which public schools almost as good as private ?

[adixyz]

Originally Posted by billpritjr

Maybe a vague question (I admit that), but what public schools or at least what ISD offers classroom size, quality of education, almost as good as private. This makes the assumption that private is better, which may not be the case in all situations.

Reason I ask, is I am more inclined to go "good public" versus "outstanding private" due to affordability, etc. At the present time, my wife and I are looking at a move to DFW area in the future and focusing on Coppell and Grapevine areas. Southlake homes slightly out of our budget, and Keller too congested/saturated. Work location for me will be the Alliance area, in company provided car and gas.

I was in Keller a few weeks ago and its just too crowded, that whole area. I can't imagine in 5 years what it will look like. Nice town, great folks out there, don't get me wrong.

Thank You guys

If you work in Alliance, Trophy Club, Keller, Southlake, Grapevine and Flower Mound are some options. I live in FM and commute daily 10 miles further from Alliance on 35W. It takes me 30-35 min to my work, so it should take you max. of under 30 mins and the traffic is light. (Cross Timbers Rd to Fort Worth Alliance Airport - Google Maps). Commute from Coppell will be longer. Enough have been said on schools, but let us know if you have more questions.

[Big G]

Originally Posted by frenzyrider

So, is it a high school?

Yes and no.

Yes: It's a residential program for kids who would otherwise be in grades 11-12. You're subjected to dorm checks, mandatory evening study hall, and restrictions on movement, like you would be at a boarding school. You also have a largely fixed curriculum.



No: As PISDstudent says, you're really just attending college at UNT during those 2 years. You receive a "TAMS diploma", not a HS diploma. This does NOT require the same mix of classes as a Texas HS diploma - a problem for those who wash out of the program, and find themselves back in HS and short of crap like Communications Applications and P.E. credits.

[GreyDay]

Originally Posted by PISDstudent

Well, one thesis would be that there are plenty of average kids at all schools (save the magnets of course). They don't have a need for any special programs (although if they can take an AP class or a fulfilling elective that's a sure plus), and don't need to worry if there will be peers of a similar ability with them. On the other hand, the kids at the top can pose a greater challenge: its harder for them to find peers just by the sheer nature of the bell curve, and they also need more of a specialized school experience. Thus, they need a school that really has a system of handling kids like them. Because of this, and of course, we all are biased by our own experiences, I think what a school is able to give to the kids who need something special, whether that be academic, artistic, etc..., is what really sets it apart. At the same time, as I've said before, I think having bright kids at a campus is a plus for everyone. Finally, I think having a great teacher for gifted kids is really important. Sure, the kids would be great without one, but they still need their abilities to be nourished.

As for the top college question: There are many kids who are perfectly fine with going to a college nearby, and living most of their life out in the area. And that's great - do what you want to do. That having been said, there are others, and I happen to fall in this group, who would rather go to a top college, if it works out for them after admissions and financial aid decisions come out. They would rather leave open the possibility of developing their career elsewhere in the US and the world, would prefer to be in a more intensely academic environment (this is what is most important to me, personally), and may even aspire to end up in IB or whatnot. Of course, as I said, not everyone wants this. But you can't dismiss those who do - and yes, a great deal of them turn out to be very successful, and can buy that house in Preston Hollow (or affluent areas in any other city) if they so desire.

Judging from past threads, we tend to approach this topic from very different perspectives, and that's great! Just realize that what may be important to you, both school-wise but also in terms of goals, might not work for some kids, myself among them.

I'm not from Texas. I'm the boarding school type kid in the above scenario. We all took latin and french in middle school, no choice. We can get into bell curves, gaussian distributions, standards of deviation, but it gets old. If you're at a high quality prep school or magnet school- the average students are different. Things get sliced thinner, the deviations are smaller. At my school, there wasn't much daylight between the val at Harvard and the anchor of the class at Duke. This is what having a self-selected, then test-selected, then time tested and sorted group of students gives you. Everyone is at the top of their game, unlike at a large public school, which no matter how good, has to take all comers.

That being said, you're in high school so your take on these matters is still largely theoretical. I'm all for travel, for getting out of your comfort zone, hell for hearing a different accent. And the east coast is all avout where you went to school. And even if you find yourself initiated into a supper club at Princeton, the talk will turn to where you did prep school, were you a scholarship kid or did you scrap your way here from somewhere else.

Best of luck. I don't really have a dog in this fight, but judging a school by NMSF only matters if your kid is that calibre. And if your kid is that calibre, it probably doesn't matter.

[jcoffy]

hi guys!!! you haven't said anything about Rockwall ISD there is nothing going on up there. indeed i am one of outsiders who looking for to relocate to Dallas in couple months