How are Jacksonville Schools? (University: neighborhoods, school rankings, university)

[tonyarain]

my husband and daughtor and i are wanting to move to Jacksonville area of Flordia , was just wanting to know about the schools down there, like all parents we want a good school system. thanks so much for any help you can give . Ps. our daughter is going into the 2nd grade this year. thanks : )

[madcapmagishion]

Some schools are good some are not so much, It basically depends on where you live as Jacksonville is school district oriented. You may be 1 mile from a great school and 3 miles from a crappy one but if you live in the crappy district, guess where your kids are going. There are magnet schools here(that are exceptional) but from what I hear the bus transportation funding to them has been cut to the bone. Its up to you to get your kids to the magnet schools. I don't really know, as all my kids went to private schools, IMO the best option, but can be pricey. Florida Public K-12 School Rankings are based on data from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) provided by Florida Department of Education. Here's a link.

Florida Public School Rankings

Not just in Jacksonville but all over Florida wherever you choose your neighborhood you can check out the local schools in it. Do so before you move.
Some in here will tell you that schools in St Johns county are just plain better than any school in Jacksonville. That would be more of a personal opinion than a fact, I am sure some schools in STJC are better than some schools in Jax. Just as I am sure that some schools in Jax are better than some schools in STJC. Stands to reason as there are very few absolutes in life in general.

[mississippimagnolia]

St. Johns County Schools are ranked #1 in the state for the third year in a row. Many people who work in Jax choose to live in neighboring St. Johns specifically because our schools are so good.

[madcapmagishion]

Originally Posted by mississippimagnolia

St. Johns County Schools are ranked #1 in the state for the third year in a row. Many people who work in Jax choose to live in neighboring St. Johns specifically because our schools are so good.

Yes STJC schools are ranked #1 in the state of Florida. Which is outstanding, a cumulative #1 ranking of all 32 schools in STJC is something to be proud of. No doubt about it! But lets compare apples to apples. STJC has 32 schools total, Duval County has 32 middle schools alone, and a total of about 200 schools overall I'm sure if we picked the best 32 schools in Duval county and put them up against all of the schools in STJC it would probably be a toss up, with maybe Duval being slightly ahead. (after not all 32 of STJC schools are equally great I'm sure, bound to be a dud in there somewhere) Many people who can afford to live in STJC do so because of the overall great schools there I agree, but if everyone who wanted to move to STJC for the schools who couldn't afford to did so then the schools there wouldn't be so great would they, because STJC would then have to build 100 more schools and then the averages would no doubt drop. But as I stated in the earlier post I have no dog in this fight, me and my wife and all 4 of my children went to private schools from K-12 and beyond to college except for one son who got and accepted scholarship to play football at a State University. Plus all of my grand kids are attending private parochial schools. All I was advising the earlier poster was to be sure to check out all individual public school FCAT scores/rankings before they decide on a neighborhood.

[JagFan27]

Those rankings rank the students, not the school's ability to educate. The middle class is moving further south. The Mandarin area used to be where they moved, which is why the Mandarin area schools have always been "rated" high. Now, those people are moving to the upper St. Johns county area.
I know that one school system does not have better schools or teachers than another. They just have different students.

[madcapmagishion]

Originally Posted by JagFan27

Those rankings rank the students, not the school's ability to educate. The middle class is moving further south. The Mandarin area used to be where they moved, which is why the Mandarin area schools have always been "rated" high. Now, those people are moving to the upper St. Johns county area.
I know that one school system does not have better schools or teachers than another. They just have different students.

So it all comes down to the kids and their parents? Hmmm! And what about the quality of the teachers does that play any role in it at all? Or is Jacksonville just doomed by it's demographics more poor, blacks and minorities than STJC? Maybe I will just have to sleep on this one and think about it some. But I am thinking that it all really comes down to the parents and their lack of responsibility in the end.

[GadgetRick]

Originally Posted by JagFan27

Those rankings rank the students, not the school's ability to educate. The middle class is moving further south. The Mandarin area used to be where they moved, which is why the Mandarin area schools have always been "rated" high. Now, those people are moving to the upper St. Johns county area.
I know that one school system does not have better schools or teachers than another. They just have different students.

Sorry, can't disagree with this one enough. While the, "quality," of students does affect a school, part of what is wrong in the US is that so many students who live in the not-so-good areas are short-changed with bad schools, sub-par teachers, etc.

[JagFan27]

Originally Posted by GadgetRick

Sorry, can't disagree with this one enough. While the, "quality," of students does affect a school, part of what is wrong in the US is that so many students who live in the not-so-good areas are short-changed with bad schools, sub-par teachers, etc.

And I disagree with your statement. You will never convince me that the teachers in other counties are better teachers. There are sub-par teachers in every school in the country. They are not all located in one school system.

[madcapmagishion]

Originally Posted by GadgetRick

Sorry, can't disagree with this one enough. While the, "quality," of students does affect a school, part of what is wrong in the US is that so many students who live in the not-so-good areas are short-changed with bad schools, sub-par teachers, etc.

Originally Posted by JagFan27

And I disagree with your statement. You will never convince me that the teachers in other counties are better teachers. There are sub-par teachers in every school in the country. They are not all located in one school system.

In my best Strother Martin voice;
"What we've got here is... failure to communicate.", I don't believe that what Rick is saying is that all the sub-par teachers are all in one school district in the entire country. That would just be statistically improbable. I interpret it as, In Jacksonville where we are talking about after all, it seems like the teachers who may or may not be sub-par but seen as such are all shuffled to the less desirable schools which usually are in more disadvantaged neighborhoods, Maybe because they are just to lazy to fight for a better situation, due to lack of care or they may feel that they know they are not as good and try not to buck the system. Something like taking the path of least resistance. I am sure SJC has sub-par teachers as well just not as many because there are less teachers required when the school system is so small (again compared to Jacksonville) Its all in the numbers.

[JagFan27]

I stand by my statement that the rankings that we keep reading about are about the quality of students and not the quality of education.