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WHAT! Wait a minute!!!
Surely not!
You mean..........
really..........
Garland HS beats 2 of Plano's schools and just barely gets below WP by a hair. And we smoke Frisco, Allen and McKinney. I'm shocked. NOT!
Now what were those other posts over on that other thread about Garland being ghetto and udesirable.
Yes, and even more SHOCKING- white students at Woodrow Wilson HS (Dallas ISD- 1100 SAT) outperform white students at every singe Collin County high school besides Plano ISD (that's you....Allen ISD, McKinney ISD, Frisco ISD, etc).
White students at WT White (DISD's other strong college prep high school) @ 1073 perform equal to Frisco Centennial and McKinney Boyd, and above Frisco Wakeland.
I guess its a matter of perception. Even though my wife, her sister and brother are all grads of GHS, none of them are planning to live in the area and have their kids go there. My father in law has been teaching for over 20 years and is semi retired now, but he substitutes from time to time. His favorite schools to sub at are Sachse and Rowlett, where he feels the kids are the best behaved and are the most willing to learn. He is down on GHS now, the only positive thing about GHS in his opinion is the IB program...and he WILL NOT go anywhere near South Garland HS which apparently now has gangs. Note this is his opinion, since I didnt go to high school here I dont have any thoughts on the matter. But the perception still remains that Rowlett HS and Sachse HS are better...although neither one is on the list of top scores so they too may be in the overrated club...
And neither Rowlett nor Sachse can get even ONE National Merit Semi-Finalist. Yes, they are in the overrated club. I know RHS has issues w/ race relations. I know the principal at SGHS, great guy and has tried to turn that ship around and still trying. My daughter had friends that left Austin Academy that went to RHS, SHS and NFHS. Not many do as most go onto GHS. Those that went to SHS went purely for athletic intentions and have commented how even the AP courses don't stack up to GHS. Those that went to RHS were the ones that were always into causing drama and being in the middle of it. The few that went to NFHS high-tailed it to GHS mid-term. The academic courses, even AP, do not stack up with the AP courses at GHS.
And neither Rowlett nor Sachse can get even ONE National Merit Semi-Finalist. Yes, they are in the overrated club. I know RHS has issues w/ race relations. I know the principal at SGHS, great guy and has tried to turn that ship around and still trying. My daughter had friends that left Austin Academy that went to RHS, SHS and NFHS. Not many do as most go onto GHS. Those that went to SHS went purely for athletic intentions and have commented how even the AP courses don't stack up to GHS. Those that went to RHS were the ones that were always into causing drama and being in the middle of it. The few that went to NFHS high-tailed it to GHS mid-term. The academic courses, even AP, do not stack up with the AP courses at GHS.
And yet, even with all these accomplishments, I wonder just how sustainable Garland will be long term. As we've seen from some posters early on other threads, Garland (and to a lesser extent Richardson) are just not seen as desirable cities to live in, especially by the young, affluent, college educated families out there who are flocking to Frisco, Allen and McKinney. Garland on the other hand seems to attract more poor, non english speakers as the dominant group moving here. And that cannot be a good thing for the city long term. Without the high income earners, the property values will inevitably start to go down as the lower priced houses and apartments become more prevalent. There was a thread where the OP wanted to spend $700K on a house, and as much as I like living in Garland, I could not honestly suggest that the OP spend that much money in Garland. I can't think of too many neighborhoods where you could command that on resale, and no, Firewheel is not THAT expensive.
So I dont know if Garland just needs to do a better job on PR touting the high perfoming schools for example. But as long as the current dynamic of attracting low income folks and losing out on the young educated high income folks, then Garland will soon be another version of Dallas in the future, maybe not quite as violent and poor,but not too far behind, think Irving (south of 183) or Mesquite.
And yet, even with all these accomplishments, I wonder just how sustainable Garland will be long term. As we've seen from some posters early on other threads, Garland (and to a lesser extent Richardson) are just not seen as desirable cities to live in, especially by the young, affluent, college educated families out there who are flocking to Frisco, Allen and McKinney. Garland on the other hand seems to attract more poor, non english speakers as the dominant group moving here. And that cannot be a good thing for the city long term. Without the high income earners, the property values will inevitably start to go down as the lower priced houses and apartments become more prevalent. There was a thread where the OP wanted to spend $700K on a house, and as much as I like living in Garland, I could not honestly suggest that the OP spend that much money in Garland. I can't think of too many neighborhoods where you could command that on resale, and no, Firewheel is not THAT expensive.
So I dont know if Garland just needs to do a better job on PR touting the high perfoming schools for example. But as long as the current dynamic of attracting low income folks and losing out on the young educated high income folks, then Garland will soon be another version of Dallas in the future, maybe not quite as violent and poor,but not too far behind, think Irving (south of 183) or Mesquite.
I don't see that firsthand. And I live here. I see highly paid professionals moving here and liking it and raising their families here. I live around them, my kids go to the schools, I'm interacting with them daily be it thru schools rec or business. The homes being built in the last few years are not attracting the low income or poor. They are on the upper end. Granted, there is not a lot of room left to build in the city but what has been built is not geared to the low income nor even middle income buyers. And there are areas that are $700K and are getting it.
Yes, they do need to do a MUCH BETTER PR job promoting the schools and the success they are having. It's one of the only districts that is not seeing severe budget cuts and having to lay off mass amounts of teachers like Plano did yesterday. Garland is pretty sustainable. It's one of the only cities that business wise is diversified enough to help keep the tax base steady. Even thru the busts of the 80's, 90's, etc the city never suffered like others around did. Our business is here and we do business w/ a lot of area businesses and a lot are relocating here, growing and expanding, etc. I'm not talking dinky little shops either but major employers.
What Garland is not-> Garland is not right for OP.
What Garland is->
-solidly middle class (from lower-middle to upper-middle)
-inner-ring suburb
-home of a variety of commerce (from white collar offices to blue collar factory/plant jobs)
-stable property values (neither going up nor down very fast, making consistently affordable for many people)
-great DART rail access
-nice walkable downtown area with a great community theatre!
-well managed and funded public school system with two unique features for DFW (self-selection of high schools and a TAG immersion program)
Richardson was "eh" for a long time, but the areas south and west of UTD have really heated up in the past 5-10 years as school quality has consistently improved and property values are going up. Those great 1950's neighborhoods with FABULOUS central location (halfway between Dallas & Plano business centers, halfway between 75 & Dallas North Tollroad) have been "discovered" by young families and young professionals priced out of East & North Dallas who don't want the far-out burbs. I know many Richardson ISD graduates who are shocked they moved back to Richardson as adults with families and love it so much since it was kind of going downhill back in the 1990s and the demographics shifted towards the "undesirable" minority/ lower income residents. The pendulum has swung back towards "desirable" in a major way. Property values in prime central Richardson neighborhoods are up 50-100% in the past decade.
So never say never. Garland doesn't have the best location in DFW, but it has a much better location than Allen/ McKinney/ Melissa/ Anna & other burbs and ex-burbs further up the 75 cooridor, should gas hit $5-6/gallon in the next 10-20 years. And it has the DART advantage which those burbs don't have.
That shouldn't have any bearing on how the students test. The SAT is not a school-sanctioned event. It's a nationally adminstered test by The College Board and is available multiple Saturdays each year at dozens of testing locations.
Right, I get that. But when I took the SAT way back in the dark ages, they had classes at the school to help you get prepared. Some schools would even go so far as to teach stuff like analogies (used to be big on the SAT) and other types of things likely to be on the test. I'm wondering if some of these schools have such programs.
What Garland is not-> Garland is not right for OP.
What Garland is->
-solidly middle class (from lower-middle to upper-middle)
-inner-ring suburb
-home of a variety of commerce (from white collar offices to blue collar factory/plant jobs)
-stable property values (neither going up nor down very fast, making consistently affordable for many people)
-great DART rail access
-nice walkable downtown area with a great community theatre!
-well managed and funded public school system with two unique features for DFW (self-selection of high schools and a TAG immersion program)
Richardson was "eh" for a long time, but the areas south and west of UTD have really heated up in the past 5-10 years as school quality has consistently improved and property values are going up. Those great 1950's neighborhoods with FABULOUS central location (halfway between Dallas & Plano business centers, halfway between 75 & Dallas North Tollroad) have been "discovered" by young families and young professionals priced out of East & North Dallas who don't want the far-out burbs. I know many Richardson ISD graduates who are shocked they moved back to Richardson as adults with families and love it so much since it was kind of going downhill back in the 1990s and the demographics shifted towards the "undesirable" minority/ lower income residents. The pendulum has swung back towards "desirable" in a major way. Property values in prime central Richardson neighborhoods are up 50-100% in the past decade.
So never say never. Garland doesn't have the best location in DFW, but it has a much better location than Allen/ McKinney/ Melissa/ Anna & other burbs and ex-burbs further up the 75 cooridor, should gas hit $5-6/gallon in the next 10-20 years. And it has the DART advantage which those burbs don't have.
What else Garland has? Short sighted city leaders for years. We used to joke that Garland was a small town in a bigger cities body. Same 20 or so families on City Council and School Board and the board of the Civic Theater and the Baylor Auxillary, etc. There's no vision.
Actually it reminds me a lot of Dallas. There's some real gems of neighborhoods in Garland, but they are fewer and farther between than they should be. Code enforcement is strong in some areas but not all. There's no sense of what the city can and should be (look at the numerous failed attempts at downtown Garland) and the lack of planning for years has weakened the ability for the city to attract families looking for a great city. The decision to have 3 exits along 635 is something that will never be remedied and will continue to impact south Garland's economics. The long neglected eyesore called Garland Road (the major thoroughfare in town) speaks volumes about the city's drive to keep itself relevant. Yes they do things in fits and starts but in the end it takes 5 times as long to get things moving as it should.
There's a lot I loved about Garland, the parks in particular but there's a reason we moved from there. (although schools were not the issue, ever.)
Right, I get that. But when I took the SAT way back in the dark ages, they had classes at the school to help you get prepared. Some schools would even go so far as to teach stuff like analogies (used to be big on the SAT) and other types of things likely to be on the test. I'm wondering if some of these schools have such programs.
It must have been the dark ages becUse even in the late 1990's, HPHS didn't have any direct SAT prep in the classroom! I don't know of any public high schools inter area that do offer that. Boys & Girls Club offer free SAT tutoring for generally low income students. Prep courses like Princeton Review, Kaplan, and Karen Dillard are widely used by affluent students.
Analogies and basic algebra and writing composition are basic core high school instruction....if Allen/ Frisco/ McKinney scores are low because students aren't learning the basics, that's a much bigger problem than lower test scores.
Also, I stand corrected. I confused OP with the person wanting to spend $700k. Garland could work for OP, depending on where future jobs are located.
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