What neighborhood is assigned to the best schools in Wake County NC?  That is a common question that  home buyers with children ask their Real Estate Broker.  To learn the schools which are assigned to a particular address, buyers need to go to the Wake County Public School System’s website.  A number of schools have “capped” enrollment which means that their assigned school is not accepting new students.  Buyers should call the school to verify that there is not room for their student; sometimes there are still a few spots available.

To determine which schools are high performing, many parents also go to the Wake County Public School Website.  School performance grades were recently published by the Dept of North Carolina Instruction. The ratings are based on student test results and the school’s academic growth.  The scale is A- F; but as a parent of two High Schoolers, I have some humble opinions about what makes a good fit for your student.

Many buyers tell me that they want their children to go to schools with an “A” rating.  I feel my children had better outcomes by attending a school with a “B” rating (Athens Drive High School) for the following reasons:

• The “A” schools tend not to be very diverse. My children have made close friendships with friends who represent many races, income levels, and religions.  With the global economy, colleges take this into account. In fact, describing their experience with diversity is an essay question asked by many of the colleges my children applied to!
• The “A” schools are uber competitive.  If your kids are exceptionally smart, then they will do fine. For the rest of us, to get a high class – rank, start saving for tutors.  I’d say my kids are of average intelligence, and they would not come near a high class rank at our local “A” school compared to their nice rank at Athens Drive.  Colleges look at class rank.
• In “B” or lower schools, there may be more slots available in the AP classes. I can say my children had no problem getting into the honors and AP classes that they wanted; this was not the case for some of my friends’ children who attend an “A” high school.

Link to the Wake County School Rankings