Young family looking to move Richmond from Florida (neighborhood questions, etc)

[sls76]

Originally Posted by brocco

really...my parents chose the hanover area for the good schools in the late 80s/early 90s! i dont know anything about midlothian area schools.

Really--but it's somewhat subjective :-) Far West End/Midlothian certainly had a much better reputation until very recently (some of the best public schools in the state). Mechanicsville has closed the gap on paper.

Look at Cool Spring Elementary in Mechanicsville, for example. It is now the 35th best elementary school in the state (out of 1,067) based on SOL scores. It was not even close to being that strong in 1998. This is one example of many which is likely driven by a shift in demographics. Also note that even back 14 years ago Henrico (e.g., Shady Grove, Nuckols Farm, Gayton, Tuckahoe elementaries) and Chesterfield (Robius, Bon Air, Bettie Weaver elementaries) had some of the best schools in the state--that could not be said of Hanover.

Historical SOL scores. If you are enjoy analysis you can attack these.
VDOE :: Standards of Learning Assessment and Achievement Data, Archived Results

[brocco]

Originally Posted by sls76

Really--but it's somewhat subjective :-) Far West End/Midlothian certainly had a much better reputation until very recently (some of the best public schools in the state). Mechanicsville has closed the gap on paper.

Look at Cool Spring Elementary in Mechanicsville, for example. It is now the 35th best elementary school in the state (out of 1,067) based on SOL scores. It was not even close to being that strong in 1998. This is one example of many which is likely driven by a shift in demographics. Also note that even back 14 years ago Henrico (e.g., Shady Grove, Nuckols Farm, Gayton, Tuckahoe elementaries) and Chesterfield (Robius, Bon Air, Bettie Weaver elementaries) had some of the best schools in the state--that could not be said of Hanover.

Historical SOL scores. If you are enjoy analysis you can attack these.
VDOE :: Standards of Learning Assessment and Achievement Data, Archived Results

i was in cool spring's first graduating class in 1997, so it was only two years old at that point. i must have closed the gap on my way through the system lol

[ellieb128]

Hanover, Chesterfield and Henrico and the City (for ES) have great schools and neighborhoods and some areas you don't want to be. Explore, find a county or area you love and we will all chime in on the best schools/homes for that area. They all have great ones so you just need to figure out which area works for you.