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My family will be moving to St. Louis this summer and we are interested in living in University City. The (few) people I know who have had direct experience with the public school system have spoken highly of it, provided you can get your child into the honors program. I looked at the curriculum offered by the high school and it is really impressive, with many AP classes, 2 years of calculus offered, several years of Japanese offered, etc. I'd like some insight into why this school system is or isn't well-regarded by people on this thread. When does the honors track begin? Any information would be appreciated!
Now this is not my first hand expirience this is just what i've heard about U-City High School. "The future for a student at U-City High School is one of two things, Yale or jail."
University City Senoir High School profile: Public/Private: Public Enrollment: 1,041 % of Non-Caucasian Students: 91.7 Average Student ACT Score: 18.7 (ranked 49 out of 65 area public schools)
Well, I kind of feel like I just ruined your hopes so I guess i'll try to help. Even if you don't exactly want to send your kid go to U-City High, you'll be fine, and have MANY other options in free secondary education. For example, Clayton, Ladue, and Metro are just a few examples of the well regarded free "local" high schools that St. Louis has to offer.
Location: And I'm moving, yet again ... KC here I come
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Most families I have known who have the means in U city send their child to one of the well-respected private schools nearby. I also believe it's possible to get your kids into the St. Louis City magnets and charters, but I am unsure of that process.
As mentioned in a recent thread, U City has both extremely upscale areas and much poorer areas. As a result, if you're living in the "good" part of U City the elementary and even middle schools are good, but the high schools is large and encompasses both ends of the U City socioeconomic spectrum, which negatively affects its test scores.
There is this low budget documentary (Growing Up Racial) you can check out at U City Library. It details the discrepancy between the white minority students at U City high and the black majority students. From the likelihood of being placed into accelerated classes, to the market values of their homes, the playing field appears not to be equal for students at U City high. Its worth the 22 minutes if can watch it. Theres a trailer on youtube YouTube - Growing Up Racial (trailer)
We have friends whose daughter used to babysit for us and is at school there. She can probably go Ivy league if she wishes. If you game the system you can do fine there. As a male, I am sure I would have picked up some bad habits there, maybe worse than the bad habits I picked up anyway
Thanks for the suggestion about the documentary -- sounds really interesting. I'm looking forward to checking it out. I am not so concerned about test scores in a big, diverse school like U City High, but I definitely care about the range of courses offered, the quality of the teachers and the learning environment. Safety is also a concern for us. Thank you for your comments.
Well I actually have some more info that might help you: University City Senoir High has 81 full time faculty. 43.5% of their teachers and administrators have advanced degrees. Their student/teacher ratio is 17:1. The four year post-secondary is 55.6%.Their city-data school rating compared to other schools is 8 out of 100. Their incident rate is 8.5% compared to the state average of 2.9%. The student dropout rate is 7.2% compared tothe state average of 4.3%. The italized section I got from St. Louis Magazine High School Edition and the underlined part I got from City-Data school profile.
It appears that the U City elementary/middle schools are pretty good but that the H.S. is not. A poster above mentioned that U City kids in H.S. can attend Clayton or Ladue at no charge. Is this correct?
It appears that the U City elementary/middle schools are pretty good but that the H.S. is not. A poster above mentioned that U City kids in H.S. can attend Clayton or Ladue at no charge. Is this correct?
No charge as in free? Yes, because they're both public and all public schools are free.
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University City public school system
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