Examples, Your children doing fine based on School zone (Atlanta: sale, credit)

[CaniMove]

I'm wondering if anyone feels glad they stayed in a school zone that wasn't in the top ten, etc. I'm a new resident, and we are staying in Alpharetta right now. It seems like most of the top 10 high schools in GA are in this area. Our kid will be in elementary school, which they seem to be great here too.

However, looking long-term, my wife and I think it may be wise to be in a more central location like Dunwoody or even Midtown, where the public schools don't seem to rank as high. We know people who are living in Cumming, Suwanee, and Johns Creek who tout their areas, but we feel like these places are so far out.

We were doing private school, but feel like public education would provide more benefit for our son. We can always decide private, but we want to go the public route first.

Any examples of your children turning out fine (going on to college, or becoming well adjusted adults) going to someplace like Dunwoody High School? Or somewhere ITP or any place that isn't in the top 10-20. This thread could help other parents feel less anxious about choices on where they send their kids.

[Mattie]

We do live in one of those highly touted OTP school districts, and have been very pleased with the success our sons have had. If I was living ITP, I would want to know #1 How many teachers have masters degrees in their subject matter, #2 What AP classes are available , and #3, whether or not the high school participates in a dual enrollment program with an area college. Those are three critical areas that are beyond a parent's control. All the rest can be overseen by involved parents who keep on top of grades and stress the importance of education.

I realize the things I listed are at the high school level. We didn't move here until our youngest was almost high school aged, so the one year we dealt with middle school isn't much to base an opinion on.

[ChefRamsey]

If you don't live in the best school zone, honestly it isn't going to make or break you. Just do supplemental work and take all AP courses. Use PSAT/SAT and AP exams to gauge yourself because your 4.0 from blah county is a 3.4 in north Fulton or a private school.

I placed in the top percentile nationally in terms of grades, test scores, AP exams, etc, but I went to a crappy school district. I go to an ok school. I'm pretty confident in myself. I'm going to do fine, but if I could've been my parent I would have tried to move school districts.

When you're looking at all these statistics just remember that it's also the social environment of your kid. You're not going to school. Your kid is. Being surrounded by illiterate thugs in an inner city school or some red necks in McIntyre is going to change your kid in ways that books and AP offerings won't. Especially in high school, social life is so important to people - and with reason.

Why do you want to move to those areas? Usually it's the other way around. I wish I could have gone to a better high school

[CaniMove]

Very good responses! I will keep that list when looking at ITP schools.

Chef, we wanted to keep our options open for our careers and cut down any potential future commutes. As parents, if we lived in Alpharetta and had to commute downtown, we don't know how involved we can be in our child's school if we are spending hours commuting each day. I guess people are doing it and making it work. We aren't used to living in a large metro like Atlanta, so maybe we will get the hang of it.

[ChefRamsey]

Originally Posted by CaniMove

Very good responses! I will keep that list when looking at ITP schools.

Chef, we wanted to keep our options open for our careers and cut down any potential future commutes. As parents, if we lived in Alpharetta and had to commute downtown, we don't know how involved we can be in our child's school if we are spending hours commuting each day. I guess people are doing it and making it work. We aren't used to living in a large metro like Atlanta, so maybe we will get the hang of it.

Great answer.

Although...if you're already living in Alpharetta..where are you going to go with your new found job opportunities and wealth?

Things I would look for if I was a parent right now:

In order of importance:
1. AP OFFERINGS. College prices aren't going down anytime soon. Neither will selectivity. AP classes are fantastic way to challenge yourself. You don't have to be 34 ACT score student to make use of AP classes. Mind you, every AP class your kid will pass is 3-4 credits he won't be needing to take in college(usually all core anyway..leaving more HOPE dollars for real classes)

2. Percentage of students participating in AP courses. You don't want to be the 1% at a school where the average SAT score is no SAT score. Birds of a feather flock together. No, we're not all a bunch of gunner nerds. Smart people = better company than dumb people. Competition is not going to be like Northview at any school in GA. So don't worry about that.

3. Duel enrollment offerings - always a good sign. I knocked out 6 credit hours of English at GPC in 1 year(also counted as high school senior English) when my friends took AP lit and AP lang - two years, triple the work and half the success rate of getting AP credit.

There was no correlation between SAT scores and AP lit/lang lol trust me

4. Average SAT score should be higher than the GA average. I think you can ask for at least that much.

5. High school graduation rate. I wouldn't want my kid going to any school that's not 95%+

Sorta hard worrying about colleges when your peers are worrying about Target's next sale on maternity clothes or the next big dealer.

6. Extracurriculars/feeder schools. Most of the feeder schools to Tech and UGA are in North Fulton, but I'm sure some of them can be found in other areas. ECs to balance your kid's high school life. Sports, clubs, student organizations, volunteering groups etc.