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Old 05-25-2014, 10:48 AM
 
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Hello!

My family of 4 is relocating to the Chicago area. I'll be working in the South Loop and husband in Lincolnwood with kids in elementary school. I had posted earlier about a house in Mt. Prospect, but we've shifted gears and have found houses in Lisle and Palatine.

Schools are exemplary for both (Fremd district and Naperville North.) Commute for husband would be easier from Palatine. Mine would be about even.

Thoughts about the communities? Youth activities? We're on the fence and could use some biased perspectives from people who know and love these areas!

Thanks!
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Old 05-25-2014, 12:01 PM
 
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The portion of Lisle served by Naperville North is generally a good value. The homes are mostly a little older now but were generally laid out well and have good access to Naperville via Maple/ Chicago Ave, you are convenient to 355, not too far from Lisle Metra, no crazy traffic like on western / souther ends of Naperville. All in all a nice community but Lincolnwood is going to be haul!

The portion of Palatine served by Fremd is arguably not as desirable but if it is more affordable / convenient to work (it would still not be super close...) it probably should be part of the mix.

Why have you crossed Mt. Prospect off your short list? That would likely give a much more tolerable commute to Lincolnwood.

What about Niles or Park Ridge??
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Old 05-25-2014, 04:04 PM
wjj
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chet everett View Post
The portion of Lisle served by Naperville North is generally a good value. The homes are mostly a little older now but were generally laid out well and have good access to Naperville via Maple/ Chicago Ave, you are convenient to 355, not too far from Lisle Metra, no crazy traffic like on western / souther ends of Naperville. All in all a nice community but Lincolnwood is going to be haul!

The portion of Palatine served by Fremd is arguably not as desirable but if it is more affordable / convenient to work (it would still not be super close...) it probably should be part of the mix.

Why have you crossed Mt. Prospect off your short list? That would likely give a much more tolerable commute to Lincolnwood.

What about Niles or Park Ridge??
Wow. I would think that the area of Palatine served by Fremd would be quite a bit more desireable than Lisle. Top rated high school, less than 10 minutes from the Woodfield area, 10 minutes max from the Arlington Park UP Northwest station with its express trains to downtown (and ample parking), minutes from Route 53 to connect to I90, I290, I355,and a real estate market more stable than most in the area. Housing prices have mostly recovered in that area so it may be more costly for a home there vs Lisle. The commute to Lincolnwood would not be that easy from South Palatine but it is far, far better than trying to commute there from Lisle. That would be a nightmare.

You would get far more house for the money in south Palatine than Park Ridge. And a much better high school.
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Old 05-25-2014, 05:02 PM
 
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Thanks to you both! Believe me...we've spent three visits looking everywhere....Park Ridge, Downers, Naperville, Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Mount Prospect, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Lisle, Palatine, Glenview, Deerfield. It's tricky since I need to get downtown and my husband needs to get to Lincolnwood. And we have a elementary school-aged children.

We decided as our main parameter that schools needed to be exemplary, closely followed by commuting and then as much bang for our buck for housing. We soon realized we couldn't have it all. We like to get involved in our community and neighborhood.

We have friends in Downers; we have family in Gurnee and the Rockford area. So, when we stumbled on Palatine and found a place in the Fremd district, we thought it was worth a strong look. I just worry that the Lisle-Lincolnwood commute would be a back breaker...on all of us.

Appreciate the insight!
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Old 05-25-2014, 05:58 PM
 
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Reality check to the poster that believe Fremd is some top tier school:

William Fremd High School in PALATINE, IL | Best High Schools | US News


For perspective look at Hersey or Prospect--
John Hersey High School in ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL | Best High Schools | US News

Prospect High School in MT PROSPECT, IL | Best High Schools | US News
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Old 05-25-2014, 06:58 PM
wjj
 
950 posts, read 1,349,341 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chet everett View Post
Hmmmmm......the Herald did its ratings this spring and Fremd was rated #5 in the burbs and ahead of both Prospect and Hersey. Stevenson and Libertyville were rated 1 and 2 and were well ahead of the rest of the pack. Naperville North finished 6 just behind Fremd.

Every one of these rankings will have different results. They are all biased in one way or another, and some of those biases, especially in national rankings, have no relevance when applied to local environments. All the schools mentioned above are excellent.

Last edited by wjj; 05-25-2014 at 07:30 PM..
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Old 05-25-2014, 08:46 PM
 
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US News uses a very well respected methodology that heavily weights objective measures that are applicable indicators of post high school sucess. By relying on the success and total number of students that take AP tests this removes much of the variability that otherwise results in lopsided / subjective rankings -- http://www.usnews.com/education/best...hools-rankings

In contrast the Daily Herald basically reslices data from the state mandated tests, I found nothing from the dailyhearld.com site that supports any such rankings that shows Fremd above schools in the general target area.


In a general sense while I don't think it is big deal to choose any good high school it is utterly false to say that all rankings have biases and it is patently absurd to suggest that national rankings "have no relevance when applied to local environments." Further it is ridiculous to say that all the schools mentioned are "excellent" -- some are clearly producing much better results than others.

Last edited by chet everett; 05-25-2014 at 09:10 PM..
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Old 05-25-2014, 09:33 PM
wjj
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chet everett View Post
US News uses a very well respected methodology that heavily weights objective measures that are applicable indicators of post high school sucess. By relying on the success and total number of students that take AP tests this removes much of the variability that otherwise results in lopsided / subjective rankings -- How U.S. News Calculated the 2014 Best High Schools Rankings - US News

In contrast the Daily Herald basically reslices data from the state mandated tests,
US News uses many subjective criteria. Number of students taking an AP test tells you nothing. How many got 5s? That would be more relevant. Plus all the weightings based on performance of disadvantaged students does not mean much in many suburban schools.

When you look at purely objective test scores, you can see how students are really performing without any thumbs on the scale, and US News has some pretty big thumbs. Add to that graduation rate and you get a good indication of what to expect at a school. Completely subjective data. The Herald used 6 different criteria based on ACT testing, all indicating the percentage of students who exceeded national averages in each section of the test and composite. The only consistency was Stevenson ranked #1 in all 6 categories, Libertyville ranked #2 in all 6 categories and Nequa Valley was third in all 6 categories. After that, there was a good deal of diversity in results. Fremd was number 4 in math and number 5 in science and number 5 in total score. Hersey was 5th in English and math and 9th in total score. Prospect had 1 top 5 finish in reading and was 10th in total score.

Greatschools rates Fremd, Hersey, and Prospect as 10 in test scores. It rates Fremd as a 10 in college preparedness but Prospect and Hersey are rated 9. Fremd graduation rate is higher than either Hersey or Prospect.

Look, all three of those schools are excellent. Are they in the same league as Stevenson or Libertyville? No. But if you talk to people who actually live in the area, you will not find many saying that Fremd is in any way sub standard. You will hear quite the opposite. Just reading the US News criteria from your link one can see all of the places where subjective and irrelevant inputs can skew the results. Fremd is one of the top high school in the northwest suburbs, notwithstanding US News.
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Old 05-26-2014, 05:04 AM
 
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It seems like with the husband working in Lincolnwood, it would be better to stick with North or Northwest suburbs and not look in Lisle. The commute is too hard. Mt. Prospect, Arlington Heights would be doable. I personally think Palatine is too far. I'd look at places like Northbrook, Deerfield, Glenview, etc.
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Old 05-26-2014, 07:51 AM
 
28,455 posts, read 85,055,031 times
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Default Please produce the link from Daily Herald!

Quote:
Originally Posted by wjj View Post
US News uses many subjective criteria. Number of students taking an AP test tells you nothing. How many got 5s? That would be more relevant. Plus all the weightings based on performance of disadvantaged students does not mean much in many suburban schools.

When you look at purely objective test scores, you can see how students are really performing without any thumbs on the scale, and US News has some pretty big thumbs. Add to that graduation rate and you get a good indication of what to expect at a school. Completely subjective data. The Herald used 6 different criteria based on ACT testing, all indicating the percentage of students who exceeded national averages in each section of the test and composite. The only consistency was Stevenson ranked #1 in all 6 categories, Libertyville ranked #2 in all 6 categories and Nequa Valley was third in all 6 categories. After that, there was a good deal of diversity in results. Fremd was number 4 in math and number 5 in science and number 5 in total score. Hersey was 5th in English and math and 9th in total score. Prospect had 1 top 5 finish in reading and was 10th in total score.

Greatschools rates Fremd, Hersey, and Prospect as 10 in test scores. It rates Fremd as a 10 in college preparedness but Prospect and Hersey are rated 9. Fremd graduation rate is higher than either Hersey or Prospect.

Look, all three of those schools are excellent. Are they in the same league as Stevenson or Libertyville? No. But if you talk to people who actually live in the area, you will not find many saying that Fremd is in any way sub standard. You will hear quite the opposite. Just reading the US News criteria from your link one can see all of the places where subjective and irrelevant inputs can skew the results. Fremd is one of the top high school in the northwest suburbs, notwithstanding US News.
I was unable to substantiate any "six categories" that Daily Herald used to rank school after searching their site extensively.

You may also want to look up the definations of objective and subjective as either you do not know what they mean or are being willfully ignorant of the critieria selected by US News. You further are badly mistaken if you beleive that success on the AP tests is subjective. The students that earn a "3" are rated as "qualified", those that score a "5" are "very well qualified". It is precisely why US News uses this as a selection criteria - the Washington Post rankings rely purely on number of students taking the tests and some high schools admit that the will allow an abundance of students to take the test even though they are not well prepared. Those situations skew results far more than using data about how many students have earned credit through the programs...

Even harder to believe is evaluations by parents. Sites that allow any schmoe to either praise or denigrate a schools are frankly not useful at all. Parents rarely if ever have the opportunity to compare the performance of different high schools, even in unusual case of relocation this is typically out of the region so the comparision would with schools in different areas, hardly a fair evaluation, made worse by the likelihood that their children are now in different grades likely learning at non-comparable levels. Frankly sites like that are worse than useless as it promotes a false sense of "uniformly wonderful" schools which is clearly NOT accurate given the abysmal performance of US schools compared to many other countries...


The thing too is that when parents are facing relocation decisions it is flat out foolish NOT to consider the schools most highly regarded. The opportunity to move into an area with higher performing schools in Illinois also means an area that is more affluent and for saavy shoppers that can mean the potential for financial gain that outstrip the rate of residential real estate appreciation. Simply put even the most affordable home in the most desirable area is likely a better financial investment than a nicer home in a less than stellar area.
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