Anonymous wrote:I don't put any stock whatsoever into what Great Schools says. It's not a reliable arbiter of school quality and I don't know anyone who thinks it is.

What is a good arbiter?

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Anonymous wrote:OP again. There is a big dropoff at middle school/high school. Greatschools 5 vs. Greatschools 9-10. There are gifted options for the worse ranked school but we won't know whether our kids qualify.

Go with the 9-10 middle/high school. You don't want to have to move later on, or have to decide if the "5" is good enough and worth staying at to avoid changing schools and disrupting your children's social relationships. Unless the school has a really good gifted program (self contained gifted class or acceleration options), your kid is likely better off at the 9-10 school even if they end up qualifying for gifted services at the mediocre school.

i disagree. My kid turned out to have a personality that just doesn't fit with the high powered school, and truthfully, I'm not impressed with the support they are offering. He'd have been better off in a more forgiving environment with a wider mix of children.

those rankings reflect many things, but the difference betwween 8 and 10 will be trumped by any individual circumstances at the individual school. Pick the one that is a good match for your family. I personally avoided the schools in the Type-A+ neighborhoods because we are not Type-A+ types. And, for what it is worth, my kid's school was a 5 the first year those rankings came out, and now it is a 9. As far as I can tell, not much has changed except the principal is older.

Anonymous wrote:I have been in a 7, 8 and a 10 school. 10 was by far the best and I regret leaving every day. I realize these are all subjective, but for what its worth, I could really tell a difference!

Wait - what day did they get those rankings? Need to calibrate for whatever algorithm they were using that day...

Anonymous wrote:OP again. There is a big dropoff at middle school/high school. Greatschools 5 vs. Greatschools 9-10. There are gifted options for the worse ranked school but we won't know whether our kids qualify.

My DS is a junior at a high school with a great schools rating of 5. He is absolutely thriving there. We are actually happier with his experience there than we were at his middle school, which greatschools rates as a 9.

You are a long way from high school. Pick a neighborhood you like, either of those elementary schools will be fine.

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Anonymous wrote:I have been in a 7, 8 and a 10 school. 10 was by far the best and I regret leaving every day. I realize these are all subjective, but for what its worth, I could really tell a difference!

You must be really young. Why did your parents move you?

So far as I know, Great Schools has only been hoodwinking people online for about five years.

Are you like 21 or 22 or something? You had a baby young, I guess.

so clever!

Anonymous wrote:I have been in a 7, 8 and a 10 school. 10 was by far the best and I regret leaving every day. I realize these are all subjective, but for what its worth, I could really tell a difference!

You must be really young. Why did your parents move you?

So far as I know, Great Schools has only been hoodwinking people online for about five years.

Are you like 21 or 22 or something? You had a baby young, I guess.

I have been in a 7, 8 and a 10 school. 10 was by far the best and I regret leaving every day. I realize these are all subjective, but for what its worth, I could really tell a difference!

Anonymous wrote:I don't put any stock whatsoever into what Great Schools says. It's not a reliable arbiter of school quality and I don't know anyone who thinks it is.

Well... you do know that it's based strictly on the test scores of the students (as a group) compared to other schools in that state, right? I don't know how that isn't a measure of something. It typically correlates quite strongly with the SES and racial breakdown of the school. Your whiter/asian schools tend to be higher.

There really isn't anything wrong with being in a "5" school -- it means it's right in the middle of the pack when compared to ALL schools (of that level --ES, MS, HS) in that state. A lot of times, a "5" school has a mix of high performing kids and lower achieving kids and when added together --- it puts that school "in the middle." That's just the way averaging works. You used to be able to see on GS how each sub-group was performing -- i.e. White kids vs. black kids vs. kids with a disability vs economically disadvantaged. Each subgroup was given a "rating" based on all kids in that state. So, you could tell if a certain group was really low or high and then compare that to your own family situation.

It's not really a fair comparison to say school "A" is good (when it has almost no kids on free meals and little diversity -- like 80% white kids) and school "B" is "bad" when it has 20% of the kids on free meals and 40% white kids. You aren't comparing the same sets of kids... that doesn't mean the teaching is bad at school B. It means school B is working with different set of variables and that will affect the composite score. Compare the subgroups in school B with the subgroups in school A.... THEN make your decision.

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Anonymous wrote:My kids are very happy and doing quite well at a school with a greatschools rating of 2. Imagine that.

I don't put any stock in the greatschools ratings. Talk to parents at the school you're considering. Go sit in on a PTA meeting.

enrolled at greatschool rate 8 a few years back from a 6.

The 6 was DCPS elementary and was a great school.
The 8 was a charter (k-8) and was horrible.

Just because it's 8 or 10 does not mean much in DC. MD or VA might be different.

I believe in DC the 10s are probably the same as the 5 or 6 in viginia or maryland. Look at schooldigger to compare across school systems.

This is one of those irrational beliefs that seems common in VA or MD. The idea that say Janney or Lafayette is around the quality of a state average MD school is completely asinine.

I don't put any stock whatsoever into what Great Schools says. It's not a reliable arbiter of school quality and I don't know anyone who thinks it is.

Anonymous wrote:OP again. There is a big dropoff at middle school/high school. Greatschools 5 vs. Greatschools 9-10. There are gifted options for the worse ranked school but we won't know whether our kids qualify.

Go with the 9-10 middle/high school. You don't want to have to move later on, or have to decide if the "5" is good enough and worth staying at to avoid changing schools and disrupting your children's social relationships. Unless the school has a really good gifted program (self contained gifted class or acceleration options), your kid is likely better off at the 9-10 school even if they end up qualifying for gifted services at the mediocre school.

The rating can change year to year but clearly these are both solid schools. Pick which one had the neighborhood that is he best fit. A 10 school with shit neighbors or a crappy house is no better than an 8 in a neighborhood you love. And in 3 years the scores could be flip flopped.

Why don't just post what schools you are considering so that people in the know can tell you their experiences?

OP again. What should I be looking for on schooldigger?