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Old 01-08-2015, 12:23 PM
 
31 posts, read 52,840 times
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We are looking at houses in Newcastle and some of them fall into the Renton School District (the north part of Renton). It would filter into Hazelwood Elementary, McKnight Middle School, Hazen Senior High School. On greatschools and other school rating sites, it rates these schools 8/10, 7/10, 8/10, respectively.

So my questions are:

Is the Renton school district really that bad with these schools being rated pretty high in relation to their neighboring Issaquah school districts?

Why is Renton given such a bad rap? Is it just the south end of Renton? Is the northern end of Renton better?
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Old 01-08-2015, 01:49 PM
 
9,618 posts, read 27,228,180 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by notfromseattle View Post
We are looking at houses in Newcastle and some of them fall into the Renton School District (the north part of Renton). It would filter into Hazelwood Elementary, McKnight Middle School, Hazen Senior High School. On greatschools and other school rating sites, it rates these schools 8/10, 7/10, 8/10, respectively.

So my questions are:

Is the Renton school district really that bad with these schools being rated pretty high in relation to their neighboring Issaquah school districts?

Why is Renton given such a bad rap? Is it just the south end of Renton? Is the northern end of Renton better?
It's actually Renton's schools on the west side that give Renton's schools a bad rap, like Bryn Mawr, Campbell Hill, and Lakeridge. They're not in the city of Renton. Those are the schools the Skyway kids go to, and while they are improving, they do bring down the test scores for the whole district. Outside of those schools and a couple of others( Cascade Elementary, Highlands Elementary), Renton's schools are pretty good. Hazelwood Elementary, McKnight, and hazen are all good schools. It's simply that Issaquah's school district does not have any low rated schools and Renton's does. Some people only want to live in areas where every single school is top rated. Renton doesn't have that. It only has some schools that are highly rated. But Hazelwood, McKnight, and Hazen have been good for a long time, and will likely stay that way.
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Old 01-08-2015, 02:30 PM
 
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It's not politically correct to mention, but part of the reason for the performance difference between east and west Renton schools has to do with the flight of middle and upper class white families to the eastern suburbs of Renton, while the western parts drew more minorities and immigrants. Renton High School, for instance, was at one time decades ago almost entirely populated by middle-class white students. Today they make up about 15 percent of RHS enrollment. The performance gap probably has less to do with race and ethnicity and more to do with socio-economic status and parental education levels.
That's why when you see homes for sale in the eastern suburbs of Renton with Renton addresses advertised by realtors they usually point out that those homes are in the preferred Issaquah school district.

Last edited by NCDavid; 01-08-2015 at 02:37 PM.. Reason: spelling
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Old 01-08-2015, 02:31 PM
 
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The ratings are against state test scores. Ira is correct that certain districts look 'bad' because they have a mix if high and low performing schools, and others look good because there are few poor kids with un-involved parents or non-english speakers.

People do put a lot of (somewhat unwarranted) stake in the rankings. The next closest elementary to ours is ranked better than 97% of the schools in the state, while ours is completely ghetto at 94% - and the parents at the better school like to point that out. Oh god, how could you condemn your children to a school that's only in the top 6%??? that's like forcing them into prostitution and drug dealing! I can't believe that under-performing school hasn't been shut down!
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Old 01-08-2015, 03:41 PM
 
Location: Independent Republic of Ballard
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NCDavid View Post
The performance gap probably has less to do with race and ethnicity and more to do with socio-economic status and parental education levels.
Yeah, and it is also skewed by the rich-poor district differential, with rich districts better able to fund smaller class sizes, pay better teachers, and offer a full menu of educational options (including art and music programs), while poor districts are more likely to have larger class sizes, be unable to pay better teachers, and be stuck with just the three Rs and rote teaching-to-the-test.

On the other hand, just because you put a dumb kid next to a smart kid doesn't mean it will rub off on him/her.
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Old 01-08-2015, 05:31 PM
 
318 posts, read 625,306 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey View Post
Yeah, and it is also skewed by the rich-poor district differential, with rich districts better able to fund smaller class sizes, pay better teachers, and offer a full menu of educational options (including art and music programs), while poor districts are more likely to have larger class sizes, be unable to pay better teachers, and be stuck with just the three Rs and rote teaching-to-the-test.

On the other hand, just because you put a dumb kid next to a smart kid doesn't mean it will rub off on him/her.
Yes, but we're talking about only one district here, the Renton school district. There is disparity within the one district that has to do with demographics of the student population, not funding, class sizes or teacher pay.
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Old 01-08-2015, 08:26 PM
 
Location: Independent Republic of Ballard
8,061 posts, read 8,282,617 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NCDavid View Post
Yes, but we're talking about only one district here, the Renton school district. There is disparity within the one district that has to do with demographics of the student population, not funding, class sizes or teacher pay.
Well, the poorer performing schools are more likely due to having more poor, single-parent, and/or ESL students. A case of the students dragging down the schools, rather than the schools dragging down the students.

Poor districts get hit with a double whammy - poorer demographics and a lower tax base to fund the schools. Rich districts have a double advantage. If the state legislature will pony up to pay for basic education, instead of making excuses, that differential will be less.
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Old 01-08-2015, 11:17 PM
 
318 posts, read 625,306 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey View Post
Well, the poorer performing schools are more likely due to having more poor, single-parent, and/or ESL students. A case of the students dragging down the schools, rather than the schools dragging down the students.
Yep, what I said several posts ago.
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Old 01-08-2015, 11:52 PM
 
9,618 posts, read 27,228,180 times
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"On the other hand, just because you put a dumb kid next to a smart kid doesn't mean it will rub off on him/her."
That's a great line. It doesn't mean that it'll rub off, but if you put 25 dumb kids next to the one smart kid, most of the teaching and energy will be devoted to the dumb kids.
But a lot of parents think that their child should only be surrounded by other smart kids(even if their kid isn't particularly smart).
I guess the question is: If you have a smart kid, is going to a 7 rated school going to mean that your kid will have a bad learning experience, or not be able to take advantage of higher learning opportunities, because it's not a 9 or 10 rated school?
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Old 01-09-2015, 04:18 AM
 
Location: PNW
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This is the same argument I use for Federal Way School District. By Test Scores Federal Way Way HS does poorly compare to Thomas Jefferson, difference? TJ has the IB program which attracts alot of Asians and skews the test scores. Most of the Asian student body choices into the school. Well at Federal Way it's 85% free and reduced lunch, with alot of kids in broken homes. The administration has been excellent and teachers care tremendously about building relationships with students. Based off of test scores though few people actually see that. How good a school is is very subjective on what you want for you child.

If you are in active parent whom stays on top of your kids and is involved in there academic success then you should be fine wherever you send them.
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