Great schools and affordable housing near Argonne

[snaggletooth88]

Thanks again for all of these helpful responses!

Are there elementary schools in Downers Grove that you would recommend? Or that you would recommend we avoid?

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by snaggletooth88

Thanks again for all of these helpful responses!

Are there elementary schools in Downers Grove that you would recommend? Or that you would recommend we avoid?

...is there is some stratification of income -- the areas that on average have more costly homes tend to have more demanding parents while the areas with more affordable housing tend to have slightly more laid back parents.

Overall the quality of instruction is pretty much the same and the resources each school in the district has are the same so really the differences are driven by the parent mix, not sure if that is what you want to hear but that ia how it goes. And to be sure there are certainly some laid back parents in the most affluent parts of town as well as some very demanding parents in the schools that generally are more affordable so the thing with "on average" results has to be sort of tempered too...

Bottom line -- no schools "to avoid" and the "most desirable" as "ranked" really reflects more about parental income and overall lack of under-prepared students.

[snaggletooth88]

Thanks for all the responses, these are really helpful. This thread has increased our interest in Downers Grove.



In looking at other nearby areas, we came across Palos Heights and I'm wondering if someone could share any firsthand experiences living in Palos Heights and with children attending the public schools there?

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by snaggletooth88

Thanks for all the responses, these are really helpful. This thread has increased our interest in Downers Grove.



In looking at other nearby areas, we came across Palos Heights and I'm wondering if someone could share any firsthand experiences living in Palos Heights and with children attending the public schools there?

It's a nice, generally safe town, and you can get quite a bit more house for your money there and in many southwest suburbs than in the western suburbs. That being said, there's a bit of a dropoff in school performance compared to the Hinsdale Central, Downers Grove North or Naperville schools, but they're still pretty good from what I understand.

The schools in Palos Heights are better if you're west of Harlem Ave than if you're east. I'd stay west of Harlem. There's a number of elementary school districts. The high school is Stagg High School (part of district 230) if you're west of Harlem. Here's an overlay map on Google maps showing the district. Consolidated High School District 230