So, tell me about Lakewood (Dallas, Orange: transfer, top schools, college)

[Almeda]

I moved from Tampa, FL to Dallas recently. I live in the Lakewood area. I am a single young professional with a dog. I chose the area over Uptown due to affordability and my dog. I wanted a more residential area that I felt safe walking my dog twice a day.

I love Lakewood. I cannot say enough good things about it. Obviously I do not have any children so schools are not a factor for me. But if you prefer pedestrian friendly, tree-lined streets, close to urban amenties then Lakewood would be a good choice.

[Lakewooder]

Almeda, welcome to Lakewood! Be sure to come to the 4th of July parade and introduce yourself around.

[Lakewooder]

J. L. Long Middle School's 6th Grade Musical Production of "Go West":
http://lakewood-now.net/view/article/903 (broken link)

[Lakewooder]

wWw Athlete-Scholars Honored At Banquet

http://lakewood-now.net/view/article/893 (broken link)

[Lakewooder]

Luau in Lakewood:

http://lakewood-now.net/view/article/907?page=1 (broken link)

[Parsec]

I realize that Woodrow Wilson has been rated highly by many sources, but all their TAKS results are below the state average. Any reason for this?

[SepiaZelda]

I wondered why there was sand in that front yard! I am huge into party planning, too. Love that idea!

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Luau in Lakewood:

http://lakewood-now.net/view/article/907?page=1 (broken link)

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by Parsec

I realize that Woodrow Wilson has been rated highly by many sources, but all their TAKS results are below the state average. Any reason for this?

Sadly, the way the TAKS results are calculated and used to determine a schools ranking (acceptable, recognized, accademically unacceptable, etc) are based SOLELY on the students race. They are all divided up into subgroups. You can have a school that overall the overwhelming majority can pass the TAKS tests w/ flying colors but if you have a small subgroup of one students in one ethnic group that do not do well then it can sink a schools rating. These same kids could pass every TAKS test in all areas except for one subject and that will sink the ratings also. This is very common in many schools and very sad as you can have a GREAT school that over 90% of the kids have no worries w/ the TAKS tests but if you have as few as 5 students that constitute one ethnic subgroup that do poorly the rest suffer. Then the whole issue of kids that come from another country that only have 1 year to use a TAKS test that is translated. Can you imagine a kid that came from Iran and never spoke English and the second year here had to take the TAKS test w/ no translation? YIKES! What is really bad about that is the way the questions and answers are done. Most are multiple choice and there may very well be more than 1 right answer you just have to pick the RIGHT right answer according to the person who wrote the test. It is really sad and I'm glad that our state leaders are finally seeing the handwritting on the wall and dropped the high school TAKS now if they could just do it for ALL grades.

As for Woodrow Wilson I took a look and it appears that the 2006 Mathmatics TAKS results for minority students is what caused the poor rating. Here is the link to the TEA website page w/ the results for Woodrow Wilson.
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/cgi/sas/b...back=057905022

[TriumphOfTheSprint]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

You can have a school that overall the overwhelming majority can pass the TAKS tests w/ flying colors but if you have a small subgroup of one students in one ethnic group that do not do well then it can sink a schools rating.

This is true and a problem with the TAKS process, but doesn't appear to be the problem here. The math numbers for all students show a pass rate of 47%. Only the White students as a group did well (83%), but they are actually a minority of the students at Woodrow (167 out of 817). Math is not a foreign language, where poor performance can be attributed to unfamiliarity - so the problem must lie in another area.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by TriumphOfTheSprint

This is true and a problem with the TAKS process, but doesn't appear to be the problem here. The math numbers for all students show a pass rate of 47%. Only the White students as a group did well (83%), but they are actually a minority of the students at Woodrow (167 out of 817). Math is not a foreign language, where poor performance can be attributed to unfamiliarity - so the problem must lie in another area.

It was the math scores of the minority groups that were what pulled it down. Go the the link and you will see. Reasons for Academically Unacceptable rating are highlighted in ORANGE. The math scores are all highlighted in orange while anything that was acceptable is in blue. While math may not be a "foreign language" all of the math problems on the TAKS tests are word problems. Overall the pass % was 50% but the minority groups were all in the 30's so it does pull it down as it is all based on how the subgroups do.