American High schools
 

Can anyone give me some advice or point me in the right direction on information relating to High schools in the US/Colorado. My family and I are moving to Colorado this year and I am trying to find out about the education system there to see how different it is with the UK. My daughter at present is 14 and I believe she will start in year 10 when the school year commences in August in the US.
I am looking to find the most suitable/best school for my daughter in Colorado and have been trying to locate some statistics/results for schools and havent had much look on the internet!
Id be most grateful for any information/links/websites which would help me in making the right choice on a high school as I feel it is very important finding the right school:unsure:! :)

Many thanks

Re: American High schools
 

Try these two to start you off www.city-data.com/forum/colorado/ and www.greatschools.org/.

Re: American High schools
 

Hi Cazza

We moved to Colorado last summer and spent the best part of the previous year researching schools in the South Denver metro area.

Happy to share our experiences. Any idea which part of Colorado you're likely to be moving to? There are good and not so good schools and the location of work will certainly impact where you'll want to live as far as commuting is concerned.

In Colorado the schools are organized into school districts -some are extemely well funded and some are struggling. Two of the best in my area are Cherry Creek School District and Douglas County School District, both have great websites. Colorado has an annual testing system called CSAPs which children in Middle School and below take each year. Tests are in Math, English and Science - these are then reported for each school and allows schools to be compared. Trouble is those schools in well funded middle class areas do well and those in poorer areas typically do less well. This site should help you at least understand where and what the school districts are!

http://www.cde.state.co.us/index_parentstudent.htm

I'm guessing your daughter is currently in year 9 in the UK, same as my daughter would have been so she'd be starting as a Freshman in High School this August (9th grade).

Let me know which part of Colorado you're coming to and I'll try and help further.

Re: American High schools
 

How about SchoolVIEW from the Colorado Department of Education. http://www.schoolview.org/
If you click on the green link (Access) you get reports on each school district and each school..

Re: American High schools
 

Thank you for these links they will be really useful :)

Re: American High schools
 

Thank you for your reply. We are moving to Fort Collins and my daughter is in year 10 now in her uk school and will be 15 in August. :-)

Re: American High schools
 

city data is a good spot for general info and you'll want to know about the neighbour you fancy moving to because the zip code will determine which schools you go do.

Welcome to BE and good luck with the move! :)

Re: American High schools
 

Hello, I've lived in Ft Collins for 10 years (from Nottingham via Bristol and San Francisco) and have put three children through one of the high schools. A good starting point is the Poudre School District web site and especially the [I]Information for Families New to PSD[I] link at http://www.psd.k12.co.us/node/3957.

There are four mainstream high schools - Poudre, Rocky Mountain, Fort Collins and Fossil Ridge. Each has its own catchment area. In theory, you can attend any, but only on a space-available basis. Note that these are much larger than British schools, typically 1600-2000 students.

Each schools has its own unique features, but they all follow a similar curriculum except Poudre, which offers International Baccalaureate classes. As these schools start at about 7-40am and Ft Collins so-so public transport is more designed around Colorado State University, I'd plan on your daughter attending the nearest school to where you end up living ... or find somewhere close to the school you choose.

Hope this helps

Re: American High schools
 

Hi Cazza

Fort Collins is in the Poudre School District. - http://www.psdschools.org/
Since Loveland and Fort Collins are sooo close (that you pretty much leave one and enter the other w/o really realizing it) they do have separate school districts.
Loveland's school district is the Thompson http://www.thompson.k12.co.us/

What I advise my clients is to direct specific questions/concerns to the school district, talk to the teachers etc, and chat with the locals per se!! Let me know if you need further help.

Re: American High schools
 

I live in Fort Collins. The bulk of the town seems to fall into Poudre School District, though parts of the south end fall into Loveland (Thompson). Poudre schools seem to be held in slightly higher regard than Loveland, though I get the impression Loveland schools are still okay. Fossil Ridge seems to be particularly well thought of - I think it might be the newest school.

Can't tell you much more on the schools as I don't have kids but happy to give any other Fort Collins info you need.

Re: American High schools
 

Hi Cazza,

Just some terminology advice to help you:

It won't be called "year 10" here but rather "tenth grade". Each grade level in high school also has its own label:

ninth grade - freshman year - student is called a freshman or ninth grader
tenth grade - sophomore year - student is called a sophomore or tenth grader
eleventh grade - junior year - (etc)
twelfth grade - senior year - (etc)

Students typically graduate around their 18th birthday, give or take a few months depending on when they were born. Most students will turn 18 during their senior year. But this can vary by school and student.

Re: American High schools
 

We have a wiki on the basic process

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/What_d...s_in_school%3F

Is she planning on university in the USA or the UK?

Re: American High schools
 

Thank you for the information!

Which High school/s did your 3 children go too and Have they ever studied in the UK before moving to Fort Collins?

Many thanks

Re: American High schools
 

Shes not sure if she would like to stay on for university as yet but we we are hoping she will and we are intending to stay in the US permantely so it would be a USA university!

Do you think there is much difference between a USA university and a Uk one?
Thanks

Re: American High schools
 

This thread has taken a turn that will be helpful for your question: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9226778