The Best High Schools In The Dallas, TX. Area?

[DisnyMama]

I live in So. Calif. and just recently became unemployed after almost 11 years with the same job. I made good money with no degree but that was due to the length of time I was at my job. I have always known that if I ever lost my job staying in CA. just would not be possible any longer. My ex-sister in law worked for AT&T for over 12 years and the same happened with her and they just sold there house and are moving to AZ. for the same reason. DS and I have been looking at various cities all over the country and the the Dallas/FW area has the most job potential with decent pay and the housing rates are doable. Another plus for DS is his dad lives in McKinney so he would get to see him. I dislike the idea of being that close to my ex and his wife do to various reasons but I can live with it as long as I am not that close to them. I am hoping that some of you that live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area can help me with what are the best cities as far as the High Schools. I have been looking at apartments in Plano, Irving....you know the different outlying cities around Dallas.

I appreciate all the help I can get. Thank you.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Frisco would be good for you. It is new, lots of shopping and would make getting to McKinney less of a headache. Also good distance to Dallas. This should be your #1.
Think NORTH of Dallas. Too much crime here so everyone lives north.

Plano is good for sure if your son is into sports, but it is also very competitive here so he would need to be good.
It is an old area that has the rich/poor thing going on. It has every shopping thing known to man from what I see.
Not bad, just not my taste.

Grapevine-Colleyville area is great. Has the best High School, according to the News Ranking thing. Again this is a rich/poor thing.

I live in Flower Mound. I like the school rules for the distict for my dd.

Did you work for AT&T? DH worked for SBC, we moved from St. Louis to escape getting laid off last year, and finally after this thing went down DH was able to secure a good spot. Man it was flipping torture!!!!

People are constantly moving here to the Dallas area. It is bananas.
No one lives near Dallas. People drive, traffic is a nightmare here.

It will remind you of home.

 

[mickeysgal]

What sources can you use to look at high school rankings for this area?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I would imagine each district has a website. Dallas is www.dallasisd.org but most of the Dallas ISD schools aren't very good. The magnet high schools are VERY good - the math/science magnet is supposed to be one of the top high schools in the nation. The performing arts high school is also very good. The drawback is that you have to apply and be accepted to those programs - you can't just move in and enroll.

Plano ISD is very good, but like someone else said, very competitive. I don't know much about Irving. Funny, they just don't get much press - good or bad.

Southlake is supposed to be good. Highland Park is fabulous but prohibitively expensive.

There is a book called "Dallas Guide to Private Schools" that might be worth a look. If you think you might live in an area with bad schools this would help you budget for private school. Depending on where you will be working it might make sense to live closer to your job, reduce your commute (and the expense of gas and tolls), and send your child to private school.

My sisters have gone to Coppell public schools and those seem to be pretty good. I would think Coppell would be better than Irving.

Good luck!

 

[Planogirl]

The Grapevine-Colleyville district is probably the best in the area but Coppell, Flower Mound, Frisco, Allen and Plano are all good too. My personal favorite little community is Allen but that's just a personal preference. School-wise I would stay away from Dallas, almost anywhere south of Dallas, Hurst-Euless-Bedford and Arlington for sure but that's just me.

As for proximity to McKinney, Allen, Plano and Frisco are quite close. If you want to be further out, you'd probably be better off in the other areas.

 

[KathyTX]

I think Irving schools are part of the DISD (Dallas ISD).

Here's a handy chart that lists area schools and includes average SAT and $ spent per student, two pretty good indicators of school quality:
http://www.dallasrelo.com/compare.html

This supports the comments from most of the others here.

Highland Park/University Park are at the top of the heap for scores, but are VERY pricy areas in the heart of Dallas. Think Ross Perot type neighbors... your housing dollar won't go very far there, and it's a whole little society of it's own. Heck, it IS the society pages.

Plano- huge, highly competitive, wide range of housing prices and neighborhood quality. They've had a reputation for good schools for many years.

Frisco- north of Plano. It's kind of become the spillover location for Plano. Development here is pretty new, traffic is a NIGHTMARE. If your job is close, it could be a good location.

Allen and McKinney- neighboring towns, big growth areas on the northeast side of Dallas. The scores indicate good schools.

Carrollton/Farmer's Branch- on the north/northwest side of Dallas, not as far north as Plano. The scores are good, which surprised me a bit. Again, a WIDE range of neighborhood quality in these areas.

Coppell, Flower Mound, Grapevine, Southlake, Colleyville (not on this chart, the last two are considered Ft. Worth area schools) - These are the areas northwest of Dallas, northeast of Ft. Worth. Lots of recent home development, generally affluent middle to upper-middle class, good schools, good shopping, easy to get to DFW airport, lots of relocation into and out of these towns. Easy access to DFW airport and the high tech areas between Dallas and Fort Worth (Las Colinas, etc.)

 

[The Mystery Machine]

What sources can you use to look at high school rankings for this area?

You can look at the Newsweek "Best High School" ranking deal.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12532678/site/newsweek/

Although I would take everything here with a grain of salt.

 

[Planogirl]

I forgot about Carrollton! Yes, that's a good one too. Does anyone know about Lewisville? I love the location.

In Frisco's defense, much of the traffic is due to heavy construction of roads and highways along with ridiculous growth. Once that's finished, we should be OK out here. The only problem is that all highways will be tollroads but at least the gridlock should be gone!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Frisco has opened up alot of those roads and it is improving pretty well.
Here in Flower Mound they had that construction and now it is done and GREAT!

Carollton had alot of "rules" entering HS, which my dd would not have benefitted from the good quality part of the HS.

I like the Lewisville ISD, because dd is allowed to take preAP/AP classes (except Math), without having been on their "Honors track". That is what sealed the deal for us.

 

[KathyTX]

Does anyone know about Lewisville? I love the location.

Flower Mound is in the Lewisville ISD, so those scores are combined.

 

[arminnie]

Highland Park/University Park are at the top of the heap for scores, but are VERY pricy areas in the heart of Dallas. Think Ross Perot type neighbors... your housing dollar won't go very far there, and it's a whole little society of it's own. Heck, it IS the society pages.

If you currently own in Southern California and do not need a lot of space, the Highland Park school district might not be out of your range. Yes, it is very,very expensive but not compared to California.

I lived in University Park in a tiny little house in the very last block of UP. It is a fabulous place to live. Not only do they have their own school systems (which is top notch), but they also have their own police. It is so safe.

But I would personally live near your job. Traffic is awful. I worked in Plano when I lived in the Park Cities (20 years ago) and none of the streets went through. Even though I was against the traffic it was the most horrendous commute -even worse than when I lived in Houston.

My relatives who had all lived in Irving for decades (since the 50s) have all moved to Flower Mound. They love it there.

 

[janette]

We live in Carrollton but are also in the Lewisville School District. My 14yo DD will be starting HS next year and I'm impressed with the opportunities she'll have.

The HS's are large and very competitive. My DD said that the lowest grade in the top 10% of the HS last year was 103. They do offer many AP courses and other things but there is a large segment of the HS taking those classes.

School district I avoided when I moved were Dallas & Plano. Plano though it has great schools also has a reputation for the spoiled rich kid type. Just not where I wanted for my kids.

Almost all the districts have schools in lower economic areas. They do not offer as much opportunity but I've read articles that people choose the schools for their children sometimes to improve their class placement. You can look at the demographics of the school and see which schools would be in this group.

Check the address of the apartment or house on the school districts web site. When I was looking at houses I often found the school information wrong on the MLS listing.

 

[janette]

Wanted to add, what subjects interest your DS? You might find that some of the schools offer more in that area and it could help in your decision.

I know our HS offers some great options in Art which will be wonderful for my 11yo DD when we get there. My understanding is that many of that type of offering varies by HS.

You might look at the websites for the HS's and see if they have organizations that your DS would enjoy as part of your search.

 

[Planogirl]

Janette makes some excellent points. Be sure to ask what district the address you're looking at is in. I had a friend who lived in Plano but her district was Allen. Many of the districts tend to overlap into different towns.

Plano does also tend to have that rich-kid problem. Supposedly, they're working on it but who knows how much it has changed if at all. I've been told that it's a big issue at the West Plano High School where all of the richer communities are.

 

[m&m's mom]

Another vote for Lewisville schools in Flower Mound. Our experience has been very good. Exemplary schools w/in walking distance - Elementary thru High School.

 

[slimplaw]

Irving schools are not part of Dallas ISD. Irving has their own independent school district. Nimitz High School in Irving has consistently placed in the top 5 of the state decathlon competition for many years.

You can look at the Newsweek article about top high schools that was recently published. I know Dallas ISD's magnet school was rated 1st and Highland Park was also high. A local magazine, D Magazine recently also rated the local high schools. North Hills Charter school in north Irving is excellent if you want a charter school. It is the only one I would recommend.
Do you want an International Baccalaureate program for your child? You may search for schools in the area that provide this program.

You may look at the Texas Education Agency website for their ratings on schools.
Also if you looked at apartments in Irving and you are looking north of Walnut Hill and MacArthur, you will be in Coppell or Carrollton districts. Irving ISD cuts off at about North Lake College.

 

[DisnyMama]

Thank you everyone so much for your all the great information. I am a little curious about what you all mean by the rich-kid thing in Plano. What does that mean as I don't quite understand. We have our own version of "rich-kid" problem here but I'm wondering if it's the same thing.

Thanks again,
Shannon

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Thank you everyone so much for your all the great information. I am a little curious about what you all mean by the rich-kid thing in Plano. What does that mean as I don't quite understand. We have our own version of "rich-kid" problem here but I'm wondering if it's the same thing.

Thanks again,
Shannon

In Texas, there seems to be ALOT of money. I never in my wildest dreams would have expected it.
For example...The kids in my dd's High School drive cars I will never own.
Some are actors, singers, etc...A guy in dd's Spanish class is cutting his own CD in country/western.

The "rich" go to public school here, not private.
This has to do with SPORTS. Sports is HUGE here. All sports!!! Plano is the MECCA in north Texas for being #1 in sports, esp FOOTBALL. They beat the snot out of us. Although we came close to winning 1 last year! We will see PLANO....
I think there is an area in Plano where the homes are in the 10mil-30mil range. As you would imagine the homes surrounding them are expensive as well.

Here in Flower Mound the mixing of the rich & "poor" doesn't seem to be an issue as much for some reason. I think because it is a very wide range of kids.

Let's put it this way....there are rivalries between each High School due to sports, which is normal.

 

[janette]

The spoiled rich kids just tend to have too much time & money. Yes, they drive better cars than most adults. There are been problems with drugs and other issues within the HS's. Almost all of the HS's have a group of kids like this just Plano seems to have a larger group.

I do have friends with children in Plano HS's and they really like it, it just wasn't one I wanted.

 

[mickeysgal]

Are there any suburbs south of the Dallas area that have good schools? What do you do if you work south - like an hour or so - of Dallas?