Village of Barrington: Comparing 2 Elementary Schools (Carpentersville, St. Charles: houses, neighborhood, middle school)

[godhand123]

My wife and I are moving back to the northwest suburbs and have decided that Village of Barrington is where we want to be. We've zeroed in on an area just south of the metra station, east of Hough Street. We've looked at a few houses in that area and are liking what we see.

My main question is about elementary schools in the area. We have a toddler and a newborn, so schools are a priority. The neighborhood we're looking at is basically split right down the middle - half goes to Hough Street Elementary, half goes to Grove Avenue Elementary.
According to Great Schools:
Hough Street Elementary : 4/10
Grove Avenue Elementary : 7/10

I spoke to several people in the area who have kids enrolled at GAE and they had lots of positive things to say. I haven't spoken to parents (yet) about HSE, but I'm wondering why the difference is so big, at least with Great Schools ratings. How can I find out more about if Hough Street Elementary lacks way behind Grove Avenue Elementary? Is one more well-regarded in the area?

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by godhand123

My wife and I are moving back to the northwest suburbs and have decided that Village of Barrington is where we want to be. We've zeroed in on an area just south of the metra station, east of Hough Street. We've looked at a few houses in that area and are liking what we see.

My main question is about elementary schools in the area. We have a toddler and a newborn, so schools are a priority. The neighborhood we're looking at is basically split right down the middle - half goes to Hough Street Elementary, half goes to Grove Avenue Elementary.
According to Great Schools:
Hough Street Elementary : 4/10
Grove Avenue Elementary : 7/10

I spoke to several people in the area who have kids enrolled at GAE and they had lots of positive things to say. I haven't spoken to parents (yet) about HSE, but I'm wondering why the difference is so big, at least with Great Schools ratings. How can I find out more about if Hough Street Elementary lacks way behind Grove Avenue Elementary? Is one more well-regarded in the area?

Check out the Illinois School Report Card and figure out what the data means to you. This is the data that GreatSchools uses to create their scores/ratings. I doubt most parents know or even care about the GreatSchools ratings. Barrington is an area with reputable public schools. I am not familiar with either school. However, I doubt that there is a significant difference between them—same curriculum, same textbooks as any school in the state, same spending, etc.

[godhand123]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

Check out the Illinois School Report Card and figure out what the data means to you. This is the data that GreatSchools uses to create their scores/ratings. I doubt most parents know or even care about the GreatSchools ratings. Barrington is an area with reputable public schools. I am not familiar with either school. However, I doubt that there is a significant difference between them—same curriculum, same textbooks as any school in the state, same spending, etc.

Thanks I'll check that out. I think people get a lot of visibility of the GreatSchools ratings because zillow/redfin use them for rating schools.

[Pseudonym18123]

Originally Posted by godhand123

My wife and I are moving back to the northwest suburbs and have decided that Village of Barrington is where we want to be. We've zeroed in on an area just south of the metra station, east of Hough Street. We've looked at a few houses in that area and are liking what we see.

My main question is about elementary schools in the area. We have a toddler and a newborn, so schools are a priority. The neighborhood we're looking at is basically split right down the middle - half goes to Hough Street Elementary, half goes to Grove Avenue Elementary.
According to Great Schools:
Hough Street Elementary : 4/10
Grove Avenue Elementary : 7/10

I spoke to several people in the area who have kids enrolled at GAE and they had lots of positive things to say. I haven't spoken to parents (yet) about HSE, but I'm wondering why the difference is so big, at least with Great Schools ratings. How can I find out more about if Hough Street Elementary lacks way behind Grove Avenue Elementary? Is one more well-regarded in the area?

I’m not sure where you got those numbers. I just checked Hough Street Elementary and it’s rated 9/10, with 10/10 for test scores and academics: https://www.greatschools.org/illinoi...entary-School/

Grove Avenue is rated 7/10, but its academics are 10/10. It’s brought down by the horrible “equity” score.

GreatSchools is by no means a reputable website (my last thread was about this)! High schools like Stevenson and Hinsdale Central, which are some of the most reputable in dare I say the country, are also rated a 7/10 because of absolutely ATROCIOUS weighting of equity in scores by GreatSchools. IL HS Report Card is your friend, and I’ll also add my two cents. Barrington schools are excellent no matter how you slice it (maybe not the Carpentersville D220 schools), but Barrington is a great place to raise a family, and GreatSchools shouldn’t dissuade you.

[chicagocpa22]

I live in the Barrington area. Go to the barrington220 website, and click on 'Our District' at the top. On the page that shows up, under 'Resources' there is a link called 'School Profiles.' This is a PDF that has information on all the schools in 220, and even provides eventual SAT scores from kids who have graduated from the various elementary schools. I don't think the differences here are going to make or break your kids future.

[godhand123]

Originally Posted by Pseudonym18123

I’m not sure where you got those numbers. I just checked Hough Street Elementary and it’s rated 9/10, with 10/10 for test scores and academics: https://www.greatschools.org/illinoi...entary-School/

Grove Avenue is rated 7/10, but its academics are 10/10. It’s brought down by the horrible “equity” score.

GreatSchools is by no means a reputable website (my last thread was about this)! High schools like Stevenson and Hinsdale Central, which are some of the most reputable in dare I say the country, are also rated a 7/10 because of absolutely ATROCIOUS weighting of equity in scores by GreatSchools. IL HS Report Card is your friend, and I’ll also add my two cents. Barrington schools are excellent no matter how you slice it (maybe not the Carpentersville D220 schools), but Barrington is a great place to raise a family, and GreatSchools shouldn’t dissuade you.

Thanks for the info - this is really helpful.
Strangely, Zillow and Redfin show different Greatschools ratings than Greatschools shows on their website! Zillow shows Hough Street Elementary as a 4/10, but when I click on their provided link it takes me to GreatSchools website and shows a 9/10. It must have been a very recent change from 4/10 to 9/10 since I have been to the Greatschools website recently when it showed as a 4/10. There are even parent reviews saying "I don't know why this school is rated so low here. It's wonderful", referring to the 4/10 scoring.

Here's an example:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1.../3242375_zpid/

I spot checked other schools in the area and they're similarly rated different on zillow/redfin than Greatschools directly.

It sounds like you're right - checking the report card is the way to go. Ironically it ends up that Hough Street Elementary is the better school.

[Pseudonym18123]

Barrington schools are a pretty safe bet, regardless of what GreatSchools says. And actually, if your kids are of elementary school age, Barbara Rose Elementary could be a good option. My family knows someone who was in the GATE program at Barbara Rose (not sure if it still exists), and he went on to Station Middle School (which is also VERY good, regardless of what GreatSchools says) and Barrington HS. Because of the strong WYSE program there, he was able to get into Princeton and now works as a quant trader at a very prestigious quantitative trading firm in NYC.

The Village of Barrington is nice, but if it’s in your budget, you can also expand to Lake Barrington or South Barrington. If you’re looking in Barrington, I assume that’s because you’re looking in the nice downtown area (which has a few NRHP homes), but if you want a rural sprawl type feel, I’d recommend any of the Barringtons, Tower Lakes, Inverness, Deer Park, and even parts of the Long Grove/Hawthorn Woods/Kildeer area. Keep in mind that the schools are different, but you generally can’t go wrong with the Fremd HS district or the Stevenson HS district either.

[godhand123]

Originally Posted by Pseudonym18123

Barrington schools are a pretty safe bet, regardless of what GreatSchools says. And actually, if your kids are of elementary school age, Barbara Rose Elementary could be a good option. My family knows someone who was in the GATE program at Barbara Rose (not sure if it still exists), and he went on to Station Middle School (which is also VERY good, regardless of what GreatSchools says) and Barrington HS. Because of the strong WYSE program there, he was able to get into Princeton and now works as a quant trader at a very prestigious quantitative trading firm in NYC.

The Village of Barrington is nice, but if it’s in your budget, you can also expand to Lake Barrington or South Barrington. If you’re looking in Barrington, I assume that’s because you’re looking in the nice downtown area (which has a few NRHP homes), but if you want a rural sprawl type feel, I’d recommend any of the Barringtons, Tower Lakes, Inverness, Deer Park, and even parts of the Long Grove/Hawthorn Woods/Kildeer area. Keep in mind that the schools are different, but you generally can’t go wrong with the Fremd HS district or the Stevenson HS district either.

Thanks for the response - that's all good to know. We're looking in the village area because we like being walkable to downtown, metra and elementary school. We also like that the properties are small and tight so there's likely a close community with lots of families and kids.

[Pseudonym18123]

Originally Posted by godhand123

Thanks for the response - that's all good to know. We're looking in the village area because we like being walkable to downtown, metra and elementary school. We also like that the properties are small and tight so there's likely a close community with lots of families and kids.

Makes sense. I know the St. Charles/Geneva also have charming downtowns with close-knit families, but Barrington is also an awesome place to raise a family. I wish you the best of luck with your move.