would like abundance of activities, recreational and cultural. Good shopping, dining as well.

Your best bet is Wake County for sure

[goinsouth07]

I am relocating from upstate NY to the Raleigh area and am trying to figure out the best school districts as well. It appears Wake has the best reputation and report cards. Can anyone tell me which high schools are the best? By numbers it appears Apex, Cary, Athens and Green Hope are the best but I know you can't always judge a school purely by numbers. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[bluedevilz]

Originally Posted by goinsouth07

I am relocating from upstate NY to the Raleigh area and am trying to figure out the best school districts as well. It appears Wake has the best reputation and report cards. Can anyone tell me which high schools are the best? By numbers it appears Apex, Cary, Athens and Green Hope are the best but I know you can't always judge a school purely by numbers. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you are looking at Raleigh, then Wake is the school district and that covers all the schools you mentioned. In the Triangle as a whole, Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools have the best reputation and highest scores.

Both High Schools in Chapel Hill were rated among the top 100 in the nation by Newsweek as well and the average SAT scores are the highest in the state.

[Durham, NC Native]

Originally Posted by bluedevilz

If you are looking at Raleigh, then Wake is the school district and that covers all the schools you mentioned. In the Triangle as a whole, Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools have the best reputation and highest scores.

Both High Schools in Chapel Hill were rated among the top 100 in the nation by Newsweek as well and the average SAT scores are the highest in the state.

Wake County does have good schools, but the population growth the school system has been experiencing has been making for a lot of re-assignments to new or different schools, lots of talk about year-round only schools, etc. Just something to consider as the population growth is going to be an on-going issue in Wake County. If you do a google search (under news) for Wake County Schools, you'll find some stories on re-assignment woes, year-round school woes, etc. Stability might be hard to come by.

[friendnc]

No matter where you live, the #1 priority is parents who actually take part in their children's education, regardless if it's public, private, or homeschool.

[lazinskij]

There is a happy medium - my wife has taught and knows all too well, the hypocrisy, the politics, and indoctrination that attempts to infilitrate the schools. We are involved, but not hovering. Parents who hover often do more damage than good while they do their level best to be "involved." It is a total team effort - parents-teacher-child. Communication is key and parents need to know that they should be involved, but respectful as well.

[sprtsluvr8]

Coming from a teacher's POV, if a child is interested in school and motivated by involved parents, he/she will thrive no matter which school in whatever system you choose. I would place more importance on choosing a teacher before a school system, or at the very least a particular school within a system. I think most teachers are in the professions for the right reasons and will do a good job, but I would want to talk to each one and choose the one who would gel the best with my child. System-wide report cards and grades just seem extremely arbitrary to me, when within a system the variation between top and bottom can be really wide. Any school system will have a few very highly rated schools, so wherever you decide to locate I feel sure there are schools that would fit your requirements.