Schools (Portland, Tigard, Lake Oswego: house, neighborhood, school district)

[PeacePlease]

Hello,
My wife, two kids (6 and 4) and I currently live in Austin and planning to move to the Portland area around June08 (end of school year). We visited multiple times so far and do like the area very much.

We looked at Lake Oswego, West Linn, Tigard, Forest Park and all seem to be nice. What matters to us the most are the schools. Lake Oswego and West Linn are rated exemplary for most elementary/middle/high schools. But that comes with a price. For the money we can get a lot more house in Tigard and Forest Park. So that is my question: how do the schools in Tigard (like Raleigh Hills) and Forest Park compare? according to what I've seen in the Oregonian, some of the elementary schools are rated exemplary, however middle and high are either satisfactory or strong. So what does strong exactly means in terms of quality of education? how bad or how good is a school when it is rated strong?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[PeacePlease]

Speaking of which, there is an interesting article in the Oregonian this morning:

OregonLive.com: Everything Oregon

New scores are being announced on Thursday. Interesting info in the article..

On one hand, it is hard to determine if these test scores reflect the quality of the education in a particular school. However, what else can parents use when deciding on relocating to a new neighborhood from the school district's perspective?

[oldtintype]

I think that the atmosphere of the school and how it fits your child's personality is a lot more important than the few points that make the difference between "exemplary" and "strong." I visited a lot of schools this year and some of the schools with the highest ratings were schools I wouldn't want my child to go to--example, no dramatic play areas in Kindergarten or toys because Kindergarten is about academics only. I mean, test scores are not the only thing to look at. I want my child to actually LEARN and enjoy learning not just perform well on a generic test. I'd say visiting the individual schools is going to tell you more than just looking at the scores. Some of the schools are putting so much pressure on the kids to get ahead academically that the kids aren't getting to be kids.

If you're an active and involved parent your child will do well no matter what the rating of the school is.

[PeacePlease]

Makes sense and I do plan on visiting some schools. Thanks oldintype.