# How are the schools in TN, ME, MO??



## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

I'm going to be moving in a little over a year, out of the suburbs and back to the country! :bouncy: I'm finally going to get my homestead :dance:

I've narrowed down my search to three states: Tennessee, Maine, and Missouri. I'd love to hear from those of you who have kids in these states... I work as a school counselor and I have two 7-year olds who will be in public school, so having good school systems is a must.

Does anyone have any input on these three states that would help me make a decision?


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## crisco41 (Dec 18, 2008)

we love tennessee..but sssshhhh don't tell anyone else. 
The school really depends on which county..there is a huge difference.
do you know which county you are moving to? I was a school nurse for a few years..so know a little about 14 schools.


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## cindy-e (Feb 14, 2008)

bluemoonluck said:


> I'm going to be moving in a little over a year, out of the suburbs and back to the country! :bouncy: I'm finally going to get my homestead :dance:
> 
> I've narrowed down my search to three states: Tennessee, Maine, and Missouri. I'd love to hear from those of you who have kids in these states... I work as a school counselor and I have two 7-year olds who will be in public school, so having good school systems is a must.
> 
> Does anyone have any input on these three states that would help me make a decision?


The last we checked, TN ranked 48 out of 50 in terms of education quality (50 being the worst). There is a large disparity too between the city schools and the county (rural) schools, meaning the rural schools are even worse. We always homeschooled when we were there. To give you an idea, when we were in TN, in math our son was considered two years ahead of the public schools, here in WA, (at least where we live) he is only one year ahead. That said, they NEED good school counselors in TN, and you may be doing a service by being there, but I would seriously consider supplementing your childrens schoolwork at home. 

Cindyc.


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

I already do some supplemental schooling at home. One of my daughters is academically gifted but her social skills are terrible so that's what I work on with her... my other daughter is on the low end of average academically, but has fantastic social skills - so I work on her academics. What I wouldn't give for "average" kids....sigh.....

I've heard that Tennessee schools were terrible, but only from people who heard it from a secondary source...never from anyone with first hand experience. I really don't want my children to suffer academically from the move. 

I have no idea where in Tennessee, or Missouri, or Maine I will end up, so I can't tell you what counties I'm looking at. 

Keep the comments coming, and thanks to those who have already posted!


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Consider again it all depends on where you land. 

I will give you our experience
We moved from Iowa to Tn and found our kids were a bit behind TN kids....but that isn't the problem I worried about. Discipline is heavy handed and I think they are a bit overly strict. We are in a 'big town'/county consolidated school district. They don't offer all the classes I wish they would offer or think they could offer to HS students for the size they are ( 4 HS in town, 23 elem). You have a college track and a technical track if you are on the college track, you can't take, say, home ec classes or any auto body classes. The school building themselves are in really, really bad shape. There is just not the feeling in this community that I would like to have about schools or education in general. Our school district is still under court ordered busing. They are trying to get out from under that, but it isn't easy. 

There are 8 private schools here - all have built new or added on to their old buildings in the last 2 years. The home schooling crowd grows by leaps and bounds every year. That ought to tell you something. But this is my county - Madison. Smaller school districts to the North of us, didn't even offer physics as a HS class - all the classes they did offer fit on 1 page. 

We have people with whistles in the lunch rooms, no playground, very little gym/music/art classes. 

Where every you land, look up the "no child left behind" test results. We have two schools that are about to be taken over by the federal govt....from poor grades and no progress.


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## crisco41 (Dec 18, 2008)

My experience moving from Minnesota to tennessee is completely different. There are several things about tn i love. It's a place that still allows prayer before sport events. Our school still allows corporal punishment, with parent permission. I have found that my particular school is very good, with wonderful teachers. My son just got a full acedemic scholarship to a major university.He was second in his class and His SAt scores were very high. He must have learned something in class.
On the downside. we pay property taxes but the school still charges like 45 dollars material fees. Thats after spending 100 bucks at the beginning of the year for pencils notebooks etc. They seem to have a lot of fundraising..which i do not believe in nor do i let my children do it. 
Which ever state you go to..I am sure there will be variations by areas....If education is your top priority, as it should, I would do some serious research./We happened to ignorantly luck out.


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## Madame (Jan 1, 2003)

This link might help.
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_31_table_2.htm


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## cindy-e (Feb 14, 2008)

Madame said:


> This link might help.
> http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_31_table_2.htm


Well, TN, has come up from 48 to 45. That is progress, I suppose. Better than going down. I would still have a hard time putting my kids in school there if were to go back. 

Cindyc.


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

Crisco41 - They allow prayer in Tennessee pubic schools? 

Does anyone know if that is across the state or just in a few counties? My family is not Christian, and while I have no problem with people of any faith, I don't want my children to be treated poorly for refusing to participate in prayer to the Christian God in a public school. 

That's part of the reason we moved out of North Carolina several years ago. The teacher had a discussion in class - in a public school, mind you - regarding Jesus. My (then 5-year old) daughter said nothing during the lesson, she listened politely (the teacher's aide confirmed this) but DD quietly asked the teacher if she could have a different picture to color when the teacher handed out pics of the Nativity to the class. DD explained that our family does not believe in Jesus, so the teacher then informed her that she was going to burn in hell. When my DD replied "Mommy says people are free to believe in whatever Gods they want" the teacher told her "then your Mommy is a liar and she's going to burn in hell too". THAT was a fun meeting with the principal, believe me!


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## crisco41 (Dec 18, 2008)

They have prayer prior to sporting events and some other activities not during school hours. Does that qualify as prayer in public schools..? not sure. 
I am sorry for your experience with a "christian" It is people like that teacher that Jesus will be ashamed of. I remember after my divorce(I was 20 yrs old) and a lunatic christian from our small town came out to the road screaming how I was going to hell. I was an adult and it effected me....I feel bad a child had to listen to that crap.


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

If they are doing it in association with public school events, then it qualifies as "prayer in public schools" in my book. 

We try not to draw attention to our religious beliefs because many people we have encountered are so judgemental, but I'm also teaching my children that they should not participate in anything that conflicts with our beliefs. Its a fine line to walk! It is very difficult raising non-Christian children in a Christian world, teaching them to respect the beliefs of others while holding onto our beliefs as truth, etc. 

The worst of it was that my DD was very confused when she came home, and asked me why I had lied to her. I had to explain that some people don't respect other's religious beliefs, and that it was inappropriate for the teacher to tell her what she did.


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## NWMO (Jul 26, 2005)

As someone else mentioned, depending upon where you "land" in the state, the schools vary greatly. I am in Missouri. There are 524 school districts in the state, varying in size from 50 and below, to 40,000 students. Metropolitan areas of St. Louis and KC are questionable regarding schools, but there are pockets of excellence in them, just have to be sought out. Otherwise, schools in the outlying areas vary greatly. Hard to "generalize" them.....I think involved parents in any school system greatly elevate the quality of education.....and it sounds as if you will be involved. If you have a general area of state you are looking for, I would be glad to share what I know.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Try looking up the state board of education for each state. I know in Ohio there are "report cards" for each school. I assume other states have similar information available. Then you could start to narrow your search by finding the better schools and see if they were in areas you would want to live.

When talking about a state, you have to make very broad and general remarks. TN schools are generally known to be "behind", but that doesn't mean every school in the state is, there are some very good ones there as well. Just as the Cleveland, Ohio schools are considered rather "bad" but there are some awesome schools (or were a few years ago) that were near the top in the state. So even in a "bad" school district you can sometimes find an outstanding school.


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## Ashtina98 (Aug 10, 2007)

Make sure you check a variety of sources for your information as well, the link that Madame posted is one good resource but also lacking in many ways. This link showed the percentages of high school seniors who graduated. I'm afraid, at least here in Arkansas (which was #20 on the list?), graduating does NOT mean you got a good education. My dd's started public school in Washington State then we moved to Arkansas, we put them in school here and they were way ahead, we ended up pulling them out and homeschooling for fear that the schools here would dumb them down.

Once you narrow down the areas in each state to maybe a county or surrounding areas then research not only graduation rates but also SAT scores, # of free and reduced lunches in the area (sounds bad but there has been a direct correlation between this and lower test scores/lower academic standards) as well as any other issues that are important to you and your family.

Good luck to you, I know how stressful it can be to move to a new area and worry about your childrens education.


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## backachersfarm (Jun 14, 2005)

I have been in Tenn for 20 yrs now. I raised my daughter here. As far as education...it was the worst thing I could have done for her. She graduated from H.S. ...but knows nothing! She has gone on to voc school and done well with herself..but she has worked hard. Most of the local colleges here have a lot of remedial classes and a lot of kids end up taking them for a yr or so at college prices just so they can pass the entrance exam. My daughter had some problems in class I had no awareness of and if they aren't behavior problems...the teachers don't see them as having a problem. 
My nephew who is very smart literally slept all thru H.S. and grad #2 in his class. He now is a calculus teacher at the same school. He says they have NO avenue to punish students now a days in the classroom. no write off, no time outs, no sitting inthe corners. They are supposed to talk to the kids and find out whats on their minds.??? Like they don't have the rest of the class to attend to.


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