Would you move your High Schooler to a school with a "4" rating?

We are considering moving, but the area we like has only one HS which ranked a 4 on the Great School's scale. His current school is just ove 5, so not that much better, but better (the student is doing well in his current school). How much weight would you put on a school's rating if you had the choice to move or stay put?

Parent Answers to "Would you move your High Schooler to a school with a "4" rating? "

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Thank you for bringing up some good points. We would be moving several states away, and although we know some parents there, our son does not know any high school- aged students. I understand the ratings cannot be compared state to state, but a 4 in any state still concerns me.
Based on the 4 rating, we are now looking across the border into a neighboring state where their HS has a 9 rating. Our teen still has three more years, and we do not feel comfortable moving into an area with a newer HS that has not achieved high scores.

Are you staying in the same state? (Ratings in different states aren't relative, because each state uses different tests.) Will you be somewhat near to your former area, so he can keep some friends?

The older a student is, the less concerned I am with ratings. Tests in high school require good education to have occurred in elementary and middle school, so perhaps that's a large factor. If your son was taking AP courses before, and can take them at the new school, there should be no difference, because those AP classes must meet the same criteria set by the College Board. Now, if your son was taking some special classes at his old school, and they don't offer them at the new school, it would bother me more. If your son had a special interest, whether it was computers or sports or drama or something else, and he can't get that at the new school, it would concern me. If I were you, and the move isn't mandatory, I'd plan to tour the new school, maybe do a "shadow day" visit, and then decide.

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