Schools in Orangevale (Sacramento, Elk Grove, Folsom: home, neighborhoods, school districts)

[kristi96]

How are the schools in Orangevale. My son will be going into 7th grade and my younger son will be starting Kinder in the next year.

[mattinsac]

There is a regular poster here named Mossy who lives or at least used to live in Orangevale. Its probably worth reading her comments in the archives to get some feedback about the local schools in Orangevale.

You might also look at my comments here from a previous thread where I discuss how to research a local schools.

Originally Posted by mattinsac

A couple of points.

First the school district is the wrong metric for comparing schools. There is a wide variation the quality of schools inside specific districts. In San Juan, Elk Grove or the Folsom Cordova School Districts, you can find some excellent schools and some bad schools. What matters isn't the strength of the district as much as the strength of the schools your kids might actually be attending.

I would start by looking at a map of schools in by test score here.

California School Performance Maps

When you go over a school, it will highlight the name of the school. Which you can look up here.

County List of Schools

If you click on a school it will bring up a chart that looks like this. It will break down test scores by student demographics.

2008 Growth API School Report - Anna Kirchgater Elementary

You can also look up information about the parents, what there average educational attainment is.

2007 API Growth School Report

If you spend some time with the map, you will find that there are parts of Elk Grove with much better schools than the area you were looking at. But the commute from where the better schools are in Elk Grove to McClellan would be really unpleasant.

If it were me, the neighborhoods I would be looking at would be looking at in your budget would be Arden Park, Campus Commons, Sierra Oaks, Del Paso Manor, Del Dayo, and maybe Willhaggen. The commute to either UCD Med Center or McClellan is doable and you should be able to find a home in your budget that would satisfy your needs.

You will notice I didn't mention anything in the Sac City School District even though there are some pretty good schools in the neighborhood and even though there are some neighborhoods there that are very pleasant which would probably involve a much smaller commute.

[MamaToThree]

Originally Posted by kristi96

How are the schools in Orangevale. My son will be going into 7th grade and my younger son will be starting Kinder in the next year.

For your kinder student, I would recommend Claire's Montessori only because we have our children there and love it! Are you looking for private or public schools? I know a lot of parents like Orangevale Open (K-8th), but when I toured the school I wasn't impressed at all. I think the best thing to do is actually go to the school you are considering and take a tour. Most official tours happen in SJUSD in January, but if you are new to the area you can probably set up an appointment to tour a few classrooms.

There may possibly be the Orangevale Community Montessori charter school (free) opening within a year at the corner of Oak and Beech. Claire and her school are trying to get the charter now. We're keeping our fingers crossed.