Wednesday, December 13, 2006

School shopping? Read this

You may not know this if you don’t have a child in school or ready to start school in Charlotte, but late fall and early winter – i.e. now – is prime hunting season for schools.

For weeks parents of children who’ll start kindergarten August 2007 have been touring different Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to help them decide where to enroll their kids. Regularly assigned school? Magnet school?

Despite what some people say, CMS offers some excellent schools, including many highly regarded and wildly popular magnet schools. Some of its regular schools are so highly sought after they affect housing prices in their attendance zones.

But some CMS schools are clearly troubled. How do parents, especially people new to Charlotte, learn which is which? Just asking real estate agents or people you happen to run into doesn’t guarantee you’ll get anything close to accurate information. I keep hearing about real estate agents who wave people away from CMS altogether. That may not be doing their clients any favors, if you consider the costs of private school tuition, or of commuting in from outlying counties.

Any careful parent, even those not new to Charlotte, will have questions, such as:

– Which magnet programs are so popular your chances of winning a seat in the lottery are small?

– Are there some strong, but “undiscovered” magnet programs where your chances of getting a seat are good?

– Which schools have strong principals?

– How much weight should I put on a school’s test scores, alone? (Answer: Look beyond simple numbers. One example I’m familiar with: Language immersion students typically don’t do so hot in reading on third-grade tests, but by fifth grade their scores rise significantly.) Here's a link with a lot of test scores (though the latest are 2004-05).

I’ve recently had an e-mail exchange with someone who’s moving to Charlotte and is trying to figure out where to place her child for next year. He’ll be a third-grader. I’ve helped at open house tours at our daughter’s magnet program (where she attended K-8) and I know how eager parents are for first-hand information about a school or magnet program, even when they’ve done prodigious amounts of research.

So it occurred to me that my blog-readers might be a resource for parents looking at schools.

Put your questions/comments about specific schools below.

Here’s some of what I told my e-mail correspondent about choosing a school in CMS.

Whatever elementary school you choose – there are a bunch of really excellent ones – also look ahead to middle and high school. Even if you go with a magnet program, you want to make sure your house is in the attendance zone for good middle and high schools. Myers Park High is the premiere high (OK, so I’m biased), though parents at Providence would probably fight me on that. Other good high schools include South Meck, the northern high schools (North Meck, Hopewell, etc.) Ardrey Kell High in the south is brand new, but the attendance zone is affluent so it’ll probably have great test scores. Butler and East Meck also have good reputations, especially East Meck’s International Baccalaureate magnet program. And Northwest School of the Arts magnet – (grades 6-12) has a devoted following.

Middle schools: the Alexander Graham (a.k.a. “AG”) Middle School is fabulous. Lots of Observer folks send their kids to Piedmont Middle School and rave about it. Davidson IB Middle is great. Randolph IB program is also excellent.

On to elementary schools. There are some excellent and very popular magnet programs. Best bet if you’re looking at mid-year enrollment: Call the school and talk to the principal. Some schools have waiting lists, some don’t.

Reasons you might want magnets: Interesting and enriching programs. Also, stable assignment. The neighborhoods way out at the fringes (Lake Wylie, Steele Creek, Ballantyne, Huntersville, Davidson, etc.) are growing so fast and new schools opening so often they keep having to re-do attendance lines. Many people prefer those far suburban areas because the families are relatively affluent and well-educated and there’s less racial and ethnic diversity, which some people fear (although others relish it). The disadvantage of those areas: schools very crowded, changing assignment zones.

Now, back to the issue at hand, i.e. elementary magnet programs:

– Montessori is very popular.

– Elizabeth Traditional and Myers Park Traditional elementaries are very popular with strong parent support, including parents who could easily send their kids to private schools.

– Language immersion is growing in popularity. It’s a fabulous program, strong principal, good test scores (our daughter was in French immersion so I know more about this than some other magnet programs). Schools: Smith on Tyvola Road is K-8, a countywide magnet for German, Japanese and Chinese, meaning anywhere you live, you can go there, and all middle school immersion kids can go there. K-5 French and Spanish are divided into attendance zones between Smith and Oaklawn. Hard to get into beyond first grade level, though sometimes there’s “late immersion” for older grades.

– Spanish immersion elementary is at Collinswood. It gets great test scores. Principal Maria Petrea is fabulous, wins national recognition, etc. But the school population is about half Hispanic, and this scares off some white parents – go figure.

– Dilworth Elementary: performing arts magnet. Great neighborhood.

– Other, regular elementaries that are popular and well-regarded include (but aren’t limited to): Selwyn, Sharon, Eastover, Cotswold, Beverly Woods (the new super sends his daughter there), Davidson (all those professors’ kids), plus most any of them out in the fast-growing affluent suburban neighborhoods such as McKee Road, Providence Spring, etc.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mary – always hating on the suburbs – “Many people prefer those far suburban areas because the families are relatively affluent and well-educated and there’s less racial and ethnic diversity, which some people fear (although others relish it)”

Fact:

Huntersville Elmentery –
65% reduce lunch
31% black
35% hispanic


Opposed to
Myers Park –
56% white
1.4% Hispanic
73% lunch paid by students

Looks like the racial and ethic diversity is found in the suburbs opposed to Mary’s Neighborhood – But why should the facts matter when we have perception that rules the day?

Anonymous said...

I am a Realtor, and it's not fair to lump us all together as people who are steering folks into outlying counties for schools (I provide information on all of the local systems-a lot of families do wind up in the outlying counties for stability and the fact that those systems are smaller-a lot of others stay in Charlotte for various reasons). I will never understand why someone in the Myers Park district would slam the suburbs which are more diverse both ethnically and socioeconomically than south Charlotte. I advise all parents to do their own research-tons of information is available online, both subjective and objective.

Mary Newsom said...

A few facts from the 2006 school profiles on the CMS web site:
--Huntersville Elementary: 77.5% white, 10.5% African American, 7.2% Hispanic.
--Myers Park High: 66 % white, 21.3% African American, 4.1% Hispanic
--Providence Spring Elementary (I picked this one to check only because I mentioned it: 87.4% white, 3.5% African American, 2.4% Hispanic.

My point was not to say the farther out neighborhoods were worse (or better), only to give some pros and cons. Nor was it to say that the schools I mentioned were the only good ones.

And to clarify, the note I sent to the soon-to-be Charlottean focused on more of the close-in schools because she had indicated she and her husband were interested in living closer to town than they do in their current city. And because I'm more familiar with them than with the very new, or very far away schools.

And, to commenter # 2, I didn't mean to imply that all real estate agents do this, but some do. And you're totally right that there's tons of information available online.

Anonymous said...

My best advice to people -- VISIT the schools you're considering. CMS puts out lots of statistics, but they don't tell you much about what actually goes on at the schools. We send our son to the gifted magnet program at Shamrock Gardens. Most of Shamrock's students qualify for free or reduced lunch and the school's test scores are far from great. More important, it is a wonderful school. We love it. It is a small, cheerful close-knit school with dedicated teachers and great kids from a wide range of racial and ethnic backgrounds. Our son is thriving both socially and academically. If you pay us a visit, you can see it for yourself. Please stop by.

Anonymous said...

Mary, On what do you base the following comment--"Spanish immersion elementary is at Collinswood. It gets great test scores. Principal Maria Petrea is fabulous, wins national recognition, etc. But the school population is about half Hispanic, and this scares off some white parents – go figure"--? Did Maria Petrea actually tell you this?

Andria said...

Chantilly Elementary has a popular new Montessori program for pre-K, K, 1st and 2nd grades with 3rd grade being added next year. It seems several families with "artsy" cultures are choosing the school.

When looking at different schools, ask what the turnover rate is among students. (Will your children and you make friends just to have them move away?)

Go beyond race and income. Check the family survey results at the school profiles at CMS website. How many other parents have read to or with their children more than 10 times during the past school year? What percentage of families responded to the family survey? (Will your children and yourself be hanging out with other families that value education, no matter what race or income?)

Does the school celebrate its diversity and use it as an educational tool? Read the cover story of the latest "Time" magazine and think about the skills your children will need later.

Research and read more. The best way to get the best free public education in Mecklenburg is to plan on devoting many hours to research as well as homework and school events. Strong schools exist, but finding them and finding out how to get in to them and picking the right courses takes work. Change will be constant. Show your children that education and community are important by spending time, and not just money.
Share what you learn with your friends.

My only child's a junior, and has attended four wonderful CMS schools: one changing neighborhood school, three magnets, one of which we slid into after waiting-list agony. All the time and research was worth it. And we never had to move to get into a "good" zone.

Anonymous said...

I'm curious if anyone has any information on Montclaire. While the demographics might scare some, it strikes me as a cheerful (and small) school with good class size numbers.

I had a wide ranging education, from mostly poor classmates in elementary school to a very affluent private middle school to a southern high school in CMS during the era of busing. All were very different but the quality of the education was outstanding.

My husband and I are looking at magnets and private school in addition to Montclaire.

Anonymous said...

My older kids went to Dilworth Elementary in its "heydey" before it was magnetized, and my younger kids went/are going to Selwyn. I was/am thrilled with the teachers at both schools. The upside of attending an affluent school is the parents can raise unbelievable amounts of money (Nearly 100,000 so far this year alone) and there are lots of stay at home moms who volunteer and do an amazing job for the school. The teachers are happy and calm and don't seem to have the pressure at other schools have. The only downside, and I say this a a long-time opponent of bussing for diversity, is that I have seen/felt a definite negative affect of having such a homogeneous, wealthy school population. Namely, "affuenza" is rampant. If you are one of the few poor, minority or even middle class kids at the school it can be pretty brutal in terms of teacher favoritism, a lack of birthday party invites, playdates, ridicule for not wearing name brand clothes, etc. And the administration, in spite of their best intentions, really do cower to these wealthy influential parents and their often snotty offspring.

Anonymous said...

I like veggie burgers.

Mary Newsom said...

Answering the question from anonymous, above, re Collinswood. The CMS website school profile shows that the percent of students at EOG-test level 3 or 4 for 5th graders for the past 3 years: Math: 100%, 100%, 91.6%
Reading: 100%, 97.7%, 94.2%

The school's ethnic breakdown is 57% Hispanic, 17% African American, 16.5% white, 7% multi-racial.

We've had news coverage of some of Ms. Petrea's honors.

And I've talked with some parents who are interested in language immersion (from my years as an immersion parent) who shy from Collinswood due to its ethnic and economic demographic profile. Clearly, not all do. But some do.

Anonymous said...

Regarding Collinswood, how sad that some parents seemingly interested in broadening their children's languages skills are afraid to expose them to the people that speak it.

Anonymous said...

Mary - It would have been very helpful for you to initially disclose that your original emailer wanted to know about closer in town schools...would have spared some grief. Since your emailer wanted to know about uptown schools and since many magnets are located there, it did make some sense for you to detail the magnet programs. But in this system, to keep it healthy and vital, we also need to encourage families to stay at their home schools and help strengthen those ties with support, be it financial or voluntary.

But, you do bring up some interesting points to consider. When chosing an elementary school you must look ahead to the feeder middle and high school. Yet I felt your piece was very biased towards magnets (and Myers Park! Go Panthers). Magnets have their place in this system, this is true. But there are a vast number of parents who use magnets, not for their unique programs(how can you make a decision for Johnny kindergartner or Susie second grader that they will even like or succeed in language immersion or communication arts?), but as a way to leave their low-performing home school. Why do you think so few students from successful schools who are verified as academically gifted head to an uptown gifted magnet? They stay at the home school because it has 75% of its students already qualified as gifted and therefore the school acts accordingly.

I think it a little forward to say that magnets offer more stability than home schools. I have been here a LONG time and have seen magnet programs moved from school to school. Most of your schools within the middle ring do not have reassignments and it is a very stable area. But demographics do change in these middle ring neighborhoods, some age out,and eventually re-gentrify. Some areas add infill housing (as you well know from your city growth columns). And yes, in areas of high growth where new schools are projected, the boundary lines can be redrawn a few times. But realtors can do their part. The info from CMS is available as to where the future schools are predicted and there SHOULD BE a fair disclosure for people moving into the area.

One thing to check out with schools is the turnover of principals and staff. Do they have award winning staff? Science teacher of the year? PE teacher of the year? Technology teacher of the year? What is their Talent Development program like and who is the faculty? How does a school assist with those that learn at a different pace? For high schools, what High level academics are offered and what is the percentage of students who PASS those courses? The suburbs do have enormous growth and some very high performing schools. But there are some consequences. Many new schools in the suburbs lose principals and some core staff when a new school opens and a principal is re-assigned.

I think it unfair to categorize the suburbs as you did, intentional or not. Yes, Charlotte is high growth and people chose to live based on affordability and availability (another of your columns). Yet there are long term residents who have occupied our suburban spaces long before the developers knocked down the cow fields and to suggest they are there to escape being with people different then they are is unfair.

Anonymous said...

Mary, you seem somewhat hateful towards the suburbs in most of your articles and blog postings. It seems to be more than just a distain for that type of development. You actually use derogatory and insulting language on a regular basis. You use somewhat clever insults when you do it, but it is a hateful and insulting tone none the less.

Can I ask why you dislike the concept of the suburbs so much that you have chosen to practically make it a career? It seems to be somewhat obessive for you.

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Also, it seem to be not just the developments in the suburbs that you hate, but also the people who would even choose that lifestyle. Mary, why all of the hate in your writing?