 
Clarie
Member
Username: Clarie
Post Number: 11
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 2:41 pm: |    |
I have 3 children. Elementary, middle and high school age.
We are looking to purchase a home in an area with a decent public school system.
I was trying to ask about the Oak Park schools, but could not get a current pulse on that district.
Anyone know of any decent areas outside of Detroit? |
Viziondetroit
Member
Username: Viziondetroit
Post Number: 1291
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 3:06 pm: | |
I can't speak for any schools outside of Detroit, but for the middle and elementary aged kids, I would suggest Burton International school. I have two sons at that school I am very impressed. It goes from pre-k up to 8th grade. The school is on Pine Street near Tiger Stadium |
Frumoasa
Member
Username: Frumoasa
Post Number: 79
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 5:17 pm: | |
For the money, Hazel Park schools are a great bargain in terms of quality. Their facilities are nice, the teachers in general happy to be there and have resources available for their students. They also have a walkable community, so many kids walk to school, which is great when combined with the fact that they offer art, gym and music at the elementary level. Oak Park is acceptable, but Pepper Elementary has often not made adequate yearly progress (AYP), so make sure the school your children attend is where you want them to be by talking to parents in the community, visiting a district wide open house and investigating whether the schools offer a program and track that you wish your child to be on (IE: language academies, arts as an elective, marching band, JROTC etc...)
My personal recommendations are Southfield, Hazel Park, Farmington, and then of course Bloomfield, Birmingham, Troy, and Utica if they are in your price range.
Districts I would not recommend are Madison (not Lamphere), Clarenceville, Berkley (price wise, not worth it), Van Dyke, and Ferndale (they have a rigid curriculum that does not allow children to explore as they learn).
I had many pre student teaching experiences in many districts before I graduated and got my teaching certificate and I was really pleased with Munger middle school in Detroit (now part of the Chadsey 7-12 school), United Oaks Elem. in Hazel Park and especially the Edison Oakland Academy in Ferndale. But do your research because you want to make sure your kids are in the best environment for them with the most opportunities and individual concern for them as students, not standardized test statistics. |
Granmontrules
Member
Username: Granmontrules
Post Number: 251
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 8:45 pm: | |
Why do you have to look outside Detroit? We live in the City and have our children in DPS. They are doing VERY well and our daughter is even learning two languages. Don't get stuck in the media hype there are plenty of good DPS schools. |
Renfirst
Member
Username: Renfirst
Post Number: 103
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 9:21 pm: | |
Clarie,
Southfield's school district has a pretty good reputation... |
Tayshaun22
Member
Username: Tayshaun22
Post Number: 381
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 11:51 pm: | |
Allen Park |
Jasoncw
Member
Username: Jasoncw
Post Number: 454
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 12:05 am: | |
There are websites which display a variety of statistics for a lot of schools. There are also usually comments sections for people to review the school.
You can search google for "school ratings" or something like that to find some sites. |
Psychgrad
Member
Username: Psychgrad
Post Number: 9
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 12:15 am: | |
I agree with tayshaun22 - Allen Park has some very good schools. Nice neighborhoods around the schools and alot of community support for them. |
Clarie
Member
Username: Clarie
Post Number: 12
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 12:30 am: | |
I am getting lots of good responses. I looked at both Ferndale and Southfield. Ferndale scores are a little higher, so would their curriculum be more challenging?
I had not thought about Hazel Park. I was trying to stay away from districts that accepts students that do not live in the district. I think that causes a lot of problems. That was the draw back with O.P |
Firstandten
Member
Username: Firstandten
Post Number: 114
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 12:32 am: | |
DPS has some good schools at each level that you have your children. Problem is you will most likely have to drive all over town to take advantage of them. For Example, send two of your kids to Burton and then its a short drive to send your high schooler to Cass |
Firstandten
Member
Username: Firstandten
Post Number: 115
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 12:42 am: | |
DPS has some good schools at each level that you have your children. Problem is you will most likely have to drive all over town to take advantage of them. For Example, send two of your kids to Burton and then its a short drive to send your high schooler to Cass |
Frumoasa
Member
Username: Frumoasa
Post Number: 81
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 10:49 am: | |
Clarie: Please consider test scores in addition to the other offerings in the school. The reason (IMHO) Ferndale's scores are a bit higher than Southfield on the MEAP is because they devote a significant amount of time pre MEAP to "test preparation." Preparation is a misnomer, it is drillwork that teaches students how to choose the best multiple choice answer using context clues and estimation. That is not creative thinking or real learning, so make sure if you are looking at a district, you talk to a parent or teacher in the district and ask them how much time per day students spend on test preparation. If it is more than 20-30 minutes 3x a week, be very wary of those scores as an accurate barometer of student learning. You can teach kids a test and they will get good scores, but when you put them in the real world to apply those same concepts, they will be clueless if it is not put in context. BTW: Most schools of choice districts have limited enrollment, so don't worry about a district not serving its community if it accepts schools of choice students, just investigate which percentage of students are in district and what percentage are out of district and at which level they accept new students (ie: KDG only, etc...). Many districts are schools of choice but do not heavily advertise it, such as Berkley, Southfield, and even Troy. |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 2153
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 10:53 am: | |
Many districts are schools of choice but do not heavily advertise it, such as Berkley, Southfield, and even Troy.
West Bloomfield, Farmington Hills, etc...
Didn't Southfield stop accepting students who do not reside in Oakland County? |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 6791
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 11:04 am: | |
They probably did, Iheartthed, due to high enrollment. |
Firstandten
Member
Username: Firstandten
Post Number: 117
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 11:33 am: | |
Frumoasa- Off topic a bit but whats wrong with drilling for the test. Much of learning is rote memorization anyways, and if you can't perform on the standardized tests you dig an academic hole for yourself. At least you can buy some time until the students can apply those concepts to the real world |
Clarie
Member
Username: Clarie
Post Number: 19
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 7:50 pm: | |
Yes, southfield only accepts oakland county students. That is a good thing. |
Arrogancy
Member
Username: Arrogancy
Post Number: 24
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 10:27 am: | |
Don't let anyone tell you DPS schools are "good"; they are horrible and incomparable to Birmingham, Troy, etc. from every single possible aspect you can think of. And this is from someone who went to King and Cass. It's like night and day; people are so quick to defend the city that they just blurt out blind support for anything. |
The_ed
Member
Username: The_ed
Post Number: 927
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 1:09 pm: | |
We live in Detroit and our children go to an Oakland County School. Their grades are excellent (4.0)! They were "invited" to attend school there. They are guests at the school and will remain there until they graduate. I wouldn't want them to be educated in the Detroit Public School system. I love Detroit but I really don't like the school system. |
Frumoasa
Member
Username: Frumoasa
Post Number: 82
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 1:16 pm: | |
On the subject of drilling for the test...there is only so much time in a school day and when students spend significant amounts of time learning skills that will help them in very limited circumstances (We take very few high stakes tests in our adult lives) we are taking time away from learning that will help our students long term, as well as giving them the skills they need for the test. When a student learns fractions in a whole context (why we use them, how to compute them, how we use them) it is natural that the student will be able to apply those skills on a test, so quality, whole learning takes the place of test preparation. Test preparation is a band aid for when the curriculum does not put the learning in context for students. When students get instruction that is age appropriate, explains the "why and how" and have ample time to practice their skills in a self directed and constructivist fashion, they will learn much more than any MEAP drill book time that schools seem to be giving in lieu of recess (another pet peeve). |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 2175
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 1:25 pm: | |
quote:I wouldn't want them to be educated in the Detroit Public School system. I love Detroit but I really don't like the school system.
If I had a child, I think I'd be hard pressed to find a public school system in America in which I would want them to be educated. |
The_ed
Member
Username: The_ed
Post Number: 931
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 1:49 pm: | |
quote:
"If I had a child, I think I'd be hard pressed to find a public school system in America in which I would want them to be educated."
That's exactly what we did. We found a charter school for them to attend for the first & second grade in Southfield, and a charter school in Ferndale for the third & to the eighth grade. A teacher there, impressed with the grades, contacted the Oakland County School district and we received the "invite" for high school. |
Meaghansdad
Member
Username: Meaghansdad
Post Number: 218
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 11:20 pm: | |
grosse pointe school district |
Steelworker
Member
Username: Steelworker
Post Number: 1057
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, February 02, 2008 - 4:24 pm: | |
Im buying a house in oak park but ive looked and the test scores are lower than ferndale hazel park, berkley, southfield, But higher than almost all detroit schools. |