Orlando area? Schools etc (Tampa, Sanford: new home, buy, high school)

[lamigra001]

Ditto

[boy3365]

If all you care about is a state standardized test score, by all means judge a school solely by its Florida DOE grade, whose scoring model has changed nearly EVERY YEAR since its inception.

[RonaldusMagnus]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

True but it's no longer an "A" school, which was the original point.

WP High missed by a minuscule couple points of being an A. It is traditionally an A and with the parent support and neighborhood feeding it will continue as a very good school. Diversity of student body vs some of the Seminole Cty schools brings down the avg some, but they have a very good IB program and a ton of AP participation and parents who are actively involved in their kids education will have zero issue with the school.

I have yet to meet a parent that chooses an entire school "county". The county may be great but the district mediocre or vice versa. You pick the actual school district your kids will go to. All schooling is local. I've met a great many families who for example have sent their kids up from Elementary at Dommerich thru WP High who have been especially pleased with the quality of the education. Any other take is just armchair BS.

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by boy3365

If all you care about is a state standardized test score, by all means judge a school solely by its Florida DOE grade, whose scoring model has changed nearly EVERY YEAR since its inception.

My thoughts exactly. I tend to pay little attention to the school grade. Rather, my choices have had much more to do with seeing the types of parents my children's peers have. This is a very telling aspect that I observe, as I believe it heavily influences the type of kids mine will be around.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by Arcenal352

My thoughts exactly. I tend to pay little attention to the school grade. Rather, my choices have had much more to do with seeing the types of parents my children's peers have. This is a very telling aspect that I observe, as I believe it heavily influences the type of kids mine will be around.

Exactly

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by boy3365

If all you care about is a state standardized test score, by all means judge a school solely by its Florida DOE grade, whose scoring model has changed nearly EVERY YEAR since its inception.

Agreed

[WithDisp]

Originally Posted by boy3365

If all you care about is a state standardized test score, by all means judge a school solely by its Florida DOE grade, whose scoring model has changed nearly EVERY YEAR since its inception.

There are other factors that contribute to a schools DOE grade.

The model does change annually.

Many schools remain an A consistently. Orange schools do not.

[WithDisp]

Originally Posted by RonaldusMagnus

WP High missed by a minuscule couple points of being an A. It is traditionally an A and with the parent support and neighborhood feeding it will continue as a very good school. Diversity of student body vs some of the Seminole Cty schools brings down the avg some, but they have a very good IB program and a ton of AP participation and parents who are actively involved in their kids education will have zero issue with the school.

I have yet to meet a parent that chooses an entire school "county". The county may be great but the district mediocre or vice versa. You pick the actual school district your kids will go to. All schooling is local. I've met a great many families who for example have sent their kids up from Elementary at Dommerich thru WP High who have been especially pleased with the quality of the education. Any other take is just armchair BS.

The County is the District.

Call it armchair BS as you like. One can choose their educational goals as they wish.
The OP called for "A's across the board". That isn't Orange County.

That isn't subjective.
Stanford isn't an Ivy League school. It likely never will be.

[boy3365]

Originally Posted by RonaldusMagnus

WP High missed by a minuscule couple points of being an A. It is traditionally an A and with the parent support and neighborhood feeding it will continue as a very good school. Diversity of student body vs some of the Seminole Cty schools brings down the avg some, but they have a very good IB program and a ton of AP participation and parents who are actively involved in their kids education will have zero issue with the school.

I have yet to meet a parent that chooses an entire school "county". The county may be great but the district mediocre or vice versa. You pick the actual school district your kids will go to. All schooling is local. I've met a great many families who for example have sent their kids up from Elementary at Dommerich thru WP High who have been especially pleased with the quality of the education. Any other take is just armchair BS.

Exactly. It's appalling for some to imply that a student sitting in AP/IB classes all day at Orange's more suburban high schools are receiving an inferior education to a Seminole County student or even some private schools because the school as a whole got a B from the state.

Here's the criteria but I'm sure it will be invalid as things will change as usual for the 2017-18 year. http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/pdf/16...Overview17.pdf

Winter Park HS could have lost its A because a subgroup's (free/reduced lunch, the lowest 25% of students, a minority group, English language learners, etc.) scores dropped. Interestingly, the lowest 25% of Winter Park HS or their neighboring middle school or elementary school's students could actually consist of many students who actually got a PASSING score on the state exam. Learning gains also play a critical role in school grades, and it is hard for students who have already scored very well in one year to show learning gains the following year. Those F-to-A "miracle" stories that we hear in the news every other year or so are likely because a majority of the students were struggling and in that year they were able to show significant learning gains on the exam. I'd love to see the data to see if those scores actually maintain those As over the long term.

As far as what to call county and district are concerned, the county is the school district as Florida has a county-based school system. What people are calling "districts" could be better called "feeder chains." The Winter Park HS "feeder chain" would consist of Winter Park HS and the middle and elementary schools whose students eventually go to Winter Park HS.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

True but it's no longer an "A" school, which was the original point.

I think it's more important to look at a trend than a single year here or there. still a solid pick IMO