Chapel Hill vs North Chatham Public Schools (Carrboro: 2015, how much)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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We currently live in North Chatham and have kids who will be going into kindergarten in a couple years. All of our friends have been happy with North Chatham schools and another friend who taught at Chapel Hill thought it was a bit overrated. But we know Chapel Hill has a great reputation for schools and since we value education tremendously wonder if it would be worth moving.
How do the school systems compare, especially at the elementary level?
I think a lot of people are perfectly happy with Chatham County schools. I know a lot of kids who have gone through Perry Harrison and their parents seem mostly happy with it, however it seems to be true that they don't offer quite as much as Chapel Hill schools do.
CHCCS has the dual language immersion programs (Spanish and Mandarin) and more resources for gifted kids. LEAP is a self-contained program for the very brightest 1% of 4th-8th graders. CHCCS also offers in-school gifted programs in math and reading in the regular schools, but that may just be a pull-out session once a week or something.
One thing that my 7th grader has reported now that she's in a charter school with kids from other schools is that they don't seem to offer Spanish even as a special. That's my kid's report, though, so not sure on that. She did not do the dual language immersion program in elementary, but was exposed to once or twice weekly Spanish classes as a "special" and started high school Spanish in 6th grade at her charter school. She began the year in the middle school Spanish class, but it was way too slow for her. She said the kids from Perry Harrison told her that they didn't have Spanish in elementary school.
Our elementary school, Carrboro Elementary, also had weekly art classes and weekly music classes, plus an afterschool theatre program that is just awesome.
^ thanks for the info. I believe North Chatham now has a dual language program and a gifted program although it doesn't seem as extensive as CHCCS. I would think the North Chatham schools will continue to improve too with all the growth but am not sure by how much
^ thanks for the info. I believe North Chatham now has a dual language program and a gifted program although it doesn't seem as extensive as CHCCS. I would think the North Chatham schools will continue to improve too with all the growth but am not sure by how much
If you are happy in Northern Chatham County right now have friends that are happy with the schools; I personally don't see a ton of value in moving over the county line to higher housing costs and higher property taxes to get into "the best" schools. If you really want top-notch and to stay in Northern Chatham County you can try to get your kids into Woods Charter. It's very competitive to get in but it is rated higher than any CHCCS school I believe.
If you are happy in Northern Chatham County right now have friends that are happy with the schools; I personally don't see a ton of value in moving over the county line to higher housing costs and higher property taxes to get into "the best" schools. If you really want top-notch and to stay in Northern Chatham County you can try to get your kids into Woods Charter. It's very competitive to get in but it is rated higher than any CHCCS school I believe.
We're going to apply to Woods Charter but I think there's a 10% completely random chance of getting in so we're not expecting it'll work out. We mainly want great teachers and administration, different levels of curriculum (so strong students are challenged) and not huge class sizes. I'm not sure how all 3 school systems compare in that regard.
I'm not sure my kids have gone to school with any kids from North Chatham Elementary if they have the dual language program. Most folks seem moderately happy with Perry Harrison. No school is going to be everything for everybody, but it seems pretty solid. Are you in the zone for North Chatham Elementary or are you just in Northern Chatham County?
I've known quite a few families with kids at Woods and most of them like it. My kids did summer camp there a time or two. The classroom physical space was smaller than I expected, but it's a pretty nice bldg. They always seem to do very well on EOGs and SATs.
The educated parents who live in Chatham now, and whose kids go to Chatham schools now are laying the foundation for you and your kids to build upon, and continue raising the performance and reputation of the Chatham schools.
The educated parents who live in Chatham now, and whose kids go to Chatham schools now are laying the foundation for you and your kids to build upon, and continue raising the performance and reputation of the Chatham schools.
I would think the plans for Chatham Park also will also impact the district, ultimately in a positive way.
The 2015-2016 school report cards are out, providing one measure of comparison between the CHCCS elementary schools and those in northern Chatham county (namely North Chatham Elementary and Perry Harrison Elementary). By the measures within that dataset (Reading, Math, Science and Overall Achievement scores), Perry Harrison Elementary falls smack in the middle of the group of CHCCS schools with North Chatham Elementray lagging behind the CHCCS schools. Most of the CHCCS schools bunch together, and are pretty comparable to Perry Harrison by the numbers. There are a couple of stragglers in the district on the low end, while on the high end Glenwood Elementary outperformed the rest of the district by a fairly wide margin and Morris Grove Elementary also scored quite well relative to the district averages.
Take all that for what it's worth; it's still just one group of data in the larger picture.
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