Difference between GreatSchools 5 and 8 high schools?

[Anonymous]

Having kids currently in HS, I will say this: Langley HS is a much better than Annandale HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends the kind of accelerated program the high school has in place. Our high school is a 3- however, they have an amazing program for accelerated students. They are literally bussed away for half the day to special math and science center (they apply for test into) at no cost. And your child gets to be with like-minded peers for most of the day too which is important. I would not send my child to an underperforming elementary school. But middle and high schools it can sometimes work if 1) your child is advanced 2) they have special programs that would meet those needs

OP again. My local elementary school is a GS 4. Would you say that's good enough, or is that the point where you'd consider private school?

Elementary no, that isn't good enough. They probably have below state average test scores and are high percentage low income. Granted, the non low income students are probably the ones scoring average and higher on tests, your child is going to get zero enrichment. There are no advanced classes in elementary. There will be behavioral problems galore. Your kid will be stuck in a class where they are the smartest person, while the teacher has to teach to bottom 25%, and put up with the distractions of the significant behavioral issues of others.

Once you hit middle and high school kids are being grouped by ability and academic level for at least their core classes so it is easier to get a education tailored to your specific child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends the kind of accelerated program the high school has in place. Our high school is a 3- however, they have an amazing program for accelerated students. They are literally bussed away for half the day to special math and science center (they apply for test into) at no cost. And your child gets to be with like-minded peers for most of the day too which is important. I would not send my child to an underperforming elementary school. But middle and high schools it can sometimes work if 1) your child is advanced 2) they have special programs that would meet those needs

OP again. My local elementary school is a GS 4. Would you say that's good enough, or is that the point where you'd consider private school?

What the population like? It’s it a few UMC neighborhoods mixed with some apartments or condos?

That’s how our school is - there is no middle class, the students all live in 600k-$1.2M townhomes or homes or they receive free lunch. There is no in between. In our experience it’s been fine as there are more than enough students similar to our kids for them to find a good peer group.

This is us. Look at the test scores for your demographic group. Our school gets penalized because the low income kids do not do as well. But most kids scores are like 9/10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having kids currently in HS, I will say this: Langley HS is a much better than Annandale HS.

I don't think the comparison is the same though...

[Anonymous]

My son is in middle school, and he went from GS5 elementary to GS10 elementary and then a GS5 middle without ever moving, so I can compare I think.
GS10 school is much better resources than either of the GS5’s. He had much more choice in afterschool activities, and his writing assignments in 5th grade were more advanced than the ones he gets in 6th! So academically it is more universal and therefore stronger too.
Also GS5s, especially the middle school, is stretched thin over the needs of troubled students. My son was explicitly told to not book a parent teacher conference as the teacher had no academic concerns for him.
That said, the middle school is more or less ok because he is in advanced math and has some “high brow” electives such as coding so he mingles with quite a few smart, nerdy kids. He didn’t have a lot of friends at his first elementary because kids were into sports and not anything else really. Or not even that.
OP, I don’t know how old your kids are but I would 100% switch to the other district if they are below 3rd grade, 95% switch if they are below 7th grade, and after 7th grade I would go on a case by case basis. My son is an introvert and is not overly crazy about being with his friends everywhere so it’s easier to switch him than someone like my friend’s super social daughter who wants to only be with her friends.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What the population like? It’s it a few UMC neighborhoods mixed with some apartments or condos?

That’s how our school is - there is no middle class, the students all live in 600k-$1.2M townhomes or homes or they receive free lunch. There is no in between. In our experience it’s been fine as there are more than enough students similar to our kids for them to find a good peer group.

This is us. Look at the test scores for your demographic group. Our school gets penalized because the low income kids do not do as well. But most kids scores are like 9/10.

OP again. Thanks for all the input. Here's more data responding to multiple comments at once. According to GS, my local elementary school has approximately 30% low-income students. As for test scores, low-income students were rated 2/10 and not low-income students were rated 7/10. However, even the non-low-income students scored lower than the state average in all the subjects being tracked. There are a lot of expensive townhomes and houses near me, plus many apartments and condos.