Difference Suburbs vs Inner City Schools

[cbg19]

Previously zoned to Bush. Re-zoned to Daily. From Daily took the GT magnet route but wondering how the younger siblings will make it. I don't want to move to the outer suburbs!

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by cbg19

Previously zoned to Bush. Re-zoned to Daily. From Daily took the GT magnet route but wondering how the younger siblings will make it. I don't want to move to the outer suburbs!

AFAIK Daily's fine though it doesn't have as good of a rep as Bush. I would stay put. Anyhow if you want you can investigate Shadowbriar Magnet to see if it's better than Daily, or stay put in Daily if you think it's fine!

A fact about the area: I know the kids of the Japanese community go to Bush and Daily as those are among the schools with the highest enrollments of Japanese kids. ヒューストンについて (from the Japanese Saturday School of Houston)

ヒューストンでは日本人子女が多く通学しているのはヒューストン学校区内が多く、Barbar a Bush、Ray K. Daily Elementary, Robertsに集中しています。 次に多いのがクリア・クリーク学校区のJohn F. Ward,　続いて スプリング・ブランチ学校区のBunker Hill, ケーティ学校区のNottingham Country などです。

... from Google Translate one can tell that it's a list of schools with Japanese students. (AFAIK not a whole lot are Japanese, but these are the schools with the biggest numbers of them)

In Houston, many Japanese children attend school in the Houston School District, which is concentrated in Barbar a Bush, Ray K. Daily Elementary, Roberts. Next is John F. Ward in the Clear Creek School District, followed by Bunker Hill in the Spring Branch School District, Nottingham Country in the Katy School District.

[ipuck]

Originally Posted by Watchful

I am very pro-public school....to a fault...and our son started elementary at a HISD Vanguard elementary in an at-risk neighborhood (many moons ago)!

Still (though it didn't happen in Houston) I would commend this thought-provoking article about the risks of choosing a severely under-performing neighborhood school.

Esther Cepeda: Send your kids to the best school possible | GazetteXtra

I don't know if it is still true but in my years in Houston I noticed many highly involved minority parents found ways to redirect their children to more high performing schools. Minority to majority transfers helped facilitate this.

It is a quandary and the social cost is huge.

I think that pretty much been the standard for a long time in Houston and almost everything in the country where attendance is based on where you live.

Why would anybody with common sense put their kids in a questionable school if there is a choice unless the parent don't know better or don't care about education. You don't need an article or any study to show that.

That is why the charter school do so well in minority areas because most of the time is a lost cause.

[Vicman]

By "questionable" you mean gun/gang violence, right? Magnet schools had drained those schools of the most talented students for quite some time, and the better charter schools (which by nature draw parents motivated enough to apply) do the same thing. There are some charter schools which target academically needy students and they are another ball game.

Neighborhood schools need to gain the ability to "expel" students to a lesser school if they have behavioral issues while also getting the guaranteed student funding and openly doing so (on the basis that the school is doing the right thing and therefore should not be punished). That way charter schools will no longer be necessary.

Think about the tale of "Eulises Estrada" Eulises Estrada

The counselors were already ultra-busy with the plethora of other problem kids and a student who was not ditching school, bringing weapons to class, stealing, threatening or attacking his/her classmates was not going to rate very high on their list of priorities. And what were they going to do with him that they hadn't already done to him anyway? The one (and last) time I sent Eulises to the counseling office the counselor dutifully came to my room and explained that of all his teachers I was the one who had the least problems with him. I knew from the beginning I was going to have to develop some way to peacefully coexist with this student for one semester.

Think about this quote: Los Angeles Unified School District: Inner-City Teacher Blues

You cannot make a student learn - you can only facilitate and encourage the process. In my opinion, achievement in education is mostly about attitude and hard work (and NOT funding or curriculum), and too many students looked at school as little more than temporary incarceration with the opportunity to fraternize with friends during lunch and breaks. Many of these types were gang members and the vast majority would drop out of school before their sophomore year in high school (LAUSD dropout rate is +-40%). These "hardcore" kids perform poorly in the traditional classroom setting and bring in toxic problems from the streets and their lives which can result in a toxic classroom.

Originally Posted by ipuck

I think that pretty much been the standard for a long time in Houston and almost everything in the country where attendance is based on where you live.

Why would anybody with common sense put their kids in a questionable school if there is a choice unless the parent don't know better or don't care about education. You don't need an article or any study to show that.

That is why the charter school do so well in minority areas because most of the time is a lost cause.