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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 think these things are somewhat easy to predict, though. You should be able to ask around and figure out which school you'll go to as long as your child is going soonish to school. One thing that wasn't obvious to me is that even in some of the capped schools, getting in as a rising K student is possible.
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'm usually one of those posters who abhors how quickly we jump down the throats of prospective transplants for asking all the same questions we once asked. But the OP has committed to Davis Drive as if though it's akin to getting her child into a private school, to the point of considering less than favorable housing; that's not a well balanced approach. That's an "at all costs" sort of mentality which is what I was specifically addressing.
I firmly believe that living in a neighborhood that suits your needs and fits your families personality is far more important than trying to catch lightning in a bottle regarding schools. Things change, administrators retire or transfer to different schools and performance either suffers or benefits, I've seen it happen with my own children - four Principal switches covering three schools in seven years. In all but one situation, academic performance improved noticeably.
One thing differentiating Davis Drive from other schools, I think, is that it's far enough away from any highways that busing kids in is not practical. Davis Drive has one of the lowest Free/Reduced Lunch numbers in the county. I would guess that is one factor among many in why the school scores so well.
If you want to know which schools seem to be the real stars, Willow Springs has the 8th highest scores in the county with 30% free or reduced lunch. Briarcliff ranks 13th in the county with 43% free/reduced. now THAT, to me, is amazing.
One thing differentiating Davis Drive from other schools, I think, is that it's far enough away from any highways that busing kids in is not practical. Davis Drive has one of the lowest Free/Reduced Lunch numbers in the county. I would guess that is one factor among many in why the school scores so well.
If you want to know which schools seem to be the real stars, Willow Springs has the 8th highest scores in the county with 30% free or reduced lunch. Briarcliff ranks 13th in the county with 43% free/reduced. now THAT, to me, is amazing.
This is absolutely right. I'm MUCH more impressed with a school that has decently high scores, free and reduced lunch over 30% and a decent sized ESL population than one with high scores but fewer teaching/resource obstacles.
No one in this thread ever claimed class sizes were 16. The OP referenced a student/teacher ratio of 16:1.
You are right 16:1 is the ratio and the OP seemed please by it. However, I got the impression reading the OP's post that they were not completely happy with their son's class size of 23 with a teacher and TA. I am not sure the OP will be pleased with the 4th and 5th grade class sizes at DDES of 28-30 with a teacher and no TA.
This is absolutely right. I'm MUCH more impressed with a school that has decently high scores, free and reduced lunch over 30% and a decent sized ESL population than one with high scores but fewer teaching/resource obstacles.
My aunt was a TA for years at Briarcliff (kindy) and went to get her sub license, then subbed there for many more years until she'd fully funded her state retirement.
That is a very impressive school when you consider all of the factors.
I agree. I'm far more impressed with a diverse school that is performing well than a homogeneous school with kids of a higher SES that is performing well. The homogeneous one with kids of higher SES really SHOULD be performing at a high level no matter what and if not, we should be asking why.
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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.
You brought up a really important issue that wasn't in the mix before. Leadership.
You take the aforementioned group of kids at DDE and add a solid leadership and that's even more of an explanation as to why DDE is performing so highly in most quantifiable areas.
I think that anyone who was looking to buy and found out that DDE was their base should be encouraged by this, but I think that deliberately moving a kid who sounds like they'd do great at pretty much any school around here into a choice of ONE apartment complex just to get into DDE for 4th or 5th grade seems unnecessary. Would you agree?
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I really appreciate all the replies/suggestions. Thank you very much!
So DDE is good but only Cornerstone feeds into it so I will also consider Green Hope, Morrisville and Weatherstone if I want good choice of apartments as well. Also these are near my work place Centergreen way in Cary. I just came to know my joining will be in January so by then I will figure out and decide.
It's amazing... before 3 weeks I didn't even know I would be relocating to Cary for my new job and now I am all into researching and finding information for this place.
Thank you all but more information is always welcome.
I really appreciate all the replies/suggestions. Thank you very much!
So DDE is good but only Cornerstone feeds into it so I will also consider Green Hope, Morrisville and Weatherstone if I want good choice of apartments as well. Also these are near my work place Centergreen way in Cary. I just came to know my joining will be in January so by then I will figure out and decide.
It's amazing... before 3 weeks I didn't even know I would be relocating to Cary for my new job and now I am all into researching and finding information for this place.
Thank you all but more information is always welcome.
I live very close to Centregreen, shonas... it's a lovely area. I'm sure you'll do great wherever you land around here.
Welcome!
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