how to make a decision to move for (future) school quality?

[Anonymous]

We have a child in kindergarten and are very happy with our local school. Our child is loving it, learning a ton, and we enjoy being able to walk there. However we are being warned that the local middle school and high school are not great. (I would prefer not to name the specific schools because it's a general question.) We have the resources to move nearby to a different cluster in the coming years, but we have no idea how to make that decision. Would you give up a community you are happy in because the neighboring cluster has better scores? How would we know how our cluster might change in the coming years? How do we know what a middle school or high school is really like? What would you do?

[Anonymous]

Just make sure the people are really judging for themselves and they have really experienced the school. I know a family who is moving to get more of a community because most of the kids in our neighborhood go to private school and she would rather send her kid to public. There is nothing wrong with our public school. The scores are lower because there are a decent amount of FARM students. The Elementary and HS are pretty good, even based off of test scores. The middle school is average and all of the schools are safe. I have to agree with some people who say that moving to send your kid to a different public school because you are against private school is ridiculous because chances are you are moving out of a more diverse neighborhood for a less diverse neighborhood. If they do not want to pay the move that is fine but moving has a lot of financial cost anyway. It turns out that the family never even consider the local school. When diversity gets over 20 -25% (mainly farms, AA and hispanics) it becomes alarming to people even if the education does not change. Also, how different are the scores 2%, 5% 10% better?

Good Luck, I know this does not answer your question but I see people in my neighborhood doing similiar things and they are mainly moving to less diverse areas. The schools in our area pretty much teach the same material so each kid could get the same education.

I would late to the last minute because things can change. Go to school events, talk to parents currently enrolled in the school, PTA site, and see where the top grads from your local school attends vs. perspective school. Chances are they are going to similiar schools. There will be smart kids at both schools, the top schools just have more. You might actually increase your kids chances on getting into a top school staying put especially if you can keep them focused.

[Anonymous]

Most people don't like their perfectly good MS--but people should be happy with the high school. I'd move if the high school isn't adequate.