School Research

Hi P.,

It looks like you have time to make a decision, but here's another option to consider. I'm a licensed teacher with 13 years of experience from pre-k through 6th grade. I offer private school out of my home, and hope to move to a seperate building soon. I'm less expensive than traditional private school. I have an add under Local Business Reviews K-8 with a couple of reviews and one under Homeschooling with another review. I'd love to visit with you if you're interested. Best of luck in whatever you decide!

Here is the website for the Texas Education Agency (the group that ranks the schools and districts.)

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2006/distri...

Also, check out www.greatschools.net. They give you a clear picture (bar graphs) of test scores per school, grade, subject etc. They take all of the data they have and then give each school and district a ranking from 1-10. Very easy to understand.

Good luck!
P.

HI My name is D. Patterson. When doing your research go to the city you want to move to and go to the chamber of commerce. They should all the info you need. I am the owner of CP Preparatory School and I service children ages infants to 3rd gr. If you are needing child care with an emphasis on Early Education jusr give me a call. You will be surprised we charge the same rate as day care. Have a great day! Ms. Patterson www.cpprepschool.com

There are some exempleary schools in DISD. All school district websites will show their school ratings. I have a list at my office I could probably e-mail you with rankings of the schools in areas districts. I won't be able to get it to you until Saturday morning and the new rankings haven't come out yet, but it would be a great place to start. send me a message with your e-mail if you would like me to put that in an e-mail to you on Saturday.

D.

We moved here last year and I used this website as a guide: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/

We would locate an area on the map within a decent commute for my husband, then immediately look up the schools in the area to decide if that was an area to consider or not. We ruled out several suburbs on the schools alone. You can enter any school district and it will tell you what the district and then what each individual school is rated for the past several years. They are rated exemplary, recognized, academically acceptable, or acad. unacceptable. This was a good guide because we could not only see what the school my daughter would currently be going to is ranked, but the schools she would be feeding into as well. Hope this helps!

I don't know if you have heard of Crandall ISD but it is a TEA reconised school and one of the top ten school's in Texas. It in my opinion is excellent... Also I don't know what you are looking for as far as a home but i am fixing to put my home on the market. I live in Combine, beautiful country living, with a great school district... The website I believe is CrandallISD.com, feel free to respond to me if you need more info !!!

Rockwall has PHENOMINAL schools!!! : )

I was in your shoes last year. My daughters and I were living in East Dallas near the Arboretum in a lovely, eclectic neighborhood in DISD. When my husband and I separated and my girls and I outgrew our tiny cottage-style home I researched other school districts because I have a daughter in special education and desired something better for her. I asked moms on Mamasource and other friends. Plano and McKinney were possibilities. However, I was working in Mesquite at the time and the commute would have totally stressed me out, not to mention the price of gas. The other option was Rockwall. Well, since I grew up in Memphis (near the riverfront) I really liked being near the water again at Lake Ray Hubbard. We've lived here now for almost a year and absolutely love it! Both my girls are doing great in school and my daughter in special ed made the A/B Honor Roll and has made several friends, despite her disability.

I live in Dallas but it is the Duncanville area. My children are in Duncanville schools. I not sure what side of Dallas you live but Duncanville is a wonderful school district. I have also taught in the district.

I strongly urge you to go visit your local school--see what is actually inside. You very well might be surprised!! There are some awesome schools in DISD. Also, parts of Richardson ISD and other school districts are in Dallas. If you want to research the so-called suburbs, start with the district web-sites to learn about the district and the schools. You can also go to greatschools.net to learn more about districts and schools.

Pretty much all the suburb school districts around here are great. If there is something specific you are looking for like certain class offerings, etc. Then I would look on the district's website. The state of texas offers ratings on each school. Those are based on standardized testing, though. It is not the greatest estimate on the quality of the school. It will pretty much tell you the income level of that particular school. Look into what specific amenities you might want in a city then look at the schools after you have narrowed down your list.

We lived in the M Streets for several years and were in the same situation with our neighborhood school. I was extremely involved with the school and it finally burned me out. We moved to Plano about a month ago so my kids can go to a Blue Ribbon Exemplary school and I wont have to fight a losing battle with the administration. It took me 6 months to feel 100% about the choice we made. I just knew we couldn't stay where we were and be in a toxic environment. (By the way, there are some AWESOME schools in DISD, ours was not one of them.)

When I started looking, I used the district's websites and looked at accountability records, greatschools.net, and called and talked to the schools. We also wanted a great neighborhood, so we drove around in the attendance zones of the schools we were interested in and talked to the neighbors. We also were concerned about the feeder pattern. (in the old neighborhood the Middle school was not acceptable, but the High school was fine). We looked at the middle and high schools closely too. Thankfully, many of the neighbors we spoke to had lived there for 15+ years and had lots of experience with kids going all the way through. PISD has such a great reputation and it's more of a choice between the better and best. We feel great about our decision.

Good luck.
C.

RISD has great schools, great teachers and a very skilled administration. Unlike PISD, the upper level schools are not overcrowded (they still have jr. highs and reasonably sized high schools). Scores across the district are on an upward trend, and my children's school just received a stellar science ranking.

We moved to N.Dallas/RISD from the M. Streets nearly 7 years ago and have been very pleased overall. But as others have said, it is hard to go wrong with a generally good district. If you have concerns about your child (re special ed) then I would talk with the principals and counselors in each school you develop an interest in (after researching over the summer) and then I would contact them in the first week (before school starts - they are all back) once you have enrolled to get the process started.

Good luck with your research!

Hi,

I think in a few ways I can help you out on this...1. I work as a real estate agent so i can help you find the new place and 2 you can visit http://www.greaterschools.net and it will provide you with a rating system.....I also tell my clients to drive around the neighborhoods around dinner time to see what activity is going on there...you don't want to be stuck in an area that your'e not happy with...i hope this helps...