Lewisville ISD
Plano ISD
Frisco ISD
McKinney ISD
Allen ISD
Prosper ISD

Looking at those areas and needed some insight.

Lewisville is great with a few patches of average. It includes Flower Mound.

allen is great! if you would like a report let me know....

[This message has been edited by teamtopdog (edited 1/28/2009 6:24a).]

Are you looking for work or for a child?

Accountability Rating System

Check this out as the schools within a district can vary as said above (Lewisville is a huge school district).

That said, keep in mind that scores can change over time. When we first moved to Grapevine, the scores for the elementary and middle schools our kid would go to were great. They went down over time.

Regardless of scores, change happens in areas so take that into account. Don't focus on middle school or high school if your kid isn't even in K yet. Look at the elementary schools first and see if you would be happy with the current progression, realizing you may need to change your plan.

The following I have experience with:

Plano ISD - great about 10+ years ago. Good now. Good education and extra-curricular options, but nowhere near their heyday of 20-25 years ago. (I am a little biased as I graduated in 1990 from PSHS), but I know people I went to school with who now have kids there that say the same.

McKinney- Good schools with good facilities. Upgrading and building new schools and libraries with the latest technology.

Frisco-same as McKinney above, but the HighSchools are specifically designed to stay in the 4A classification for extra-curricular (read:sports) activites, thereby reducing competition with neighboring 5A school districts (Read: Allen, Plano, McKinney). Also, tax rate for Frisco Schools is about 0.5% less than Mckinney. They have a brand-new hisgh school opening next Fall at Independence and El Dorado, as well as mulitple Elementary and Middle Schools just opened, or opening soon depending on the neighborhood.

It depends on how old your kid is now. Urban decay has been working its way out through the concentric rings of suburbs, and tends to first arrive in each area about 10 years after buildout. You could spend all of your 30s and 40s desperately trying to stay one step ahead of social entropy in successively more distant subdivisions.

Or, you could pick an older place that seems to have already reached stability even if that level seems a little less than what you'd find in the new subdivisions with all the other Joneses. Then, invest your own time in your kids. Poverty isn't a disease your kids will catch. As long as the school operates at a certain functional minimum, the single most important factor in the success of your child is you and what home environment you provide.

Not every Plano West graduate is a National Merit Scholar; plenty of Flower Mound kids end up at DCCCD; and plenty of Carroll and Heritage kids attend TCCD and go on to become office clerks. Whether that's a bad thing depends on if you look at Life as a contest to be won/lost, or as a lesson to be learned.





[This message has been edited by wannaggie (edited 1/28/2009 12:31p).]

wannaggie is absolutely right. We moved to Richardson in 1970 when it was THE place to be. A few years later, everyone was clamoring to move to Plano, THE place to live. Then a few after that, the same crowd was moving on to Allen, THE place to live. Currently, it is Frisco, THE place to live and, somewhat McKinney, THE place to live. I wonder how long it will be before Sherman and Denison will be THE places to live? We have stayed in Richardson, raised our kids, sent them to great schools, and watched all this happen. We are content where we live. The neighborhood is stable, the city government is great, and the schools have adapted to all the various ethnic groups who live here now. I'm really glad that we didn't "chase" after THE place to live. Our house is paid for. Traffic is not terrible and we are now considered "close in" to downtown Dallas.

Great tips! Keep em coming.
Ours is in the kindergarten and will start 1st grade in the area next yr. We are looking at the schools/districts first, then narrowing down the neighborhood, however your comments raise interesting points. I'd like to hear how much of the taxes you actually see in the schools/ academic results.

Lake Highlands>>>> all other places in dallas

Like someone above said: Lewisville has the Flower Mound, Castle Hills-area and north Carrollton schools. But it also has The Colony and parts of Lewisville. In LISD, the important thing is location location location (and house prices reflect that).

True...the 'Fightin Farmers' aren't so much farmers anymore.

As a teacher in Prosper, I think your child will recieve more personal attention without any sacrifice of facilities and resources at Prosper than any of the other surrounding districts.

The new middle school and the high school that is opening next year rivals any in the metroplex as far as technology and resources.

If your kid is lucky, they might even teach him how to spell "receive" properly at Prosper.

And if he's really lucky, they will teach him when to use the plural form of verbs.

[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 1/29/2009 1:32p).]

Prospwn3d.

Richardson is tough to beat for schools up there.

Now now guys, don't discourage others from offering their insight. I need all the help I can get.

LifeLongAg,

quote:

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We moved to Richardson in 1970 when it was THE place to be.

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quote:

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We have stayed in Richardson, raised our kids, sent them to great schools, and watched all this happen.

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quote:

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I'm really glad that we didn't "chase" after THE place to live.

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I like this approach. I would like to settle in a nice area that I can comfortably live in for the next 50 years. Where do you think the Richardson 1970 equivalent is located today? Surely in 1970 you could have chosen an older established neighborhood in North or East Dallas with a small 1920's-1940's home instead of moving to THE hot suburb. Richardson was THE place to move, and it remains a great city. Obviously though Richardson was a much different place when you moved there in 1970. Most of the houses were less than 10 years old and the neighborhoods were filled with mostly young families. There are still plenty of young families, but the demographics are changing since so many residents have stayed in their original home.

Frisco is probably the Richardson that we knew in 1970. It will be interesting to see how it "ages" over the next 30 or so years. Plano has "aged" pretty well, except for parts of the East Side. I think it all depends on how the city is run and by the quality of the schools. The problem with Dallas is it is way too big. The city government is a mess and the schools are pitiful. And I am a graduate of the Dallas ISD from the 60's so I know what I'm talking about. There are parts of Dallas that are great, such as Lakewood and old East Dallas, but, those neighborhoods are few and far between.

One of my coworkers has a nice house in Lakewood, and it seems like something gets stolen or vandalized almost weekly....no thanks.

Comeby is coming to Dallas
Oh Noes!

I teach and coach in Richardson ISD, but know other teachers, coaches, parents in each of the districts listed and they are all SOLID. I know that's not a specific recommendation, but I think you would be happy with any of them.

All you need to know about DFW school districts can be found here:

http://www.republictitle.com/outbound/ResGuide/Section%2004%20-%20School-Scores.pdf

FYI about McKinney. My Brother-In-Law lives in McKinney. McKinney is busing kids all over the place. They are trying to keep all their schools diversified. They don't want an East/West thing to happen, ie, everyone with money at Boyd and old McKinney at McKinney High. Not sure where McKinney North falls.

Graduated from Plano ISD in 2006 from Plano West. Academics are top notch, especially in the upper level classes.

I am a product of Richardson ISD as are my kids.... two sons have already graduated from Richardson Pearce and they are both currently at A&M... my daughter is a cheerleader at Pearce currently....... RISD has maintained its high standards in spite of urban sprawl.... the district is much more diverse now, but it's still considered one of the best..... With RISD, you know what you are going to get as the area is mature and will not likely experience great demographic changes as some of the newer ones will... plus, Richardson has some great mature neighborhoods that are not the McMansion cookie cutters you see in some of the newer areas.......

All these tips are coming in handy. I think we've narrowed it down a bit....


Nice find mbaag.