Tell Me About Johns Creek! (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: car insurance, buying a home, neighborhood)

[jxu66]

The State of Georgia has large poor rural area (which is very unique) and very poor inner city (which is not unique). That's why SAT score is low. Also, many midwest and southwest students prefer ACT so that many students do not take SAT => lower ranking for state of Georgia.

I am really not sure Why "Georgia is ranked 46th in SAT" in the conversation with schools in Johns Creek. Johns Creeks is not exact like the rest of Georgia. Johns Creek has large number of northern transplants that rest of Georgia does not have, for example.

Maybe one has better school in the previous state. That makes sense to state that one's previous high school has XXX number of national merit scholarship and Northview only has 11 this year. previous high school has XXX SAT that Northview high only have SAT average 1128. I know my previous resident West Plano High is better school than Northview because it has more national merit scholarship (30) and higher overall SAT (1165).

Another stat mentioned a lot is Atlanta has one of worst crime rate in the nation, according to FBI. But Atlanta proper contains only 450,000 people and most of people who live in Atlanta MSA does not even live in city.

Don't mean to rag on you. It would be nice to add something specific instead of stating obvious but misleading stat.

[North_Parent]

This is the same defense we get from people who are trying to justify low SAT scores in GA. Go to any website (homefair.com for example) and compare the best schools in GA to any other state and you will see the difference. Lower SAT scores, limited AP courses, higher student to teacher ratio etc... I do understand that GA has poor rural areas but so does the rest of the country, I am simply comparing the best schools in GA to other states. It is like night and day. The main issue is related to the local government not investing properly on schools or giving education a priority. Just few months ago, our governor approved over a $19M budget on fishing in order to encourage tourism!! why not put the money on education! Don't mean to rag on GA schools, but it is only fair to state and admit reality especially to those who are planning to move to our area.

[jxu66]

North_Parent,

I am not defending Georgia's low SAT score. The reason I bought up because "Georgia is ranked 46th SAT in the nation" is meaningless stat within this context. I lived many years in Texas and it has one of poorest average SAT as well. But many Dallas suburbs has excellent high schools. Highland Park high school is one of best in the nation (by SAT and by AP scores). That's an example that a good school can happened in one of generally poor educated state.

It is ok to rag Johns Creeks school. Please list some specific examples (you went to Wilson Creek elementary school and your kid's level is way over those kids at Wilson Creek, for example. That's why you choose Woodward Academy for your kids because you want your kids to go to Ivy League in the future). That way people can get better understanding and make good information decision. That's all I try to say.

[North_Parent]

Each parent/family has different expectations from their school systems. You may focus on the size of the class, SAT scores, AP offering. If you go to homefair.com and run the school report you can focus on the important areas for your individual situation. I am looking at the SAT scores.

[jxu66]

That's something I agree with. Northview and even Walton high, is not compare favorable with other state's top schools (based on SAT score and other criteria). With increasing competition to Ivy league schools lately, if you want your kids to go to Ivy, top private schools are maybe the option in Atlanta area.

[DoveDiva]

Originally Posted by North_Parent

Johns Creek is a nice area and does have good schools. But GA is ranked 46 in SAT scores nationwide, so being good in GA is nothing to be proud off. We live in Johns Creek and are sending our children to Woodward Academy. We moved from Ann Arbor, MI.

I beg to differ.

Maybe because you are a new transplant, you aren't aware that there are indeed TWO GEORGIAS. Metro Atlanta, and everywhere else. It's my opinion that the rural schools (and the city of Atlanta) are what's bringing our test scores down. Everywhere else? We aren't doing half bad.

We have a number of schools and school districts in the metro area that exceed the national average out of the water. Some examples:
National 2005-06 SAT Average: 1506
Walton High-1705
Pope High-1634
Milton High 1641
Northview High 1670

It's not fair to say that "being good in GA is nothing to be proud of" when indeed we have kids that can and do excel and succeed.

For anyone interested in the educational statistics of the state, check out Governor's Office of Student Achievement. I highly recommend that site, since it's from the state and is the most up-to-date.

[lastminutemom]

North Parent

I hope you have compared where the top students at Woodward go to college vs the top students from any highly ranked Georgia public school...

What I have found is that almost all private schools send a huge number of students to colleges that any public high student could gain admission too-- examples... my friend's child who graduated from Westminster and now attends Ole Miss... sorry, I am not sure that her parents got a good return on their investment.

Let's compare something else shall we... in 2006, 553 students at Northview took AP exams, compared to 217 who took them at Woodward (of course, Northview is a much bigger school -- but offers more access to AP courses -- 87 percent passed at Northview compared to 96% at Woodward -- but keep in mind, that private schools generally are more selective in who gets to take the AP courses to begin with than most public schools.

This is not to say that public schools are better than private schools or vice versa. In fact, I think that "average" students need private schools more than good to great students in good school districts.

[GF72]

The only reason any private school would seem to be better is because the student body lacks the average group of kids you find at other schools. Walton High for example, has a high SAT score, much higher that average, but not as high as some private schools. Why? Walton is a HUGE school, over 2500 students, and 100% of them take the SAT. If you were to look at an actual graph of the SAT scores, you'd notice something like 60% would have about average scores, and then 40% would have near-perfect scores, with a big gap in between. Same with a lot of big public schools like Northview, if you only compare the "high-achieving" group within a public school like Northview or Walton to a private school, Northview or Walton would come out better, and still probably have about the same number of people even with that smaller group. I mean, 95% of Walton's 2,500+ students immediate go to a 4 year university, including the best Ivy League and west coast schools in addition to the usual GA Tech/Emory/UGA. Most schools can't even get 95% of their students to graduate. Walton students took more than 2,000 AP exams this year, that's pretty impressive. Private schools only let the best take AP classes because they want to say how all of their students pass AP exams, but that's not whats best for the kids. A student who takes AP Physics in high school but gets a 2 or 3 on the AP exam is going to have such an advantage in college, and you shouldn't deny kids that opportunity just because you think they might fail the test and make your school look bad.

[Philagirl]

I don't have personal experience with Georgia public schools, but what I can tell you is that I attended some of the top private schools in the country, and then went on to a top-5 university.

I was stunned, simply stunned, to find out that public school students from some of the lowest-ranked public school states (I remember one friend who went to Pope in East Cobb, for example) had actually more, and a greater variety of AP classes than I did for my $15K per year education. They also blew my SAT score out of the water (something you wouldn't know if you just looked at the average of the graduating classes), and had far better extra-curricular activities at the high school level. You really do have to look at the individual school district (as opposed to a state as a whole), and take into account the fact that private schools essentially get to weed out their low-SAT scorers, as well as the kids who won't take AP classes at all.

[nrgpill]

What is wrong with choosing Ole Miss for undergrad study? Who cares? What is far more important to me is post-grad study anyway. Wouldn't it be preferable for your kid to graduate with a high gpa from Ole-Miss than to barely pass an Ivy-League undergraduate program?

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

North Parent

I hope you have compared where the top students at Woodward go to college vs the top students from any highly ranked Georgia public school...

What I have found is that almost all private schools send a huge number of students to colleges that any public high student could gain admission too-- examples... my friend's child who graduated from Westminster and now attends Ole Miss... sorry, I am not sure that her parents got a good return on their investment.

Let's compare something else shall we... in 2006, 553 students at Northview took AP exams, compared to 217 who took them at Woodward (of course, Northview is a much bigger school -- but offers more access to AP courses -- 87 percent passed at Northview compared to 96% at Woodward -- but keep in mind, that private schools generally are more selective in who gets to take the AP courses to begin with than most public schools.

This is not to say that public schools are better than private schools or vice versa. In fact, I think that "average" students need private schools more than good to great students in good school districts.