Researching where to move to, in the U.S. w/ teenagers, so I'm also interested in info on economy, growth, job market, crime rate, demographics etc. Thanks.
2006-07-23 09:17:53 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Other - Education
When you are ranking high schools, everybody has a different opinion about what makes a high school good or bad. For many of us who prefer qualitative variables like funny teachers and school spirit, we're not going to be able to find much comparative data.
In each state, I would look for that information in local newspapers and magazines. The easiest to find will be the public schools (ranked by adequate yearly progress, or the percentage of students who scored proficient or better on state exams) and the top private schools (ranked by things like college admissions and AP exam passes). You won't be able to find much multi-state information unless you find a national magazine (Time, Newsweek, US News) ranking of the best public or independent high schools. My friend who graded state exam essays for several states was impressed by the 4th grade essays coming out of Wyoming.
Here's a big hint: the public schools tend to be best in college towns. On the other hand, it can be bad for high school students to live in too close proximity to large concentrations of college students, too.
For the other information you're looking for, as well as something about the local schools, real estate sites can help you with data about local areas. I've linked a salary calculator below that can help you look at differences in the cost of living between metropolitan areas.
It used to be that rural areas were better for teenagers staying out of trouble. Crystal Meth has hit many rural areas pretty hard in recent years, which always has a bad impact on the crime rates.
All of the data you find has to be filtered through the lens of what you know about your teenagers. Will they be miserable 50 miles from a shopping mall? How motivated are they in school? How susceptible are they to certain kinds of temptation? You can look at numbers all day, but in the end, you may be best going with your gut feeling, or keeping them close to the influence of extended family.
2006-07-23 09:34:07 · answer #1 · answered by Beckee 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
High School rankings are generally meaningless. Rankings are based on how well the school's student body did on Standardized Testing. So much emphasis is placed on these tests that they become the focus of the school district as opposed to focusing on educating children. Children are manipulated and driven out of the public school system in order for the school to do well on the tests. Affluent areas tend to be the biggest culprits.
Good high schools tend to be located in small integrated communities of 20 to 40 thousand where there is only one school and the demographics of the population are spread over a wide range of income. The teachers have the added pressure of not having a number of local schools to choose from for employment and have been exposed to many cultural situations.
Try to find a town like this that is within commute distance to a larger metro area for employment purposes. Do not assume that well to do areas like Marin, Santa Barbara, Beverley Hills, the Hamptons, Westchester, etc. are going to have the best schools. They do not.
2006-07-23 10:06:27 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Local Library
2006-07-23 09:20:45 · answer #3 · answered by K9 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You will probably have to search by each state individually. For North Carolina check out http://abcs.ncpublicschools.org/abcs/
2006-07-23 09:26:04 · answer #4 · answered by The Big Shot 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go to http://www.schoolmatch.com/search/index.cfm
Good Luck
2006-07-23 09:36:48 · answer #5 · answered by STRETCH 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't move to Houston!!
2006-07-23 09:26:40 · answer #6 · answered by kel d 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you can Google it
2006-07-23 09:19:58 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋