School District Information Please (Birmingham, Montgomery: 2015, neighborhoods, to live)

[Hsv256]

My 2 cents... if you plan on sending your kids to elite private universities, by all means go w/the local elite private schools. If a state university is more likely, Grissom/Huntsville/Madison County/Madison City will do just fine. A lot of the noise behind HCS' issues are simply unfounded, nosy, parental paranoia.

[RocketDawg]

maillemaker ... I didn't quote you because it's so long ... but I can't find a thing to argue about with what you said.

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by maillemaker;54838127
On a positive note, another thing HCS has tried to do to boost the numbers in their "failing" schools is they have put high-performing "[B

magnate [/b]programs" inside the bad schools. The Academy for Arts and Sciences (AAS), The Academy for Science and Foreign Language (ASFL), The Academy for Gifted and Talented (AGT) are middle-school magnate programs, and New Century Technology and College Academy are high school magnate programs. Many of these are in otherwise less-than-stellar schools.

I believe you mean "magnet."

[Trail]

Preach it maillemaker! This sums up how I feel about the school issue.

[StreetSense]

I exactly agree with mailmaker. Grissom used to be the best. Now if you want to get me the best schools they're in Madison or private.

[MisterEd51]

Originally Posted by StreetSense

I exactly agree with mailmaker. Grissom used to be the best. Now if you want to get me the best schools they're in Madison or private.

If you look at the numbers for Huntsville city schools at the web site listed below the rankings are based on standardized test scores. What stands out is that at least for high schools the lower the free/discount lunch number is the higher the school is ranked. That indicates that better schools have households with higher incomes than lower ranked ones. You can speculate that as lower income students are bused to the better schools that will drag down the rankings of once better schools.

Referring to the numbers below for Huntsville High School and Grissom High School...Did the high reputations of Grissom High School draw so many low income students that it has dragged down its ranking?

Huntsville High School
Rank: 17th of 356
Student/Teacher: 18.9
Free/Discounted Lunch: 24.0%

Grissom High School
Rank: 33rd of 356
Student/Teacher: 19.3
Free/Discounted Lunch: 33.0%

Best Public Schools in Huntsville, AL

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by MisterEd51

If you look at the numbers for Huntsville city schools at the web site listed below the rankings are based on standardized test scores. What stands out is that at least for high schools the lower the free/discount lunch number is the higher the school is ranked. That indicates that better schools have households with higher incomes than lower ranked ones. You can speculate that as lower income students are bused to the better schools that will drag down the rankings of once better schools.

Referring to the numbers below for Huntsville High School and Grissom High School...Did the high reputations of Grissom High School draw so many low income students that it has dragged down its ranking?

Huntsville High School
Rank: 17th of 356
Student/Teacher: 18.9
Free/Discounted Lunch: 24.0%

Grissom High School
Rank: 33rd of 356
Student/Teacher: 19.3
Free/Discounted Lunch: 33.0%

Best Public Schools in Huntsville, AL

It's a bit surprising that some of the "well located" elementary schools are ranked so low yet the high schools are ranked relatively high across the state.

[MisterEd51]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

It's a bit surprising that some of the "well located" elementary schools are ranked so low yet the high schools are ranked relatively high across the state.

The problem with rankings is that they are mostly based on students standard test results. Even then they are only a snapshot in time for that school.

The population of a given part of town changes as the demographics change. Also busing also changes the mix of students at a given school. When you try predict what are the best schools in Huntsville now may be much different 10 to 20 years from now. Some people are mobile enough to move when they think the quality of the schools nearby are below par. Unfortunately most people are not.

I remember the last time they changed the areas zoned for Huntsville schools made some people very unhappy. They were also very vocal about it.

[RocketDawg]

Why doesn't Huntsville build a high school in Hampton Cove? I believe those students now go to Huntsville High, which means a trip over Monte Sano, which can be dicey in the winter and is at best a pain any time of they year. If a new one were to be built, then they could rezone the schools on the west side of Monte Sano to more of a neighborhood concept (if the crazy courts allow).

[MisterEd51]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Why doesn't Huntsville build a high school in Hampton Cove? I believe those students now go to Huntsville High, which means a trip over Monte Sano, which can be dicey in the winter and is at best a pain any time of they year. If a new one were to be built, then they could rezone the schools on the west side of Monte Sano to more of a neighborhood concept (if the crazy courts allow).

Many school zones are very convoluted to comply with court restrictions.You are right in that a new zone for Hampton Cove might be very problematic and might lead to hard feelings on both sides. As an example look how far they had to extend the zone for Providence to comply. Maps for the school zones are shown below.

My School Maps

Elementary School Zones


Middle School Zones


High School Zones