How is Dana Point? (Huntington Beach, Irvine: how much, hotel, homes)

[missionhome]

Originally Posted by Luv4ThePaws

I was in the GATE (gifted and talented education, which I think goes by AA now?) program and excelled in my classes which prepared me wonderfully for Dana Hills High. I transitioned into honors and AP classes with no problem, although the hardest part for me was losing the friends I made who were zoned for Capo Valley High. That was the only thing that bothered me about going to Marco.

Unfortunately Marco Forester has further been split between three schools now, not just two A new school, San Juan Hills was built to serve most of San Juan Capistrano relieving Dana Hills and Capo Valley, allowing them to focus on Dana Point/Laguna Niguel (Dana Hills) and Mission Viejo (Capo Valley). However San Juan Capistrano finally has their own home high school in the city to be proud of.

Check this google map out to see the current Marco boundaries and where the students within Marco are set to attend for high school.
Marco Forester and Feeder High Schools - Google Maps

[Raelyn28]

If I was forced to go back to OC I would pick Dana Point or San Clemente... Great choices and b e a u t i f u l to be sure... See my pics on the OC pic thread

Originally Posted by ImOuttaHere

gorgeous, if you can afford it...go for it!

[beagledad]

Originally Posted by smellythongs

I'm 19 and I grew up in Orange County. I think it's the best place to raise your kids especially for school. The universities are good but it's mostly middle school or high school that's the best for your kids. I go to school in NY now and it's made a big difference than going to one of the UC's. Anywhere in Orange County is a good place to live you won't have to worry much about schooling, atmosphere, or the environment.

are you nuts? anaheim is orange county and has the worst schools around. Irvine has about the only decent school system around now.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by missionhome

The rest of the city goes to the infamous Marco Forster Middle School in San Juan Capistrano. Unfortunatly, this is the blight of the excellent Capistrano Unified School District. Neighboring city of San Juan is inland and has a large Hispanic population making Marco 55% Hispanic. The test scores are low (at least by south OC standards) and the API is 757. I have friends whose kids went there and they transfered to private schools or other middle schools in the district due to kids having knives and there were frequent fights at school. It is kind of bizarre to have Dana Point students who generally come from high income families go to school in San Juan causing lots of class tensions, but unfortunatly Dana Point doesn't have its own middle school.

The people that I know who live in Dana Point love it, but again they pulled their kids from Marco Forster Middle and then put them back at Dana Hills for high school.

This may explain why I saw a 5BR, 3BA, non-tandem three car garage, built in 1981, on a 6000 sqft lot, 1 mile from the beach sell for $665K ($229/sqft).

33421 STERN WAVE Pl, Dana Point, CA 92629 | MLS# S564237

At first, I was really surprised, a house perfect for a large family, on a cul de sac too, one mile from the beach. Then I looked at the elementary and middle schools (Del Obispo, Great Schools 5/10 and Marco Foster, 7/10). A house like that between Palos Verdes and Santa Monica would sell for double or triple that and it would have really good schools.

[CAVA1990]

Old post but interesting. I'd vote DP over SC. DHHS is far superior to SCHS. Surfing is better too (Salt Creek).

[Charles]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

DHHS is far superior to SCHS.

Just from objective metrics on Great Schools, these two high schools look identical, with one exception; Dana Hills looks a bit better in the Math category at 70 versus 42 percent on 10th grade CST.

(I wish City Data had a means to present tabular data.)


School Dana Hills High School San Clemente High School

Great Schools Rating 9 9
API 839 828
White 71% 72%
Asian 4% 2%
Hisp 18% 19%

Math 70% 42%

English 66% 62%
High_math 89% 89%
High_Eng --- ---
Size --- 31
Cred 96% 99%
Experience 15 15
Lunch 12% 14%
ESL 7% 8%
Black <1% 2%
Indian <1% <1%
Filipino 1% <1%
Islan <1% <1%
Mix 4% 3%

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Charles

Just from objective metrics on Great Schools, these two high schools look identical,

Yeah, but I went to DHHS. Gotta be true to your school.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Old post but interesting. I'd vote DP over SC. DHHS is far superior to SCHS.

You say that because you're a former Dolphin.

[CAVA1990]

I'll be honest, I was pretty surprised to see my alma mater and yours rated as 9 out of 10 on that great schools site. Things must have changed dramatically since I was there or perhaps I'm underappreciating my high school education.

[Fontucky]

A lot has changed since those days. For one thing, they're a hell of a lot more demanding academically now, compared to when we went through the system.