Scarsdale Schools (Yonkers, New Rochelle, Eastchester: work, home, university)

[rubygreta]

Here is an article today on the Eastchester School District.

Eastchester: Technology, collaboration help schools succeed | lohud.com | The Journal News

One of the highlights: Eastchester is part of a small group of districts in the region with a high-achieving student population and relatively low school taxes. The district's average tax bill was $5,237 in 2005-06, while more than 90 percent of students in grades three through 12 passed state exams.

DO NOT JUDGE A DISTRICT SOLELY BY ITS SAT SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jyyanks]

I have to disagree with you about Eastchester being more diverse than Ardsley. I have many friends who live in Eastchester and there are a lot of caucasian families living there. In fact according to city-data, the population of Eastchester is
* White Non-Hispanic (87.7%)
* Hispanic (3.6%)
* Japanese (3.1%)
* Two or more races (1.2%)
* Korean (1.1%)
* Black (0.9%)
* Other race (0.9%)
* Chinese (0.9%)
* Asian Indian (0.9%)

Population of Ardsley
* White Non-Hispanic (80.7%)
* Hispanic (4.3%)
* Asian Indian (3.6%)
* Japanese (2.6%)
* Chinese (2.3%)
* Korean (2.2%)
* Black (1.5%)
* Two or more races (1.3%)
* Other Asian (0.9%)
* Filipino (0.7%)
* Other race (0.7%)

I'd also like to add that Ardsley actually has a "lower income" section off of Secor Rd whose kids go to the district unlike Eastchester, Scarsdale and Edgemont. Not too many people know that.

Eastchester shcools are not bad. The biggest complaint is that the elementary school cannot accomodate all the kids in the area so kids have to go to Waverly for K and 1st grade, transfer in 2nd grade to Anne Hutchinson or Greenvale, tranfer in 6th middle school and then 9th for highschool. May not be a big deal for some but the teacher to student ration in Waverly is higher than in most schools.

[jyyanks]

I re-read your post Ruby and apologize, I saw "diversity" and assumed racial but saw that you said "economic diversity". Please disregard the first part of my post.

I will say that there is economic diversity in Ardsley. While most are fairly middle-class to upper middle class, we do have a development with lower income families and those kids attend Ardsley schools.

[rubygreta]

Originally Posted by jyyanks

I re-read your post Ruby and apologize, I saw "diversity" and assumed racial but saw that you said "economic diversity". Please disregard the first part of my post.

I will say that there is economic diversity in Ardsley. While most are fairly middle-class to upper middle class, we do have a development with lower income families and those kids attend Ardsley schools.

I had no idea about that lower income area.

While Eastchester does not have a lower-income area, it has a bunch of rental buildings, coops and two-family houses. The percentage of families living in single-family homes in Ardsley (and they are generally $500,000 and up) is much higher than in Eastchester.

[westchester]

If You 2 Had To Choose A Community To Live In With A Family Either Eastchester Or Ardsley Which 1 Would You Guys Pick And Why...........just Curious As To Your Opinions............:d

[miriam2]

There's a review of the Eastchester schools on greatschools.com that says: I moved to Eastchester 2 years ago. I was fooled by the high test scores on this site. Eastchester has high test scores in NY standardized tests because they devote their curriculum to the material and skills necessary to do well on these tests that have no effect on the future academic success of student.

Do you think that's an accurate assessment? Does the district consider good test scores a goal in and of themselves, to be deliberately and consciously pursued by spending time on test prep (tailoring format of classwork and/or homework to the format of the tests, spending relatively small amounts of time on writing assignments in years in which the ELA test does not have a written componenet, lessons on test taking strategy, changes in the curriculum in the last few years to track the increase in the number and frequency of standardized tests, etc) or does the district teach to educate and assume that good test scores will be the natural by-product of good education?

[jyyanks]

Weschester - hahaha - both have pros and cons but I would pick Ardsley for a a couple of reasons
1) smaller community
2) great schools without the "snootiness" factor that others schools have
3) close to all major highways (Sprain, Saw Mill, 87)
4) roads are always plowed
5) diverse enough
6) fewer students in the school
7) Riviera Bakery

But I like Eastchester, my husband grew up there and my in-laws are still there. We also have many friends that live there. At one point there was a house for sale next door to my in-laws --- luckily there was also a house for sale in Ardsley. I convinced DH that Ardsley was better
Shopping in Eastchester is better and Lake Isle is definitely a plus.

[etatsunis]

Edgemont is slightly better than Scarsdale, but they are both amazing, top-notch. You can't go wrong.

[Ekulu]

I have heard that Edgemont Schools have better scores than Scarsdale if that is important to you, it is also a smaller school district so if your shildren will do better in a smaller school district then it may be best for you.

However if other things like a community pool and summer camp, extra curricular activities and more options for things like Music, Drama, Art etc are more important to you then Scarsdale may work out better for you than Edgemont. Edgemont residents use Greenburgh Recreation and being a smaller school district offer less extracurricular programs.

[metropolistraffic]

Edgermont. Hands down. One of the best districts in the country.