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That's the thing , it wasn't a big issue 10-15 yrs ago. People moved to Cary or Raleigh etc... for the house,neighborhood and Wake County school system. There wasn't all this picking apart . I just have a hard time believing that one school in Cary is drastically different then another. In my experience we didn't give people the advice to go to this one and that one based on points. This is an imported phenomena and It needs to go back.
I think that some of it is they want their kids to go to the same school as other kids in the neighborhood, and not drive across town for them to see everyone they know, or worry about them switching back to the base school, etc...I think its as much about stability as anything else.
That's the thing , it wasn't a big issue 10-15 yrs ago. People moved to Cary or Raleigh etc... for the house,neighborhood and Wake County school system. There wasn't all this picking apart . I just have a hard time believing that one school in Cary is drastically different then another. In my experience we didn't give people the advice to go to this one and that one based on points. This is an imported phenomena and It needs to go back.
Of course it makes a difference, the Davis Drive schools are about 50% Indian and Asian, the parents work at RTP, at SAS, or are doctors. They are quite assimilated. We were at a function a couple of years ago and my DH was like "I feel dumb". Do you really think that does not have a trickle down effect? Not only do these people have high expectations they enrich their kids heavily outside of school. Guess who is always tops in chess competitions? The question is - how important is it to rub elbows with those kids? Like I said, it can be a pressure cooker.
Go to Cedar Fork Elementary and the school's Indian population increases yearly, and they are not nearly as assimilated as at Davis Drive. It DOES make a difference especially in the younger grades where kids might be getting their first broad exposure to English for the first time.
Kingswood is in Cary, and I believe it is (or was) a Title I school.
They are not all exactly the same. That doesn't mean they don't all have good AND bad points.
I'd be surprised to hear that someone that lived in the base school more than 2 years wouldn't get a rising entry grade child in.
10-15 years ago, we (the realtors, when there weren't really message boards and internet searches) were telling all the relocators who were told "Cary!" not to pick based on a school at all, because it was likely to change in 2 years. To another good school, and likely a NEW school. Doesn't the same just about hold true today, except that somehow the internet and that generation from 10 years ago they may know is somehow telling you "Oh my gawd, ya gotta get Davis Drive!"
I'd be surprised to hear that someone that lived in the base school more than 2 years wouldn't get a rising entry grade child in.
10-15 years ago, we (the realtors, when there weren't really message boards and internet searches) were telling all the relocators who were told "Cary!" not to pick based on a school at all, because it was likely to change in 2 years. To another good school, and likely a NEW school. Doesn't the same just about hold true today, except that somehow the internet and that generation from 10 years ago they may know is somehow telling you "Oh my gawd, ya gotta get Davis Drive!"
Yes and I think we are heading into another time of a lot of reassignments.
Yes, when you're looking at it from an outsider's perspective, Davis Drive is ranked #22 in NC, and the overflow school, West Cary, is rated #77. The % of kids proficient in math and reading is also pretty different. So it's hard to say that it doesn't matter when you see those numbers, you know?
I completely understand what you mean about children doing better socially in one school vs another. If you have any specific anecdotes and advice about your experiences with this in a particular school, I'd really appreciate it. I also appreciate the suggestions for other school districts!!
My husband is the commuter, his office is near the Marlbes Museum in Raleigh.
Twingles -- Mills Park may have 500 more students than DDMS, but it is also a much larger facility. It is built to hold 1,300 students, where DDMS is built to hold around 800. DDMS also has several trailers and MPMS has none.
I totally understand wanting to move somewhere because of the school(s) your children would attend. I think that academically, most of the middle schools in Cary provide the same opportunities (the only one I don't really know about is Reedy Creek). To me, the most important thing when looking at middle school/high school is whether my child would fit in socially, and that's a tough one to know ahead of time, and if you ask around, you will get pretty subjective responses. On paper, I'd pick DDMS or MPMS too. However, having an 8th grader who went to 6th & 7th grade at DDMS, I learned that DDMS was not a good fit at all, socially (academically it was fine).
That's actually where my daughter is now for 8th grade, and she LOVES it. Unfortunately, I believe it is one of the most difficult magnet schools to get into. We tried for 6th grade and didn't get it. We lucked out this year because an entire node was moved out of their base area and they needed to fill the seats. That, combined with the fact that our base school (DDMS) got capped for this year, really helped her. Otherwise, yes -- I'd say if you wanted to go to Martin, move into the base area...if you can afford it.
This is really interesting because DDES is currently at 1068 students and is maxed out on trailers. The town will not approve move. The school was once capped at 997 students but now that they are far past that number the school board is not even considering capping DDES. I am not sure how they are going to squeeze all the kids from Davis Square in the school. It is interesting because there is a bunch of shifting going on to fill new schools, DDES will not be impacted.
Yes, when you're looking at it from an outsider's perspective, Davis Drive is ranked #22 in NC, and the overflow school, West Cary, is rated #77. The % of kids proficient in math and reading is also pretty different. So it's hard to say that it doesn't matter when you see those numbers, you know?
I completely understand what you mean about children doing better socially in one school vs another. If you have any specific anecdotes and advice about your experiences with this in a particular school, I'd really appreciate it. I also appreciate the suggestions for other school districts!!
My husband is the commuter, his office is near the Marlbes Museum in Raleigh.
You do know this is a very large state, yes?
That WCMS is ranked 77 is impressive, really.
My daughter was there for middle. The school is quite full of bright kids. Maybe not the pressure cooker that is DDMS, but both feed into Green Hope High, for the most part.
Depends on what you want for your child. The pressure cooker or the somewhat more laid back approach. Both are still good schools.
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I'm not sure where you're getting your scores, but go to ncreportcards.org and look the schools up. As a statement of fact, the two primary demographic groups at both schools perform relatively the same.
The largest difference between the 2 schools is the % of economically-disadvantaged students. And West Cary isn't even at the system average.
I'm getting the rankings from SchoolDigger and the % from niche.k12
Right now we are in the #7 middle school in the state of PA. My daughter is very strong academically and does well in that type of environment - but she is also very involved with cheer, and her social experience is equally important to me.
Yes, it's a big state. But so is PA. i am just being honest and stating that a top ranked school is important to me. It's not just about test scores, and this is why we are in the district we are in versus the top 5. I have heard the parents in the district are more well rounded and down to Earth in comparison, and I've found that to be true. it's very difficult to get a true sense of the schools as an outsider. Rankings are the only concrete measurement I have, and in my experiences with education in Mass and PA, I've found them to be a good indicator of the school quality. In particular, teacher quality, etc.
the schooldigger rank certainly appears to be based on 1 criteria - standardized test score. Am I missing something?
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