Best school districts WITHIN wake co. (Raleigh, Durham: house, neighborhoods, to buy)

[asiatic143]

i'm originally from NC - raised in greenville and went to ncsu. been living in CA for 6 years now and my husband and i are seriously considering moving back to the triangle area, now that we're expecting our first child. cost of living out here is ridick. anyways, we'd prefer living in cary or somewhere in the "middle" of rtp, since we don't know where our jobs will be, but are pretty open. one thing that's super important to us in finding a house to buy is the best school districts. wake co. is one of the best in nc, for sure, but are there any districts within wake co that's better than others? if so, where/what neighborhoods???

[lamishra]

There are no separate districts in Wake County. It's all one school district.

[VickiR]

There are not "disctricts within Wake County". It is all one school district. Johnston County has it's own school district and so does Durham County, if that is what you are referring to.

You are right that some schools do have higher scores than others. You can find these at Great schools.net and WCPSS.net, as well.

Hope that helps!

Vicki

[jamangirl]

It's all up in the air. Times are changing in Wake County. Make sure you do your homework.

[Luvamigo]

Davis Drive Elementary (in Cary) seems to be a favorite. Wellsley is one of the neighborhoods I believe that is zoned for Davis Drive. We used to live in Wellsley and loved it. Also look at West Park, Preston and Preston Wood neighborhoods.

[asiatic143]

thanks everyone. i went to the wake co. school website and looked at the test scores from the elementary schools, made a list of them and will base my home search on that.

[Priorityonecb]

I would look at it differently, I would not base my home search on the elementary school I wanted my child to attend. Rather, I'd find the high school with the highest scores/best activities or whatever was important to me and base my house search there. If the high school is great, it's "feeder schools" are bound to be just as terrific. That is where the main opportunities lie in terms of college acceptance and the real "meat" of a child's higher learning education begins.

This being said with the thought that Wake will go more towards neighborhood schools, as Johnston County does.

[weiyan8]

We chose Cary partly for the schools. Cary does have some highly rated schools, though there is no guarantee which one you will be assigned to. I've always thought that if you lived closer to the good schools you would have a better chance of being assigned there. And it looks like wake co is moving towards neighborhood schools but nothing is ever set in stone.

I too grew up in Greenville and my wife grew up in So Cal so we know how expensive it is out there. We do visit her parents in LA often but could not live there because of the higher cost and the congestion. Not to mention the school system over there is a mess (wife's mom is a teacher over there).

Good luck with your search.

[TeacherAmy]

I'd like to also suggest that you look for additional points of information along with the test scores. They tell an important part of the picture, but there's more to a great school than just those particular numbers. The ones that are awesome in intangible areas are often known by word-of-mouth as well.

FYI: I purchased the 'relocation packet' from the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. At the back of the magazine, there is a section listing all of the schools and their scores/ratings. It's definitely useful information, but again, keep in mind that there is more to the actual school than the final score.

I also wholeheartedly second the poster who mentioned focusing on the excellent high schools. My experience also has been that the great high schools have kids coming from great school communities, and the high school years are where the rubber hits the road.

Good luck! The fact that your children have a parent who is carefully considering what's in their best interest academically already puts them in a group of kids who is poised for success. (Yep, parent involvement is one of those critical intangibles.)