In Decatur has a report and opinion from the school info session on Decatur’s application for charter school status.

A couple comments on the opinion follow the break…

In addition to SAT scores, I think its important to also consider the quality of teachers, special programs, and school culture overall, before making a final judgment about Decatur schools . Coming from a liberal arts background, I really see the disadvantages to teachers having to teach specifically towards standardized tests as opposed to providing a well-rounded education. I don’t currently have kids in the school system, so I’m probably not the best judge of this, but I would think that if parents were unhappy with the Decatur schools, no amount of PR would help the negative word-of-mouth. I would appreciate any additional comments from parents with kids currently in Decatur schools.

As much as I take them with a grain of salt, test scores do play a role (since they are the only real tangible measurement tool), so I’ve provided Decatur’s Greatschools ratings for schools based on CRCT test scores compared to state averages below.

Out of 10 possible points…

Elementary: Oakhurst: 9, Clairemont: 8, Winnona Park: 8, Glennwood: 6

Middle: Renfroe: 8

High: Decatur: 7

While it seems that DHS and Glennwood have the most work to do to improve test score averages, I’m totally impressed by the elementary schools.

In regards to the top 25 school admissions litmus test…while students from all over the country apply to ivy league schools, it usually takes more than high SAT scores to get into these places. Connections, ancestry and where you grew up still play a huge role in admission decisions.