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Hello all,
Myself and my family are moving from Katy Texas to Durham area, unfortunately in the bit of trying to find a home that wouldn't cost too much and also be a short commute to work at RTP, I settled on renting a home at a brand new community in durham. I have a five year old who will be starting kindergarten in September, prior to my renting the home, I looked at the school listed on zillow which was decent however some of my colleagues living in the triangle area suggested I look on dps website which revealed the school listed on Zillow was wrong and the home is actually zoned to parkwood elementary which has a very terrible ranking.
My question is how bad is this elementary school?
We cannot afford a private school, do I have any other public school options or is my only option letting my child go to this school and try to find a way to move to an area with a better base school after my lease is done?
This is my first child so I have never had to deal with non daycare school and I am not really sure how all if this works.
Thanks in advance for your input.
Last edited by Mamabear001; 03-23-2021 at 10:11 AM..
Please don't trust the school ratings on Greatschools. It's just based on test scores and demonstrates the socioeconomic status of the school. The school does have a high percentage of low income students, but other students seem to be doing fine in the school. Check out some of the moms groups on FB to get some more accurate reviews of the school. I know in Texas, especially Katy, it is normal to send your kids to 10/10 schools, but that's not really the case in the triangle area, especially if you venture into Wake County. Many of the most sought after schools in Raleigh have a 3 or 4 rating.
I'd also encourage you to check out the teacher satisfaction survey. I'm a big believer that when teachers feel supported it means the school is well run.
Lesson #2: School ratings are fairly arbitrary...especially at the elementary level. I have clients who are moving to Durham from Holly Springs and kept getting nervous any time we'd look at a house assigned to Creekside elementary because it is "ranked really low" on Greatschools. I used to work with Creekside Elem and it can easily compete with any of the "top rated" schools in the coveted Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district as far as having quality teachers and a safe learning environment. Creekside is probably the most "sought out" base elementary school in DPS with parents familiar with the district.
I'm guessing Zillow said your rental house would go to either Kestrel Heights or Pearsontown; those are lottery based charter and year-round schools respectively that thus rate very well. They aren't base schools so there is nowhere you could have moved within Durham to get assigned to them automatically and no base elementary school in Durham County ranks particularly high.
Nick, are you sure Pearsontown is lottery only? I know people who had kids there as an assigned school (thought it's been a few years) and they said Parkwood was the traditional school alternative.
If you are on facebook, I suggest the South Durham parenting group.
Please don't trust the school ratings on Greatschools. It's just based on test scores and demonstrates the socioeconomic status of the school. The school does have a high percentage of low income students, but other students seem to be doing fine in the school. Check out some of the moms groups on FB to get some more accurate reviews of the school. I know in Texas, especially Katy, it is normal to send your kids to 10/10 schools, but that's not really the case in the triangle area, especially if you venture into Wake County. Many of the most sought after schools in Raleigh have a 3 or 4 rating.
Thank you for your input.You are very right, I am used to schools with very good or atleast average ratings.i will definitely check out groups on FB to gain more insight. Do you happen to know why the schools have such poor ratings?
Lesson #2: School ratings are fairly arbitrary...especially at the elementary level. I have clients who are moving to Durham from Holly Springs and kept getting nervous any time we'd look at a house assigned to Creekside elementary because it is "ranked really low" on Greatschools. I used to work with Creekside Elem and it can easily compete with any of the "top rated" schools in the coveted Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district as far as having quality teachers and a safe learning environment. Creekside is probably the most "sought out" base elementary school in DPS with parents familiar with the district.
I'm guessing Zillow said your rental house would go to either Kestrel Heights or Pearsontown; those are lottery based charter and year-round schools respectively that thus rate very well. They aren't base schools so there is nowhere you could have moved within Durham to get assigned to them automatically and no base elementary school in Durham County ranks particularly high.
They actually listed the school as North Chatham elementary which now I understand a little more how the schools work ,I realize there is a no way a home in durham will be zoned to that school since the school is in Chatham county. It is definitely my fault for trusting zillow and not doing more research. When i went to DPS website pearsontown elementary was listed alongside parkwood as the school for the address however when I went to pearsontown's website it mentioned that it was 100% lottery so I am not really understanding why DPS listed it there.
Are there really other options for me out there? I understand that the ratings may not be the best metrics to rely on but it is the only one I know for now, are there other things I could look at to help me tell how bad this school really is?Thank you.
Thank you for your input.You are very right, I am used to schools with very good or atleast average ratings.i will definitely check out groups on FB to gain more insight. Do you happen to know why the schools have such poor ratings?
I'm not as familiar with Durham schools, but Wake County has made a big effort to make schools more diverse both racially and by socioeconomic status. This means that their overall test scores are lower, but generally students from high socioeconomic backgrounds thrive no matter where they go to school.
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