Comparison between Public ISD high school VS MAGNET TAG dallas ISD (Plano: magnet school, university)

[rav12]

I understand this could be a controversial topic however, just for sake of discussion what’s the comparison between a popular public isd high school (plano/frisco/coppell) VS a nationally ranked magnet school? Is the standard of academics higher at magnet school? My family could be moving to Dallas area soon due to job relocation and have been researching a bit about my options.

[NP78]

Probably best to search some of the previous discussion on here. The one key item to keep in mind is that you can not count on admission to the magnets.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by rav12

I understand this could be a controversial topic however. Just for sake of discussion what’s the comparison between a popular public isd high school (plano/frisco/coppell) VS a nationally ranked magnet school? Is the standard of academics higher at magnet school? My family could be moving to Dallas area soon due to job relocation and have been researching a bit about my options.

Several layers to this onion:

*Red flashing alert......around here ISD boundaries/school attendance zones often do not follow city boundaries.
**My wife and I set unusually high K-12 minimum standards for our kids.
***FWIIW our kids attended private K-12.

1. Keep in mind admittance into any of the top magnets is not assured................move into X public school zone the kiddo(s) are in.
1.1. IMO the only viable and simple hedges per the magnets, keep in mind Dallas county residents/kids are given exceptional admission preference, would be to move into a Woodrow Wilson feeder path or Highland Park/University Park. Or move into a suburban school path that meets your needs and take a flier on an out of county application/admittance into a magnet.

A. WW has improved greatly over the last several years across several objective and subjective metrics. Ten years ago I would not have considered sending my kids there, now I would at least think about it.

B. Highland Park and University Park, if your budget and job locations allow HP and HPISD are worth a look. You could move there and send your kid(s) to say TAG..........that said if I lived in HP or UP I'd send my kids to HP schools almost certainly.

2. Various data bits show that the standard/average of academic pace, rigor and expectation is higher within the top magnets. However, all/nearly all of top area suburban districts do very well with bright and very bright kids. FE over the years Plano West in particular has generated truly impressive even amazing numbers of NMSF kids. Recently and proportionally several other suburban schools have done very well per NMSF as well.

2.1. Barring oddball circumstances and not to go all Hemingway on you - regarding K-12 - it's not so much where a kid goes but what s/he puts into it assuming lots of support at home.

Best of luck!

[TurtleCreek80]

@EDS - Great info as always. Just one correction -> Dallas ISD magnets are for Dallas ISD residents, not Dallas County. So residents of HPISD cannot legally apply to DISD magnets without having a secondary DISD address that is submitted as the student’s residence on their application. For some specialty programs at Booker T, out of district students are accepted if their aren’t enough talented oboe players or sopranos or whatever that year.

99% of out of district magnet students are accepted because they falsify their residence info on their applications. Aka, they’re liars.

[TurtleCreek80]

To the OP, you really cannot compare a big suburban high school with a specialty magnet school. There are about 100 kids per grade at TAG magnet, for example. There are 1300+ kids per grade at Plano’s & Allen’s high schools, 500+ per grade at Friso’s high schools and HPHS and the better Richardson HS’s. DISD magnets will have significantly more economic diversity among classmates and a broader worldview, IMO.

DISD’s magnets have no team sports. You can play through your zoned high school but not with the kids you go to school with. Huge contrast to the huge school spirit at a traditional zoned high school. DISD magnets will also not have the breadth of activities and other ec’s as a traditional high school because the magnet HS’s are specialty focused (Science & Engineering, the Arts, Health Sciences, etc). But for a specific kind of kid, the focus in the magnets is fantastic.

If you are a family that would be considering whatever the most elite academic private schools are where you currently live, then Dallas magnets could be a possible option. Academics & extremely low admission rates are similar to top privates here.


I would recommend visiting the area. I assume you will either be drawn towards the suburbs OR be drawn to in-town living. As EDS said, you’ll want to focus your search in town in the Woodrow Wilson HS zone so that you have a solid public backup option in the likely event that your kids don’t get admitted to the top magnets.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

@EDS - Great info as always. Just one correction -> Dallas ISD magnets are for Dallas ISD residents, not Dallas County. So residents of HPISD cannot legally apply to DISD magnets without having a secondary DISD address that is submitted as the student’s residence on their application. For some specialty programs at Booker T, out of district students are accepted if their aren’t enough talented oboe players or sopranos or whatever that year.

99% of out of district magnet students are accepted because they falsify their residence info on their applications. Aka, they’re liars.

Thank you for the corrections. I've had those errors and omissions in my head for years.

[widespreadfan]

Stay away from anything connected to DISD.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by widespreadfan

Stay away from anything connected to DISD.

And being in Plano, your qualifications to speak about DISD are????

[widespreadfan]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

And being in Plano, your qualifications to speak about DISD are????

We did our homework on DISD before moving to Plano.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by widespreadfan

We did our homework on DISD before moving to Plano.

Obviously not enough homework if you wrote off an entire district with 230 schools...