Atmosphere culture in southlake?

[synchronicity]

Regarding PISD vs. Carroll/Southlake - Plano overall has more diverse demographics (both ethnically and socioeconomically) than Southlake, while the 2011 test metrics for Plano West and Plano Senior are essentially the same as Carroll (numbers jump around year by year, in 2010 Plano West had an 1179 SAT average compared to 1161 for Carroll and 1159 for Plano Sr., for 2011 the numbers were 1157, 1155 and 1156 respectively. In 2011, ACT's were 26.0 for those 2 Planos to 25.7 for Carroll. We're talking de minimis differences here).

THBS, you'd really need to drive to the areas and spend some time at parks and stores and talking to people and such to get a feel for the vibe of each area and see how YOU feel in each place. Plano is a larger 'burb and the schools are much larger, which could be good OR bad, depending. I'm a firm believer that a student who feels happy and "at ease" in their school environment is far more important than, say, a 15 point average SAT difference between campuses.

[padcrasher]

Originally Posted by mom2gurls

Would there be any racial tensions for moving there or "second glances"? Academically...could there be a comparison between PISD and Southlake? Are they both on par academically..just want to know the positives and negatives. Exploring all options.

I would argue they are on par. Carroll has a higher average SAT score, Plano has more National Merit Scholars. It's my belief these stats don't tell you the whole story. Southlake is almost completely devoid of poor students, and Plano's NMS numbers are boosted their Asian population.

[padcrasher]

Originally Posted by synchronicity

Regarding PISD vs. Carroll/Southlake - Plano overall has more diverse demographics (both ethnically and socioeconomically) than Southlake, while the 2011 test metrics for Plano West and Plano Senior are essentially the same as Carroll (numbers jump around year by year, in 2010 Plano West had an 1179 SAT average compared to 1161 for Carroll and 1159 for Plano Sr., for 2011 the numbers were 1157, 1155 and 1156 respectively. In 2011, ACT's were 26.0 for those 2 Planos to 25.7 for Carroll. We're talking de minimis differences here).

THBS, you'd really need to drive to the areas and spend some time at parks and stores and talking to people and such to get a feel for the vibe of each area and see how YOU feel in each place. Plano is a larger 'burb and the schools are much larger, which could be good OR bad, depending. I'm a firm believer that a student who feels happy and "at ease" in their school environment is far more important than, say, a 15 point average SAT difference between campuses.

And then you need to get into percent of students taking the test which also greatly effects the averages.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by padcrasher

And then you need to get into percent of students taking the test which also greatly effects the averages.

Yes, the "participation rate" as I call it was higher in 2011 for Carroll than for those 2 Plano HS, although you can argue the extrent to which it impacts the results. In 2011 Carroll had 87.8% of the student class measured taking the SAT compared to 81% for Plano West, and that year Plano West had an 18 point edge (1179 to 1161) in the SAT. One would have to be much better at math than I and have some decent data for assumptions to guesstimate if the %age difference in participation would offset the difference in score average. Either way, it is worth taking into account.

We've had this discussion before, and I'm not trying to argue that Plano schools are vastly superior (or even superior at all) to Carroll ISD (I'd probably take the Planos over Carroll "all other things being equal", but it's an interesting debate and all other things are never equal). Right now it's looking like we'll wind up in Southlake after all, so I certainly don't have a grudge against Carroll ISD. The point is that the schools are very close in terms of overall academic achievement, with larger differences in the "school experience". Carroll is smaller than the Plano schools (hell, everywhere is smaller than Plano) and is not as diverse. Personally, I like smaller AND more diverse schools, so that splits between the two. Plano has a better track record with NMSF's than Carroll, although both now trail Flower Mound HS IIRC (which I believe has aggressively worked to achieve good results on that metric). Carroll seems to be a bit more into athletics although the Planos aren't exactly lacking in that area either.

For us, it's commute issues and some preferences for housing (larger lot size) that have us favoring Southlake over Plano. Schools are pretty close to a push in terms of "quality". Which simply means that if one is looking at those areas and comparing, "school quality" itself really isn't a deciding factor, but rather personal preference for the nature of the schools as well as other issues regarding commute/community/whatever the heck else.

[padcrasher]

Originally Posted by synchronicity

Yes, the "participation rate" as I call it was higher in 2011 for Carroll than for those 2 Plano HS, although you can argue the extrent to which it impacts the results. In 2011 Carroll had 87.8% of the student class measured taking the SAT compared to 81% for Plano West, and that year Plano West had an 18 point edge (1179 to 1161) in the SAT. One would have to be much better at math than I and have some decent data for assumptions to guesstimate if the %age difference in participation would offset the difference in score average. Either way, it is worth taking into account.

We've had this discussion before, and I'm not trying to argue that Plano schools are vastly superior (or even superior at all) to Carroll ISD (I'd probably take the Planos over Carroll "all other things being equal", but it's an interesting debate and all other things are never equal). Right now it's looking like we'll wind up in Southlake after all, so I certainly don't have a grudge against Carroll ISD. The point is that the schools are very close in terms of overall academic achievement, with larger differences in the "school experience". Carroll is smaller than the Plano schools (hell, everywhere is smaller than Plano) and is not as diverse. Personally, I like smaller AND more diverse schools, so that splits between the two. Plano has a better track record with NMSF's than Carroll, although both now trail Flower Mound HS IIRC (which I believe has aggressively worked to achieve good results on that metric). Carroll seems to be a bit more into athletics although the Planos aren't exactly lacking in that area either.

For us, it's commute issues and some preferences for housing (larger lot size) that have us favoring Southlake over Plano. Schools are pretty close to a push in terms of "quality". Which simply means that if one is looking at those areas and comparing, "school quality" itself really isn't a deciding factor, but rather personal preference for the nature of the schools as well as other issues regarding commute/community/whatever the heck else.

I right there with you. We thought at one time we were going to move to Atlanta. The first thing I did was identify the highest scoring public high schools in the metro area. That just about tells me all I need to know.