"Best" schools? What does that mean to you? (special needs, Aspergers)

[twingles]

Originally Posted by VickiR

Unfortunately, when you are new to the area, the only thing you have to go on is the school scores. Or, word of mouth.

!

Yup that's true. There's little else to go on. Even if you go on a tour, how much can you really tell? Not like you're gonna walk into a class and see a teacher beating a kid!

For us, we picked the area we wanted to live. We ended up with Mike's "holy trinity" but we weren't married to those schools as we figured the surrounding ones would be just as good. Maybe the hysteria has grown since we moved - I certainly saw a lot of it when the choice plan was in effect.

I've been very happy with our elementary school. Exceptionally happy. I don't agree that since all teachers must meet the same criteria, all of them are basically the same. That's a ludicrous idea. I have had exposure to a few different schools and like any workplace, there is a morale factor; that is huge. When morale is good, the teachers want to keep doing better, even when things are already going pretty good.

Parental expectations factor in as well.

I haven't been as happy with our middle school experience. No question that academically it's a top notch school, but I don't feel it's as well rounded as it could be. Life should not just be all academics, all the time. There is pretty much no fun to be had at that school, ever, at all - and it IMHO it affects the students. Luckily it's only 3 years.

[newmom5497]

And the ironic thing is....many private and charter schools have lesser standards for hiring teachers than public schools ( create their own hiring practices/ teaching certification not required / background checks not required etc)...and teacher pay and benefits are less.

[pjnugget]

what are the average class size in the schools for elementary? does it vary by school or is all of Wake on a same ratio.

Not sure if the Raleigh magnets differ from Apex as an example.

This might have been discussed already but didn't feel like searching

[BoBromhal]

Originally Posted by mlhm5

In the near future 25% of the college grads will get the best jobs because families will be priced out of the private colleges and entrance to good state schools like UNC will be as difficult as Berkeley is now.

Businesses will hire from the best grads from what they consider the best schools, so to get into one of these colleges, parents want the secondary education that produces the best product.

In NC US News says there are 6 high schools rated in their top 1000 and 2 are in Cary. Compare that to MA, a state with the same population number, an you will see they have 43 in the top 1000.

Pretty obvious that NC is not keeping pace in public education.

I wonder what the demographic makeup, attendance and class size of those MA schools are.

[newmom5497]

Class sizes vary by school.....there is typically a cap of 25 for grades k-2. Over 30 is not uncommon for upper grades. Currently I have 22 in my first grade class....last year I only had 18. Some of our fifth grade classrooms have 30.... While some of our 3rd grade have 17.
At one time we had mobile units to accommodate overflow.....

[michgc]

While I don't feel it necessary to be in a school with the very best test scores, and actually wouldn't want my kids in a total pressure cooker school, I wouldn't put my kids in a school where there are low test scores or a small percentage of kids going onto college. I look for schools with a population that values education and has a high percentage of college-bound students. While a good school won't make a student smarter, being around peers who have high goals regarding education can be a good influence on other students, including mine. I want my kids around other kids who go home and study at night, participate in positive extra- curricular activities, plan to go to college or have other goals, etc.

I also like the students to be in a similar socioeconomic class as my family - not wanting a school which is a very high income school where we don't fit in economically, but not a low-income school either where we also don't fit in. I for the most part don't care about the racial or ethnic makeup of the student body as long as the majority of students meet my other criteria listed above. (Exception, I do like for at least some of the kids to look like mine, so I ruled out Orange County schools, for example, because there were hardly any Asian kids there and I didn't want my kid to be "the only one.")

Of course, most of the information above is based on numbers and facts you can read about the school. Hearing first-hand about a school is just as important as most other data. So talking to parents and learning about the administration, academics, teachers, and climate at the school is very important information if you can get it.

[JONOV]

Originally Posted by newmom5497

And the ironic thing is....many private and charter schools have lesser standards for hiring teachers than public schools ( create their own hiring practices/ teaching certification not required / background checks not required etc)...and teacher pay and benefits are less.

Right...And many of those teachers chose to work their for the environment it provides. A private school, by its very nature, self selects away from families that are ambivalent/without resources.

They don't have to deal with the lowest common denominator that public schools do. A school in Cary has a lot less of "lowest common denominator" type (kids that aren't well fed, bathed, rested for school) and therefore does a lot better than the school that serves South Saunders Street, for example.

A Private school has none of that, and can even be selective in not offering admission to kids that don't do well on entrance exams.

[annabanana123]

For us the "best" is where we feel our son will get a well rounded education. We factor in test scores, programs offered (especially languages and science, but also others). Also how much control teachers have over their classrooms and the teaching style (ie - is the teacher standing up and lecturing to the classes or are they doing hands on learning activities). The amount of homework, the rigor of the programs and the use of technology are also key.

We further talked with parents who have kids at each school and toured them all (toured 11 so far). Unfortunately our base was the worst by far - they had zero control, kids were running around outside unsupervised, they just talked at the students and were shouting at them. We have also noticed that the kids in our neighborhood who go to our base are way behind the kids who go to magnets. In fact my pre-k son can read better than our 1st and 2nd grade neighbors who go to our base. Those kids also do not listen to anyone (different families).

One thing with test scores is that if the schools can't get at least 60% to pass (which is low, in my opinion, but i know tests are flawed) it says they're not doing something right to me.

[4122]

Originally Posted by michgc

While I don't feel it necessary to be in a school with the very best test scores, and actually wouldn't want my kids in a total pressure cooker school, I wouldn't put my kids in a school where there are low test scores or a small percentage of kids going onto college. I look for schools with a population that values education and has a high percentage of college-bound students. While a good school won't make a student smarter, being around peers who have high goals regarding education can be a good influence on other students, including mine. I want my kids around other kids who go home and study at night, participate in positive extra- curricular activities, plan to go to college or have other goals, etc.

I also like the students to be in a similar socioeconomic class as my family - not wanting a school which is a very high income school where we don't fit in economically, but not a low-income school either where we also don't fit in. I for the most part don't care about the racial or ethnic makeup of the student body as long as the majority of students meet my other criteria listed above. (Exception, I do like for at least some of the kids to look like mine, so I ruled out Orange County schools, for example, because there were hardly any Asian kids there and I didn't want my kid to be "the only one.")

Of course, most of the information above is based on numbers and facts you can read about the school. Hearing first-hand about a school is just as important as most other data. So talking to parents and learning about the administration, academics, teachers, and climate at the school is very important information if you can get it.

Exactly! I want my kids to be influenced in a good way in school, however I wouldn't want to send them to a pressure cooker school because I actually feel it would hurt them. Academically, they wouldn't get as good of grades as at a different school because of higher expectations. If your kid is just average academically or things come harder for then academically, they'll just get lost through the cracks. Looking at what type of courses they offer is important too. If the school doesn't offer any classes that the student is interested in for post high school or just on general, it's not a good fit. I want my kids to be prepared for the real world and being in a "bubble" community like a lot of high ranked high schools are won't do that. Sure, they'll prepare them to do well in college academically, but other than that, students will be unprepared for what the real world really is like.

I would also wanna make sure the school has a friendly environment. Each town is different in this way. There's some towns that are similar to each other, but have a different feel socially. Socioeconomical diversity can play a role in this too. If a town is just full of upper middle class families, people that have lower incomes have a good chance of not being accepted. It has been proven that a student's social life can impact their grades. If they're getting bullied and have no friends, their grades are likely not to be as strong as they could be.

[Funky Chicken]

We moved from an area with "the best" schools (at least in the opinion of the C-D gang) to an area with "very good" schools (my description). We did so before my only child began school, and we did so for a number of reasons.

In our case we feel that where we are is probably a better fit for our child (who has an IEP and is being treated for ADHD/ "inattentive") than where she would be attending school had we not moved. She does not need to be in a pressure cooker full of high achieving 9 year olds-she needs to be in an environment that nurtures her. We have found that in a school that flies under the radar despite its "9" rating at greatschools. It is more ethnically and financially diverse than the schools everyone covets in 27560 and 27519, and I think that is a positive. It is less than a mile from our home, with the assigned middle school next door and the assigned high school across the street along with an enormous ToC park.

Assuming we don't move, she will stay in school close to home with many of her friends from our neighborhood that she began Kindergarten with until she graduates from High School. The school is not capped, and because of our proximity to all 3 schools bus service is not provided for us. I see this as a huge net positive because it greatly lessens the likelyhood of redistricting-if they have to add busses to move us they will likely find other plans. Kids walk to school, or the neighbors carpool. Nobody complains. The neighborhood has low turnover. It's kind of like living in a small town with its own little school district, except it's part of WCPSS.

Everyone moves to Wake County with trepidation about school assignments. I have co-workers whose children attended 3 different elementary schools. I think that is a very difficult thing for a child to handle-my parents moved us twice in three years and it made things very difficult in middle school. We feel very confident that our assignments will not change, and that means a lot to us.

None of this happened because of my superior research and intellect-it was all dumb luck. We found a home we liked in a neighborhood we liked and bought it. The school thing just fell into place.

I also think that the way you run your house has at least as much to do with how your child does as which school he/she attends.

Our child is happy. She loves school despite struggling at times, and wakes up every morning excited to go to school. She is much closer to grade level than she has been in the past thanks to her excellent teachers, the special ed team, and even the administrators including the principal.

So, purely by accident, we found the "best" school for us.