Lakewood's Woodrow Wilson ranked 1159th in the state? (Dallas, Austin: credit, house)

[Bsptpc]

My sister's family is being transferred here by Exxon. She has been looking for a home in Dallas proper. I was doing research for her and was shocked to see the Lakewood based schools so poorly regarded by schooldigger.com

Lakewood's Woodrow Wilson high school is ranked 1159 out of 1464?

Do most families in the Lakewood area go to private schools? If so, should she budget for this given she has three kids ages 4, 7 and 9?

Thanks

[pepper131]

That's interesting. My 8 yr old's school is 2854th of 3907 in the state of TX....personally, I think he does well there. What do you think the rubric is for the ranking?

[loves2read]

never heard of the site before
it the ranking is based on number of responses that is meaningless

[Spree]

You can always check scorecards of DISD schools - click on Elemtary, Middle, or High Schools in the left hand highlighted column:

Schools-General Information: 2007-2008 School Scorecards (http://www.dallasisd.org/scorecards/ - broken link)

Here's Woodrow's: http://www.dallasisd.org/scorecards/pdfcards/022E_WILSON.pdf (broken link)

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Also www.GreatSchools.net (broken link) compares schools within a state.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[Lakewooder]

It's ranked 61st in the state using AP participation:

Texas Schools - Ranking America's High Schools 2011 - The Washington Post

[Lakewooder]

75214:

Students in private schools in grades 9 to 12 (high school): 236
18.5%

Read more: //www.city-data.com/zips/75214.html#ixzz1OXb6fu84

This data is prior to IB candidacy and subsequent accreditation - the incoming freshman class will add over 60 students previously at private school and the sophomore class this year had just under 50 from private schools (not necessarily all from 75214) - source - Dr. Kathy Scherler IB Director

[mSooner]

Bwahaha, I'm sure the OP didn't mean this, but I think the title of this thread should be "Let's get Lakewooder riled up!"

[Lakewooder]

Ah...lol... Woodrow is very hard to explain if you are from outside - it has everything and everybody, that's its strongest point IMO. You have to be willing to let your kids go to school with all types and have faith that it turns them into better people (it does!). I don't know of many upper income "Lakewood kids" who have gotten sidetracked by this over the last 35 years or so.. the worst one we ever had lived in a huge house on the lake (grandparents) and transferred in (or kicked out) from private school - this was in the early 80s. He ended up shooting a drug dealer in Lake Highlands - D Magazine did a story on it - this was my favorite part: "I had to go to Lake Highlands to buy drugs because people in Lakewood talk".

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by Bsptpc

My sister's family is being transferred here by Exxon. She has been looking for a home in Dallas proper. I was doing research for her and was shocked to see the Lakewood based schools so poorly regarded by schooldigger.com

Lakewood's Woodrow Wilson high school is ranked 1159 out of 1464?

Do most families in the Lakewood area go to private schools? If so, should she budget for this given she has three kids ages 4, 7 and 9?

Thanks

There are MANY, MANY more threads on this forum for you to read on the Lakewood schools, but I will just point out that the schooldigger.com rank is based 100% on TAKS scores. There is much more to a high school than TAKS scores!!

Here is how Woodrow Wilson ranks in Dallas & the US based on some other criteria:

Overall SAT Score (math + verbal) = 1012
49th in North Texas out of 108 schools

SAT Score by demographic
White students = 1100 = 20th in North Texas (ahead of white students at Allen HS, every single Frisco HS, every single McKinney HS, Rockwall HS)

Hispanic students = 900 = 87th in North Texas

Black students = 823 = 82nd in North Texas

Newsweek's Best US High Schools (based on % taking & passing Advanced Placement tests)
#588 in the US (ahead of Coppell, Plano Senior, Carroll HS, all of Frisco's HS, Allen HS, and many other North Texas schools that didn't even make the cut at all)

International Baccalaureate - 1 of only 50 high schools in Texas (11 in North Texas) to be selected for the rigorous IB program
International Baccalaureate

College Placement:
This year's valedictorian is off to Duke and the salutatorian is off to Wellesley. Top students routinely get into Ivy, Top 50 univeristies & liberal arts colleges, as well as the elite publics in Texas like UT-Austin.


Each family must make it's own decision. About 20-25% of Lakewood families choose private schools, about the same % as families in Highland Park ISD (top public district in TX) choosing private. The statistics would prove that white, affluent (Lakewood "proper") students at Woodrow do as well or better than their suburban counterparts at Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Coppell, Southlake, etc and that the minority/disadvantaged students struggle more with testing & academics. That is nothing to be scared of and exactly why you have to dig under the covers to learn the different aspects of each school. There's much more to the story than TAKS scores!!!

Here are some parent/ student/ teacher reviews on a better school ratings site called greatschools.com. Again, Woodrow is a 4/10 based on straight numbers & statistics, but the comments tell a different side of the Woodrow story:
Parent Reviews of Woodrow Wilson High School - Dallas, Texas - TX

If you are interested in the elementary schools feeding into Woodrow, here are their greatschools.com profiles:
Lakewood Elementary 9/10 rating:
Lakewood Elementary School - Dallas, Texas - TX - School overview

Stonewall Jackson Elementary 9/10 rating:
Stonewall Jackson Elementary School - Dallas, Texas - TX - School overview