Living in Portola Springs
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IUSD is considering to build another HS in Norther sphere. This year Irvine HS is so full that they can not take more students into freshman year, mainly because of new students from Woodbury. In the future, as WD, WE, SG, SGE, PA40, Great Park neighborhood is built out, both Northwood HS and Irvine HS may not be able to enroll all students. It is likely that another HS will be built in this area. At least from their board meeting they did talk about it. On IUSD website it is said that the fifth school is possible in addition to PA40 middle school. Anyone has more inf on this?
USKiwi said:
Test scores can be deceiving at the high school level. The way I see it, it's all about what school feeds into those high schools. You may have a mixture of brand new elementary schools and older elementary schools attend the same middle school and so on until high school. The smarter kids are probably coming from the brand new elementary schools whereas the older schools are producing lower test schools for the schools. Are you buying this?
Irvine2Irvine
New member
sonoma said:Test scores can be deceiving at the high school level. The way I see it, it's all about what school feeds into those high schools. You may have a mixture of brand new elementary schools and older elementary schools attend the same middle school and so on until high school. The smarter kids are probably coming from the brand new elementary schools whereas the older schools are producing lower test schools for the schools. Are you buying this?
True. The test scores reflect the neighborhood in many instances. The schools with higher scores typically have more affluent SFR feeding into the system. Usually, the more apartments, condos, and affordable housing, the lower the test scores. But sending your kid to a high performing school does not guarantee success for your kid. Sometimes, it may be the opposite. An average smart kid may get used to "sitting in the back of the bus" at Uni high and end up living the rest of life like that. I konw that many kids at Uni High take ADHD drugs to help them prepare for the tests. If your kids are up to that kind of challenge, then more power to you. I know that my kids are up to that kind of challenge, nor I want them to be in that kind of atmosphere, so I will keep them away.
USKiwi said:
Something for your FB friends to consider. Colleges are more impressed with a GPA/test scores if you went to a crappy school than if you got the same GPA from a very good school. The reason is they want kids that had to overcome adversity and challenges of their environment. I almost think that I will have to take on weekly field trips to Compton to give them some good material to write about for their college essays.
Irvine2Irvine
New member
sonoma said:USKiwi said:
Something for your FB friends to consider. Colleges are more impressed with a GPA/test scores if you went to a crappy school than if you got the same GPA from a very good school. The reason is they want kids that had to overcome adversity and challenges of their environment. I almost think that I will have to take on weekly field trips to Compton to give them some good material to write about for their college essays.
Make sure your kids do some volunteering at the soup kitchen. That can only help them on their college app.
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sonoma said:Test scores can be deceiving at the high school level. The way I see it, it's all about what school feeds into those high schools. You may have a mixture of brand new elementary schools and older elementary schools attend the same middle school and so on until high school. The smarter kids are probably coming from the brand new elementary schools whereas the older schools are producing lower test schools for the schools. Are you buying this?
I agree school scores varied over years. However high scored schools tends to keep their position, that might be due to both principle's position/policy and PTA's view point. Otherwise CanyonView won't be so popular and high scored in past years.
I do not agree that schools with more condos or affordable housing around will necessary have lower scores compared to areas that have more SFRs. It's really students' attitude toward learning. However I agree that students in high scored school might not learn more than those who in average scored schools. It's really depending on person, not only the environment.
Newer schools will definitely have newer facilities and brighter classrooms than older ones. That's one of the environmental factor that we also looking at.
sonoma said:Something for your FB friends to consider. Colleges are more impressed with a GPA/test scores if you went to a crappy school than if you got the same GPA from a very good school. The reason is they want kids that had to overcome adversity and challenges of their environment. I almost think that I will have to take on weekly field trips to Compton to give them some good material to write about for their college essays.
True. However who knows how kids will do in a crappy school. They might be on top of their class, and might be average or even worse. To minimize any risk, schools with high scores are better choices with several uncontrollable uncertainties than having a "hope" that kids would be doing great and having higher GPA at a crappy school with friends who you do not trust.
USKiwi said:sonoma said:Test scores can be deceiving at the high school level. The way I see it, it's all about what school feeds into those high schools. You may have a mixture of brand new elementary schools and older elementary schools attend the same middle school and so on until high school. The smarter kids are probably coming from the brand new elementary schools whereas the older schools are producing lower test schools for the schools. Are you buying this?
I agree school scores varied over years. However high scored schools tends to keep their position, that might be due to both principle's position/policy and PTA's view point. Otherwise CanyonView won't be so popular and high scored in past years.
I do not agree that schools with more condos or affordable housing around will necessary have lower scores compared to areas that have more SFRs. It's really students' attitude toward learning. However I agree that students in high scored school might not learn more than those who in average scored schools. It's really depending on person, not only the environment.
Newer schools will definitely have newer facilities and brighter classrooms than older ones. That's one of the environmental factor that we also looking at.
I somewhat agree that it's the person, not only the environment. But let's not forget that parents play a big factor in this as well. I think parents from lower income households generally tend to neglect their kid's education more. However, I don't think that is so much the case with lower income households in Irvine. It's so secrets that parents with kids in Irvine came to live here for the safefy, cleaniness, and great public school systems of Irvine.
Irvine2Irvine
New member
USKiwi said:
Usually the case, except for Woodbury Elementary, which is relocated El Camino Real Elemenatry since the school just move with same teachers.
The school has the new facilities, but the test scores are about the same in the lower rung of the IUSD. I was surprised that even with new student demographic, the test scores came out about the same. It could be because of the same teacher, or it could be that because Woodbury has many apartments. We will probably never know. However, I have heard from many parents whose kids moved from El Camino Real to Woodbury, that the parent involvement are not very high compared to other newer schools.
usctrojancpa
Well-known member
Ummm, not quite. My parents struggled for many years after coming over here from Europe, even cleaned office buildings as their second job on nights and weekends. When it came to education, my parents were all over me and wanted to see every report card. Any grade lower than an "A" would be unacceptable in their eyes. The focus of education is more of a cultural economic factor than it is an income factor. I knew many kids in my high school who were from the expensive side of town and they were the biggest slackers.sonoma said:USKiwi said:sonoma said:Test scores can be deceiving at the high school level. The way I see it, it's all about what school feeds into those high schools. You may have a mixture of brand new elementary schools and older elementary schools attend the same middle school and so on until high school. The smarter kids are probably coming from the brand new elementary schools whereas the older schools are producing lower test schools for the schools. Are you buying this?
I agree school scores varied over years. However high scored schools tends to keep their position, that might be due to both principle's position/policy and PTA's view point. Otherwise CanyonView won't be so popular and high scored in past years.
I do not agree that schools with more condos or affordable housing around will necessary have lower scores compared to areas that have more SFRs. It's really students' attitude toward learning. However I agree that students in high scored school might not learn more than those who in average scored schools. It's really depending on person, not only the environment.
Newer schools will definitely have newer facilities and brighter classrooms than older ones. That's one of the environmental factor that we also looking at.
I somewhat agree that it's the person, not only the environment. But let's not forget that parents play a big factor in this as well. I think parents from lower income households generally tend to neglect their kid's education more. However, I don't think that is so much the case with lower income households in Irvine. It's so secrets that parents with kids in Irvine came to live here for the safefy, cleaniness, and great public school systems of Irvine.
dealcatcher
New member
I just came across this old post and I'd like to add some comments.
I agree with the posts in here that liked the lower density that PS has to offer over WB. WB is way too congested for my taste and I really hate how there are so many stop signs in WB and the streets don't connect. I feel like WB was poorly designed. None of the streets are streamlined. Like others mentioned, I too like the curved streets of PS. Makes for a much nicer drive and makes turns a lot easier since they aren't 90 degree angles found in WB. Nice to know I'm not the only one that feels this way.
As for the heat, some of the comments made in here were very subjective. I actually ran comparisons in outside temperature between PS, WB, Irvine Spectrum, and CV. Even on the hottest days, there wasn't any outside temperature difference between PS, WB, and CV. Irvine spectrum had a one degree difference. Like others mentioned, PS has a breeze that's felt on a lot of days of the year. It has to be due to the elevation difference. In PS, you don't have the congestion of all the houses blocking the breeze.
As for the comments made on how far PS is, I agree that PS is only a 3 minute drive from WB. That's not even material in my book. The only downside is that you can't walk to the grocery like some in WB. The reality is though that, out of convenience, most people drive to the grocery. Saves time and energy.
Now for the landfill, it's about 2 miles away from the landfill. That's not close enough for it to bother me. Studies that have been ran on landfills noted that 2 miles away is a safe distance. Also, it's a fact that pollution near large freeways like the 405 or 5 is a lot worse than being 2 miles away from a landfill or near a toll road. The toll road barely gets any cars.
I can honestly say that I love where I live. PS is very quant. I love it's remoteness, especially on the weekends. It's so quiet and peaceful here.
I agree with the posts in here that liked the lower density that PS has to offer over WB. WB is way too congested for my taste and I really hate how there are so many stop signs in WB and the streets don't connect. I feel like WB was poorly designed. None of the streets are streamlined. Like others mentioned, I too like the curved streets of PS. Makes for a much nicer drive and makes turns a lot easier since they aren't 90 degree angles found in WB. Nice to know I'm not the only one that feels this way.
As for the heat, some of the comments made in here were very subjective. I actually ran comparisons in outside temperature between PS, WB, Irvine Spectrum, and CV. Even on the hottest days, there wasn't any outside temperature difference between PS, WB, and CV. Irvine spectrum had a one degree difference. Like others mentioned, PS has a breeze that's felt on a lot of days of the year. It has to be due to the elevation difference. In PS, you don't have the congestion of all the houses blocking the breeze.
As for the comments made on how far PS is, I agree that PS is only a 3 minute drive from WB. That's not even material in my book. The only downside is that you can't walk to the grocery like some in WB. The reality is though that, out of convenience, most people drive to the grocery. Saves time and energy.
Now for the landfill, it's about 2 miles away from the landfill. That's not close enough for it to bother me. Studies that have been ran on landfills noted that 2 miles away is a safe distance. Also, it's a fact that pollution near large freeways like the 405 or 5 is a lot worse than being 2 miles away from a landfill or near a toll road. The toll road barely gets any cars.
I can honestly say that I love where I live. PS is very quant. I love it's remoteness, especially on the weekends. It's so quiet and peaceful here.
Have to agree. The more i've driven around PS, the more it's grown on me. The landscaping/look is very nice. Not very dense. Amenities are good. Decent views in some areas and a quiet/peaceful feel. Landfill not an issue imo (i think safe and should see how close they build in other cities) - would be more concerned about freeway pollution/noise though.dealcatcher said:
I think PS has upside once it gets a school and gets more built out with shopping, homes, etc.
Tom_Irvine_Guy
New member
dealcatcher said:
irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
And Columbus Square? Who are you... test??qwerty said: