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Old 07-14-2017, 05:24 PM
 
10,974 posts, read 10,845,304 times
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Jackson HS cluster!

Best up-and-coming district in the city!

Last edited by jsvh; 07-14-2017 at 05:43 PM..
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Old 07-14-2017, 06:11 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jeoff View Post
Where in "Decatur" (City of Decatur is spread out, and has various bottlenecks, Decatur mailing address is even more spread out). What time of day? Compared to which areas?)


My guesses without knowing details--
Best case scenario--There are places in the Parkview zone in which you can get to Church Street and Scott Bvd in as little as 15-20 min during the summer, maybe 5-15 min more during morning rush hour during the school year. (add 5 min more for evening rush hour). The closer in parts of Lakeside might save you 5 minutes, but I don't think most of Lakeside will even do that. I did the commute from Parkview 4 years ago. Of course, the Parkview school zone is pretty spread out--the furthest edge would add 30 min. But, the best Elementary school in the zone probably only adds 5-15 min. But, even what is considered the worst of the Parkview Elementary schools compares well with Laurel Ridge.

Now, parts of Fernbank are practically City of Decatur, around Medlock park, south of the VA, etc. I f you are still considering the Grady area. Candler Park-Lake Claire will be your shortest commute, and that is Mary-Lin Elementary.
Parts of Laurel Ridge are a Deactur mailing address, but I don't know enough about it, to "recommend", only enough to "consider".
Thanks this is super helpful. The more I think about it, I think we'll be happier with a shorter commute.
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Old 07-14-2017, 06:33 PM
 
Location: Kirkwood
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Maynard Jackson Cluster. There are some great charters in that cluster as well, but Jackson's state test scores were above Grady.
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Old 07-14-2017, 06:54 PM
 
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Originally Posted by cqholt View Post
Maynard Jackson Cluster. There are some great charters in that cluster as well, but Jackson's state test scores were above Grady.
I've seen a few posts regarding a turn around and improvements in the cluster but wasn't sure if it was worth considering right now for elementary.
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Old 07-14-2017, 07:13 PM
 
Location: Kirkwood
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Originally Posted by liback2queens View Post
I've seen a few posts regarding a turn around and improvements in the cluster but wasn't sure if it was worth considering right now for elementary.
Parkside, Toomer, and Burgess Peterson are great ES.
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Old 07-14-2017, 10:57 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by liback2queens View Post
Thanks this is super helpful. The more I think about it, I think we'll be happier with a shorter commute.
Yeah, that's the direction we went. No matter where you look (even the places with up-and coming schools) under 500K just doesn't get you much in a detached single family homes close to Decatur. There is a tiny bit in City of Decatur Schools, a tiny bit in Candler Park-Lake Claire (Mary-Lin Elementary), a little bit more in parts of the Fernbank Elementary area. Those are the top schools in the Decatur area.

Kirkwood (Toomer Elementary) is the closest to Decatur of the "up-and-coming" schools--but, the amount you save on housing there isn't really that much anymore (but, that does tell you how much momentum the area has). Whatever your view of, the schools CQ mentioned (great, good-enough, or just no there yet), I don't think anyone would argue that they aren't improving, or they won't continue to improve.

Opening up to town homes would expand your options a bit. But even the new "Luxury" townhomes in Edgewood near the MARTA line are *starting* in the 500s--I am sure they are nice, but wow, 3 years ago I wouldn't have paid that for a townhome in an area with a very highly rated school.
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Old 07-15-2017, 05:48 AM
 
2,074 posts, read 1,345,422 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cqholt View Post
Maynard Jackson Cluster. There are some great charters in that cluster as well, but Jackson's state test scores were above Grady.
Haven't you repeatedly told us on here test scores are not what to look for when judging a school? Why the sudden change?
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Old 07-15-2017, 09:33 PM
bu2
 
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Originally Posted by ronricks View Post
Haven't you repeatedly told us on here test scores are not what to look for when judging a school? Why the sudden change?
Maybe he got some bad information. Based on GreatSchools, Jackson isn't anywhere close to Grady on test scores. And I think GreatSchools is probably right.

To the OP: Some of them may be personally choosing those schools in the Jackson cluster. But I would never, ever consider any of those schools. There is no doubt they are improving, but 2 times .00000001 is still a very small number. They may become twice as good, but that's still not good enough.
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Old 07-15-2017, 10:25 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bu2 View Post
Maybe he got some bad information. Based on GreatSchools, Jackson isn't anywhere close to Grady on test scores. And I think GreatSchools is probably right.

To the OP: Some of them may be personally choosing those schools in the Jackson cluster. But I would never, ever consider any of those schools. There is no doubt they are improving, but 2 times .00000001 is still a very small number. They may become twice as good, but that's still not good enough.
"GreatSchools" and going by ratings alone is severely flawed. Even so, "GreatSchools" rates MJH a 4 and Grady a 6. Doesn't sounds like a big gap especially considering the pace of improvement happening in the district. It "doubling", as you suggest, to an 8 and surpassing Grady is entirely possible.
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Old 07-16-2017, 12:18 AM
 
2,411 posts, read 2,773,969 times
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Originally Posted by jsvh View Post
"GreatSchools" and going by ratings alone is severely flawed. Even so, "GreatSchools" rates MJH a 4 and Grady a 6. Doesn't sounds like a big gap especially considering the pace of improvement happening in the district. It "doubling", as you suggest, to an 8 and surpassing Grady is entirely possible.
I would guess in OP's timeframe Jackson should be at least a 6 when they need it in 9 years. But, OP needs elementary schools *now*. If I read right, Burgess Meridith and Parkside Elementary's rankings-scores are at least decent right now (is that Ornewood and East Atlanta?), but Toomer's are still trailing, especially considering home prices in Kirkwood now. Some of this has to be the drain of some of the children or more affluent being channeled to local public charters, some of it is probably that testing is probably a trailing indicator--there has to be a batch of affluent parents that will have no choice but to send their kids to Toomer--the charters are full, and mortgages are too high not to send their kids to Toomer, and some of that batch has to be hitting Toomer now, and some of it is that there is probably a significant portion of the student population start school underprepared, and lack resources at home.
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