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Old 07-25-2011, 01:22 PM
 
100 posts, read 438,547 times
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Currently researching schools for my four year old and have read other comments about weak academics at Lakehill. But, according to the school's website:

"Four students earned the AP Scholar with Distinction, one student earned AP Scholar with Honor, and five students earned AP Scholar Awards. One student was honored as a National Merit Scholarship winner. Two students were National Merit Scholarship Finalists, one student was a National Achievement Scholarship winner, one student was a National Hispanic Scholar, two students were National Merit Commended Scholars, and three students were National Achievement Outstanding Participants."

Not sure how that stacks up percentage-wise with the top tier privates, but seems pretty good for a senior class of only 32 kids. Am I missing something?
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Old 07-25-2011, 01:25 PM
 
Location: Dallas, TX
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Something to keep in mind is that Lakehill, as a second-tier private school, is going to be motivated to keep you and your tuition dollars at Lakehill as long as possible. That means they might not be as supportive (in terms of recommendations and the like) as you would need them to be to gain admission to a top-tier school in an off-year (not 1st, 5th, or 9th).
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Old 07-25-2011, 01:32 PM
 
Location: Dallas, TX
2,346 posts, read 6,901,895 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by autyger View Post
Currently researching schools for my four year old and have read other comments about weak academics at Lakehill. But, according to the school's website:

"Four students earned the AP Scholar with Distinction, one student earned AP Scholar with Honor, and five students earned AP Scholar Awards. One student was honored as a National Merit Scholarship winner. Two students were National Merit Scholarship Finalists, one student was a National Achievement Scholarship winner, one student was a National Hispanic Scholar, two students were National Merit Commended Scholars, and three students were National Achievement Outstanding Participants."

Not sure how that stacks up percentage-wise with the top tier privates, but seems pretty good for a senior class of only 32 kids. Am I missing something?
Lakehill bleeds enrollment as they get older, probably as the kids gain admission to better schools. There's a reason the 12th grade class size is a lot less than the lower grades.

Those AP awards mean that the kids passed 5, 4, and 3 AP tests, respectively. Viewed another way, 22 of the 32 seniors at Lakehill weren't able to pass even 3 AP tests. That doesn't bode well for elite college admissions.
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Old 07-25-2011, 01:36 PM
 
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Yup. That is definitely something we have in mind.

There were several posts here that referred to Lakehill as a place that people sometimes used as a "springboard" to other schools. I wondered how the schools handle those issues. I know that where we live, it can often be problematic when people want to switch from one private to another. Does anyone have experience with this?

Just to clarify, we will apply for 1st grade in Fall of 2012 (son has a very late July birthday). We would ideally have put him in a Primer program this year. However, we cannot seem to find a spot in one given the timing of our move (which unfortunately could not be helped).

EDS, thanks for the suggestion, but we are looking for a non-religious school. I realize that limits our options even more.
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Old 07-25-2011, 01:44 PM
 
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Do you have a specific issue/concern with Stonewall? Stonewall and Lakewood are among the best, if not THE best, elementaries in DISD while Lakehill is considered a pretty mediocre private. I don't understand throwing the money away.
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Old 07-25-2011, 01:54 PM
 
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I don't have a particular concern about Stonewall. I don't know much about it though (other than it's exemplary) and haven't been able to visit. Long-term, we want him in a smaller classroom and we would really like for him to have an extra year, since he is so young for his grade. But we certainly don't want to throw our money away for a school that is only so-so.

The responses to this post have been pretty clearly against Lakehill across the board. But I'm just trying to get as much feedback as possible, since I can't explore these options in person.

Are there any parents out there with kids at Stonewall? I would love to hear from someone with first hand experience.
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Old 07-25-2011, 02:19 PM
 
13,194 posts, read 28,154,575 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by autyger View Post
"Four students earned the AP Scholar with Distinction, one student earned AP Scholar with Honor, and five students earned AP Scholar Awards. One student was honored as a National Merit Scholarship winner. Two students were National Merit Scholarship Finalists, one student was a National Achievement Scholarship winner, one student was a National Hispanic Scholar, two students were National Merit Commended Scholars, and three students were National Achievement Outstanding Participants."

Not sure how that stacks up percentage-wise with the top tier privates, but seems pretty good for a senior class of only 32 kids. Am I missing something?
Yes, your "missing" just how outstanding the studens at elite private schools in Dallas are. Here is how the best of those schools stack up against Lakehill:

St Mark's School of Texas (boys)
Can't find this year's finalists on their website but the 2010 class had 22 National Merit Finalists in a class of 92 (24%). In 2010, 35 additional boys were National Merit Commendees (38%). Total of 62% of class was National Merit.

Additionally, this year 1 boy was named US Presidential Scholar (out of 141 in the entire US, 3,000 applicants out of 3,000,000 graduating seniors).

Hockaday School (girls)
Class of 2011 had 26 National Merit Commendees (approx 26% of class). Could not find number of Finalists.
134 Hockaday students (well over half the Jr & Sr classes) were named AP Scholars. Five were named National AP Scholars (scoring 4+ on 8+ exams). 54 (27% of jr & sr classes) were AP Scholar w/ Distinction.

Class of 2010 had 16 National Merit Finalists (approx 16% of class), 21 additional National Merit Commendees (an additional 21% of class for total of 37% of class with National Merit recognition), 2 National Achievement Finalists, 2 National Achievement scholars, etc.


So yes, for Lakehill to only have 6% (2 of 32 students) make National Merit finalists and 6% AP scholar with distinction (4 of 64 students, assuming for all schools that juniors & seniors are included in the awards).....it doesn't stack up very well next to the elite schools like Hockaday & St Mark's.

FWIW, a great public school like Flower Mound (4.4% of class as National Merit SF- 34 students), Highland Park (3.3% - 16 students), or Plano (3.0% - 39 students) is going to get you comprable student results and save you $25k per year in tuition.
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Old 07-25-2011, 02:36 PM
 
13,194 posts, read 28,154,575 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by autyger View Post
"Four students earned the AP Scholar with Distinction, one student earned AP Scholar with Honor, and five students earned AP Scholar Awards.
Here is the definition for each of these awards:

AP Scholar- students score a 3 (which equates to a "passing" grade or a college-level "C") on 3+ AP exams. So 16% of Lakehill's seniors (unless the article specifically says SENIORS, they are probably including ALL Lakehill AP students, which would mean 8% of juniors & seniors) can pass 3 college level courses.

AP Scholar w Honor- students score a 3+ on 4+ exams and have an average of 3.25. So that's making 3 C's and 1 B on college-level material. An additional 3% of Lakehill seniors (or 1.5% of juniors & seniors, depending on what the article was rating- ALL students or seniors) can make mostly C's and 1 B.

AP Scholar with Distinction- now we're kind of getting somewhere. These students score a 3 or higher on 5 AP courses (basically, a 15 hour full-time college load) with an average of 3.5. Half B's and half C's. An additional 13% of Lakehill seniors (or 6.5% of juniors & Seniors) earned this distinction.

Add that all together and you'll find that a cumulative 32% of the senior class (or possibly only 16% if both jr & sr students are being recognized in the article you read), can handle and pass a partial or full college courseload.

I didn't see you mention any of the truly outstanding award winners, the National AP Scholar (4's on 8+ exams, with an average score of 4.0+).

So to compare to Hockaday where 61% of junior & senior class earned AP Scholar (basic level) distinction. 54 were AP scholars w/ Distinction (25%). And 5 (2%) were named National AP Scholars - scoring 4+ on 8+ exams. Wow! That's a total of 88% of the Hockaday upperclassmen handling & passing a partial or full-time college courseload.

And therein lies the academic difference between Lakehill & Hockaday. FWIW, St Mark's doesn't even list the AP scholars on it's website.
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Old 07-25-2011, 02:48 PM
 
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I would go with Stonewall. I admit that I am biased against Lakehill as I was there when it started and it was set up with naked bigotry. I will say it does have some minority students these days. I guess it serves a purpose for some people but in my opinion it adds nothing to the neighborhood. It serves to separate friends in my experience. Some people may vehemently disagree with me but I've been around for all of its forty-year history and have lived across the street.

I think that you will really like Stonewall and that you may reconsider your future plans after experiencing it firsthand. By the time your child reaches the end of 5th grade the secondary IB programs should be fully established and you will have an excellent choice should you decide to go that route.
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Old 07-25-2011, 04:36 PM
 
100 posts, read 438,547 times
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TurtleCreek80: I was just quoting from the website, not trying to defend Lakehill. It's one of the schools we're looking at, but that's the extent of my connection. There are many private schools in Dallas, but very few seem to elicit the negative responses on this forum that Lakehill does. Guess I'm just trying to understand the animosity.
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