Dallas Magnet Schools (Richardson, Highlands: transfer to, neighborhood, live)

[pisekar]

We are planning to move Dallas ISD area and we are looking for middle school options for my son. There are multiple magnet middle schools, but it is difficult to find school reviews. We know that Travis and Dealey are good ones, but they are very competitive and space is limited. What are other alternatives? I am looking several school rating websites, they all have different information. For example, demographics on school rating websites is not the same what school website provides. Any thoughts?

[NP78]

Originally Posted by pisekar

We are planning to move Dallas ISD area and we are looking for middle school options for my son. There are multiple magnet middle schools, but it is difficult to find school reviews. We know that Travis and Dealey are good ones, but they are very competitive and space is limited. What are other alternatives? I am looking several school rating websites, they all have different information. For example, demographics on school rating websites is not the same what school website provides. Any thoughts?

That is kind of a challenging time to enter. Solar Boys is going to reach up through 8th but I think this year they will only go through 5th, adding 6th grade next year. Mata Montessori is PK-8th as an alternative to Dealey.

Longfellow is a TAG middle school that performs very well, but I don’t know much about it personally.

I don’t know if you have flexibility on where you live, but a couple of other options to consider are general enrollment areas for either Long/Woodrow in East Dallas or Lake Highlands (Jr. High and High School) which are technically Richardson ISD but still in Dallas. Both have substantial groups of high performing students and are about 50/50 in terms of economically disadvantaged students.

[texstout]

I assume you are talking about magnet admissions for 2022-2023 as admissions have been completed for this upcoming year. (Although for the less competitive schools, I imagine there may be a little wiggle room for this Fall).

DISD has both Magnet and Choice schools at the MS level (in addition to neighborhood schools). Here are some of the best that I am familiar with:

- TAG Schools: Sudie Williams TAG and Travis are the the best well-known and both are 4-8th grade with the hardest academic admissions and competitive. Both will have very little availability for the MS grades (although Travis may open a few additional spots for 6th graders)

-- Montessori -- Dealey is the oldest and most wellknown. K-8 with most admissions in the younger grades. That said, I've heard there are some openings later when kids leave Dealey for Sudie and Travis in 4th and private middle schools in 6th.
Mata Montessori is a new school in East Dallas that may have some MS spots. Harry Stone Montessori Academy and International Baccalaureate World School exists but I don't know anything about it.

Single Sex
-- Irma Rangel is a girls-only 6-12th grade school in Fairpark that is winning a lot of awards
-- Solar Girls is K-8th, but I doubt has much openings in middle school. Solar Boys is newer and will be K-8, but currently is only K-5 this year. Both are good.
-- Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy (Grades 6 – 12) I don't have any info on this school, but my the building seemed nice at a tournament we went to.

Rosemont International Language Preparatory Middle School (Grades 6-8) is in Oak Cliff and has very involved parents (at least in the lower grades)

Choice Schools that I've heard positively of are Ignite, Longfellow and DESA
https://www.dallasisd.org/ignite
https://www.dallasisd.org/desa
https://www.dallasisd.org/longfellow

Fine Arts: W.E. Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy (Grades 6-8)

[skyline122]

Originally Posted by pisekar

We are planning to move Dallas ISD area and we are looking for middle school options for my son. There are multiple magnet middle schools, but it is difficult to find school reviews. We know that Travis and Dealey are good ones, but they are very competitive and space is limited. What are other alternatives? I am looking several school rating websites, they all have different information. For example, demographics on school rating websites is not the same what school website provides. Any thoughts?

Dealey has a few openings in 7th grade, that is when I came in. That is when it transitions from a Montessori to a more traditional middle school with advanced classes. Dallas is relatively limited when it comes to middle schools. There are definitely not as many options as there are for high schools and elementary schools. Most neighborhood middle schools are not that good and have quite a few problems. I went to Dade in 6th grade and had to transfer to Long halfway through the year, and there was still lots of problems.

I would like to suggest DESA and Greiner, both have a lot of magnet high school applicants and advanced classes.