Naperville vs. Northshore Elementary Schools (Chicago, Glenview: new home, school districts, pros and cons)

[chicagodesi]

Hello All!

Long time lurker, first time poster here. My wife and I have 2 kids, daughter is 4 years old and son is 15 months old. We are currently living in Chicago where my daughter is in preschool. I work in downtown Chicago and currently take the CTA to work. We are considering moving out to the suburbs and schools are a very high priority. Since my daughter is in preschool, high school is still 8 years away so we are focused on elementary schools right now.

The 2 areas we have narrowed down our search is Naperville and the North Shore area (Northfield to be more exact). We did a school visit to Avoca West a few week ago and came away very impressed with the enthusiasm, friendliness, and curriculum of the school. The school has a big emphasis on technology and being in IT myself, that's a huge deal. We have not visited any Naperville 203/204 elementary schools yet but wanted to find out from fellow parents their opinions and concerns in the Naperville and North Shore school districts.

For the North Shore area parents, any thoughts or opinions about the transition from Avoca West to Marie Murphy to New Trier and same for Naperville 203/204 schools? Can anyone compare and contrast the pros and cons of each district? Thanks so much everyone for their honest feedback, it'll really help solidify our decision!


p.s. On a side note, we are seeing a lot of houses being listed and sold very quicklyin Naperville vs. Northfield where new homes rarely come on the market. Is it because people love the area and schools and want to stay put?

[4122]

Avoca West and also Murphy have an emphasis on technology. Imo, Murphy is one of my favorite middle schools on the North Shore because it has the same things you described Murphy having. By the way, only a very small portion of Northfield is in the Avoca district. Look at the rest of areas in the district (Glenview and Wilmette). New Trier is highly ranked but it's very large which means kids can easily get lost through the cracks academically and it'll be hard for your kids to make teams. However, bigger schools can also mean more resources. Neuqua Valley HS in Naperville is also a big school about the same size as New Trier. However, New Trier and Neuqua Valley both have freshman campuses which is nice because it helps kids adjust to high school better.

Both Naperville 203 and 204 are very good. 203 is ranked better but that doesn't mean it's any better than 204. 204 has a more diverse population which is why the test scores are lower, but it can actually be a plus because your kids will be able to meet different kinds of people and will be more likely to find people they have things in common with. Both districts are well regarded you're fine with pretty much any school except I would avoid Scullen ms, I have heard bad things about it from multiple families.

Deciding which town is better and has better schools honestly depends on the individual family. Both towns have great schools. Personally, I would go with Naperville because it's more diverse than Northfield and is easier to get to other places and it has a great downtown.

[damba]

Northfield is 3 square miles in size (a tiny north shore enclave), while Naperville is almost 40. Which space could absorb more homes? Do the math

cheers

Originally Posted by chicagodesi

p.s. On a side note, we are seeing a lot of houses being listed and sold very quicklyin Naperville vs. Northfield where new homes rarely come on the market. Is it because people love the area and schools and want to stay put?

[chicagodesi]

Thanks for the responses! Are there any elementary schools in Naperville or even Barrington and Hinsdale which have a similar emphasis on technology such as Avoca West and Marie Murphy?

[chet everett]

Really depends on what your goals are for your kids. Increasingly, parents see that too many tech-centric occupations lead not to high paying roles but to easily outsourced and dead-end situations. The best and brightest want their kids to have a shot at higher level opportunities -- Silicon Valley Tech Execs Sending Kids to Tech-free Schools

[chicagodesi]

Well I'd like for the school to not only have emphasis on just technology but be a well rounded school with a great art and music program that really nurtures them and gives them the exposure and individual attention. We did a school visit to Avoca recently and came away very impressed so for us, Avoca West is like a measuring stick for other schools.

[almost3am]

I'm in 204 and am happy with my kids education and believe they are in a good learning environment. I have no idea how advanced the school my kids school is with technology relative to other schools, I only know my experience. My elementary school kids use laptops at home to complete and submit some of their homework and some of it is paper based. The kids sometimes use technology personally in school, but the teachers use smart boards in class. It is definitely a mix of electronic and traditional learning tools...chalk board, papers, etc. It's not like the kids use iPods to do school work in school...

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by chicagodesi

Well I'd like for the school to not only have emphasis on just technology but be a well rounded school with a great art and music program that really nurtures them and gives them the exposure and individual attention. We did a school visit to Avoca recently and came away very impressed so for us, Avoca West is like a measuring stick for other schools.

My point was that many affluent parents are far more comfortable seeing their local public schools follow the lead of traditional curricular efforts of private schools. I agree that Avoca does a nice job of including many interesting methods into their offerings, but if they were cutting art, music and traditional instruction that would be a mistake.

Even private schools serving executives in Silicon Valley put more emphasis on art, music, and traditional methods of teachings literature, drama, mathematics and hands-on direct exploration of the sciences than on a more "gadget oriented" technology focus. I have personally admonished neighbors in my home district of D181 not to push the schools toward excessive technology immersion -- kids that want to take enrichment classes online in programming or specific tech paths are welcome to, but the core instruction of more traditional subjects is something that really pays off longer term...

[chicagodesi]

Originally Posted by chet everett

My point was that many affluent parents are far more comfortable seeing their local public schools follow the lead of traditional curricular efforts of private schools. I agree that Avoca does a nice job of including many interesting methods into their offerings, but if they were cutting art, music and traditional instruction that would be a mistake.

Even private schools serving executives in Silicon Valley put more emphasis on art, music, and traditional methods of teachings literature, drama, mathematics and hands-on direct exploration of the sciences than on a more "gadget oriented" technology focus. I have personally admonished neighbors in my home district of D181 not to push the schools toward excessive technology immersion -- kids that want to take enrichment classes online in programming or specific tech paths are welcome to, but the core instruction of more traditional subjects is something that really pays off longer term...

Chet, I wholeheartedly agree! I believe it's the parents job to try to give their kids the best education opportunity and the rest is luck/destiny as to what happens in the future. I at least want to feel good as a parent that we tried to give our kids the best possible chance to succeed.

[4122]

Originally Posted by chicagodesi

Thanks for the responses! Are there any elementary schools in Naperville or even Barrington and Hinsdale which have a similar emphasis on technology such as Avoca West and Marie Murphy?

Barrington 220 has an emphasis on technology too. Each middle student gets an iPad and high school students get MacBooks.