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They do a far and away better job of being situated in an area where more kids are from families of greater means.
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Greater means than Copperleaf? Toscana? The Reserve? Preston Village? Prestonwood Country Club? I won't even go into certain areas of ITB and North Raleigh. None of the aforementioned are zoned for DDE.
Greater means than Copperleaf? Toscana? The Reserve? Preston Village? Prestonwood Country Club? I won't even go into certain areas of ITB and North Raleigh. None of the aforementioned are zoned for DDE.
Of course not. I'm suggesting that DDE shares a perfect storm of means plus not many kids being shipped in from other areas where people tend to be of more limited means.
I really don't think that DDE has some sort of exceptional teachers that other schools elsewhere in Cary or any other place in Wake County lack.
Most of the schools that those other neighborhoods are assigned to just happen to also have more kids bused in who are of a lower SES, and those kids tend to score lower on standardized tests. This does NOT mean that kids from a lower SES aren't intelligent children. It just means that, in general, the kids from neighborhoods assigned to DDE are of relatively solid economic means plus parents who have college degrees (with a higher proportion of them with advanced degrees) and there are fewer kids of lower socioeconomic status. Which, generally, equals higher test scores.
This makes it an ideal area to see high performance in Wake County. That's all. I'm sure it's a fine school. No doubt about it. I'm just not at all convinced that smart, capable kids cannot flourish at pretty much any other school in the county.
I used to be a certified K-6 instructor and my undergrad degree is in psychology, with studies in child development and testing. I'm also studying developmental psych for my current master's program. This semester, in fact. I'm not an expert, but I have spent time very recently talking with experts about this subject in general. I guess I've been talking about this phenomenon at lot lately. Sorry for the rambling.
That said... If the OP wants DDE, she should go for it. It's a great school. I just think that if her kids are from the type of household/financial status I'd imagine they are, they'll do fine anywhere in Cary or Morrisville, and she can move closer to work if she likes.
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But if the OP wants to limit her options based on a misguided assumption that Cary schools are so far superior that it makes sense to limit housing choices, go right ahead. This is exactly the sort of insanity that makes Cary so disproportionately expensive for our area.
Silly me. And here I thought the OP's reasoning went like this... "I will be working in Cary. I should find a place near work (Cary). I have a child, so schools are important to me. I will look up schools in Cary and see what I find. Oh look - Davis Drive ES has great scores and feeds into a middle school that has the best scores in the state and a high school that is also highly rated in the state. I shall look for housing that is assigned to Davis Drive ES." Occam's Razor, y'all.
How anyone jumped to the conclusion that the OP feels that "Cary schools are so far superior" or that people want "bragging rights" is beyond me, and says more about the folks posting those sentiments than anything.
Having said that... yes, my eyes did roll back in my head a bit when I read that the OP has narrowed in on *that* elementary school, guessing that the decision was driven primarily by test scores. OP -- you could easily widen your search to any elementary school in the area. They're all good. Overcrowded, and sometimes capped. But good nonetheless.
I keep hearing that we shouldn't look for a house based on the school because there's no guarantee that you'll even get to go to that school. We've been told this is true for all of wake county. Does this not pertain to DDE? Is it just certain areas and not all of Wake?
I keep hearing that we shouldn't look for a house based on the school because there's no guarantee that you'll even get to go to that school. We've been told this is true for all of wake county. Does this not pertain to DDE? Is it just certain areas and not all of Wake?
It's all of Wake.
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Silly me. And here I thought the OP's reasoning went like this... "I will be working in Cary. I should find a place near work (Cary). I have a child, so schools are important to me. I will look up schools in Cary and see what I find. Oh look - Davis Drive ES has great scores and feeds into a middle school that has the best scores in the state and a high school that is also highly rated in the state. I shall look for housing that is assigned to Davis Drive ES." Occam's Razor, y'all.
How anyone jumped to the conclusion that the OP feels that "Cary schools are so far superior" or that people want "bragging rights" is beyond me, and says more about the folks posting those sentiments than anything.
Having said that... yes, my eyes did roll back in my head a bit when I read that the OP has narrowed in on *that* elementary school, guessing that the decision was driven primarily by test scores. OP -- you could easily widen your search to any elementary school in the area. They're all good. Overcrowded, and sometimes capped. But good nonetheless.
Yeah. I read it the same way. I can see why the OP honed in on DDE. She likely knows very little about the area and wants to try to make sure her child goes to the best school (on paper) that she can find.
Me, I'd find the best school that was assigned to an apartment complex I liked that was most convenient to my place of employment.
Since the OP mentioned Centregreen, I'd be checking out the apartments off/near Weston Parkway if I were her.
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MA schools are #1 or 2 in the country. NC schools are more hit or miss. The class sizes are definitely not 16:1 though. I would come and see for yourself.
I don't disagree about the standard of living kids experience affecting their scores. That should go without saying. DDE did not experience any sort of significant drop in scores when they did have kids buses in which stopped 3 years ago.
I agree there are great schools everywhere. DDE was opened by a principal that had extremely high expectations. When she retired the new principal just let the staff keep doing what they know how to do. Schools reflect their management much like a company. I know a lot of people at several western wake schools and despite the county system each school has it's own flavor. There are some highly thought if schools - some even mentioned in this thread - that I would for sure not send my kids to. Beautiful neighborhoods feed into them. I also know a lot of people who work on the inside at DDE and have never heard, even once, any rumblings of dis content. That certainly affects everyday life for the staff and how they do their jobs. Of course that can change on a dime and I am glad we are getting out while the getting is good. But DDE has definitely exceeded my expectations and for more than just data driven reasons.
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