[Everdeen]

I have taught in the Clark County School District for 15 years and this is what I can tell you:

CCSD, as a whole, is not a good school district. There are, however, over 300,000 students. It's as if you included Palo Alto and Oakland in the same district; you would think it was a bad district. There are first-rate public schools here where your children will be surrounded by students whose families value education and they have every opportunity to reach their academic goals no matter how high.

I will tell you that the emphasis that you place on education is more valuable than any amount of money you can pay to any snooty, elitist school. Boarding school, I think, is a terrible option. Unless you are living in a war torn area, you need to be there for your children. IMHO, nothing trumps the daily interaction, guidance, and love from a parent.

If you have more specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

On a side note, I noticed in one of your other posts that you were also considering Seattle. If that is still an option, I would give that serious consideration. (I love the Pacific Northwest)

[airics]

Originally Posted by Everdeen

I have taught in the Clark County School District for 15 years and this is what I can tell you:

CCSD, as a whole, is not a good school district. There are, however, over 300,000 students. It's as if you included Palo Alto and Oakland in the same district; you would think it was a bad district. There are first-rate public schools here where your children will be surrounded by students whose families value education and they have every opportunity to reach their academic goals no matter how high.

I will tell you that the emphasis that you place on education is more valuable than any amount of money you can pay to any snooty, elitist school. Boarding school, I think, is a terrible option. Unless you are living in a war torn area, you need to be there for your children. IMHO, nothing trumps the daily interaction, guidance, and love from a parent.

If you have more specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

On a side note, I noticed in one of your other posts that you were also considering Seattle. If that is still an option, I would give that serious consideration. (I love the Pacific Northwest)

Excellent Post!!

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by Everdeen

I have taught in the Clark County School District for 15 years and this is what I can tell you:

CCSD, as a whole, is not a good school district. There are, however, over 300,000 students. It's as if you included Palo Alto and Oakland in the same district; you would think it was a bad district.

Not quite. It's as if you included Fremont and Oakland in the same district. CCSD has no high school where student achievement is as high as Gunn or Palo Alto High in Palo Alto. Palo Verde High in Summerlin produced a whopping two National Merit Scholar semifinalists last year. Those two schools in Palo Alto I mentioned produced over thirty each, and have around 2/3rds as many students as Palo Verde, AND are held to a higher standard when taking the PSATs (you have to score higher in CA to be a National Merit semifinalist).

There are first-rate public schools here where your children will be surrounded by students whose families value education and they have every opportunity to reach their academic goals no matter how high.

You and I must have very different definitions of "first rate". How can a school be "first rate" when it's only producing National Merit Scholarship semifinalists at 1/20th (or even lower) the rate as other top schools?

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

Not quite. It's as if you included Fremont and Oakland in the same district. CCSD has no high school where student achievement is as high as Gunn or Palo Alto High in Palo Alto. Palo Verde High in Summerlin produced a whopping two National Merit Scholar semifinalists last year. Those two schools in Palo Alto I mentioned produced over thirty each, and have around 2/3rds as many students as Palo Verde, AND are held to a higher standard when taking the PSATs (you have to score higher in CA to be a National Merit semifinalist).



You and I must have very different definitions of "first rate". How can a school be "first rate" when it's only producing National Merit Scholarship semifinalists at 1/20th (or even lower) the rate as other top schools?

Now you are being irrational. There are in this country a very limited set of public high schools that because of demographics have exceptional performance. That does not even make them particularly great schools. It simply says that the population is of a caliber that is rarely convened. There are as well the selective high schools in various areas that use a selective set from a large population to a achievbe impressive performance. Again it does not even testify that they are great schools. Merely that their population reflects the selectivity.

I would think however that throughout flyover country you will find only a few of either. So when one talks about good schools one is not referring to the rare exceptions achieved by demographics or selection.

I might also point out that Meadows achieved a higher percentage of National Merit Semi-Finalists than did Lynbrook or others in the silicon valley. So perhaps there is some hope for those of us in the boonies.

[ddrhazy]

The kids in Silicon Valley just mimic their parents hard working ethic but the path is available to any individual to learn the subject matter even on their own if they wished.

[Everdeen]

OP, I gave you my opinion as an insider who an expert in my field. Do what you wish with the information. I have no horse in your race and it will affect me not. I do wish you well whatever your decision.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by ddrhazy

The kids in Silicon Valley just mimic their parents hard working ethic but the path is available to any individual to learn the subject matter even on their own if they wished.

Actually the super high school of either the demographic or selective sort can be a very big disadvantage. My family all came through Hunter College High School and Bronx High School of Science. And there are great disadvantages. For instance if you finish in the top ten at Bronx you can get immediate admission to any ivy league school. But if you finish in the 25 to 50 range you will not get in.

If however the same student went to a reasonable non selective high school they would end up valedictorian or runner up. That is virtually certain to end up with ivy league admittance. Hunter was a little different in that it had a strong propensity to feed Hunter College. So the ability to break into the Ivys went down further. It was also a conviction at Bronx that all the ivy league schools had admission constraints on Asians and Jews. I suspect this is true though the mechanisms used are not the obvious ones.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

You and I must have very different definitions of "first rate". How can a school be "first rate" when it's only producing National Merit Scholarship semifinalists at 1/20th (or even lower) the rate as other top schools?

You are not the first person here to disagree with the majority about the definition of "first-rate." Once someone has attended first-rate schools, "good" is no longer good enough.

[hannaranch]

Test scores don't always mean a bad school/teachers. I taught in California for 34 years. When you have a high population of limited English learners and/or parents who are uneducated your test scores are usually low. If your child is smart, they will usually learn in a low performing school. It is important to make sure the teachers are teaching and keeping the kids at task.

[Everdeen]

^ Absolutely.

I've had students from the lowest performing schools go on to prestigious schools. And you can get a first-rate education here. Whether the student chooses to take advantage of the opportunity is up to them.

We have high schools that are in the top one-half of one percent in the nation. If someone wants to use a different metric for determining what the word first-rate means in their little world, I'm gonna let them. To those people it's really more about feeling superior than anything else.

A first-rate, excellent education can be had here if you want it.