Westlake High or Agoura High?

K., here's what you just told me. You just bought a house in an exclusive planned community. After looking it up on google to see where it was I can see that it's rather a small community with most homes being in the 2-3 million range. I could also look up recently sold homes to see what the average costs have been. Since you're "moving" into your home that means it was recently purchased, it'll be on that list. With the probable cost of your new home that means you probably have really nice things.

Plus you have a young daughter who's just moved to a new area where she knows absolutely no one or you'd be asking your neighbors and friends why their kids go where they go. Vulnerable...

So please consider how much information you gave to complete strangers who, with this information, could probably find you.

If you rephrase this with something along the lines of

"We've just moved into a pretty nice neighborhood and we have 2 choices for school districts. If you had this choice what are some things you'd look at to make that choice". No districts listed, no neighborhood information, no age of your child, very generic.

And in the top line, if you really really really want to tell everyone where you live and your family set up you could put "How to choose a good school district in California" or something like that because I can tell you now. Being from Oklahoma and being busy raising grand kids and stuff I'm way too busy to read a question that is obviously not about anything I care about. You'll still get strangers out of state and maybe even out of the country looking at this and wondering if you've thought about how much you gave away.

this question should be directed to the geographic area you're interested in, not to the rest of the world. there's no way the vast majority of MP members will have any idea how to advise you on this.
khairete
S.

How are people able to pick which public school they want and not go to their assigned school? It's doable (see below) because we have done it ourselves, but the post sounds as if folks just choose based on location and that can't happen in our school system. Transfers to a school other than the assigned school have to be based on academic programs in our area. Is that what's really going on in your new area?

K., seek out parenting forums online that cover your geographic area. You do have a little time here. Work over this summer to find parents in your neighborhood, gym, church, volunteering, etc. who have kids at either school and talk with them.

Greatschools and other ranking web sites should be taken with a grain of salt. The HS my daughter will attend in the fall -- we did an academic transfer to place her there, we chose it over the assigned school -- actually gets some low rankings on certain sites. You need to visit schools in person and more than once. Go to the "curriculum night" or "information night" for both schools, not just one. Some will have information nights in the fall- go then, don't wait until spring of her last year of MS. Attend a PTA meeting at both to get a feel for the families with kids there. Go to events that are open to the public (school concerts, plays, other stuff). You have some time -- find parents who have kids at each school and ask them about it.

One thing confuses me: You write, "I want to choose that funnels into the high school she'll be going to...." Do you mean "I want to choose a middle school that funnels into" a particular HS? If so -- you may not be able simply to pick and choose a public middle school. She may have to go where she is assigned. You would then spend her MS year researching the two high schools and whether or not you are allowed to request a transfer so she can go to another school, if you don't want her at the assigned HS.

In public schools, usually you must show a reason why your child should not go to the assigned school and "this one's closer" isn't good enough, at least not where we live. In our case, the schools allow "pupil placement" or an "academic transfer" if a HS has a specific program that the assigned, base HS does not have, and the student commits to take that program. For instance, our assigned HS had Advanced Placement but our daughter was interested in International Baccalaurate instead. (Schools here do not offer both at the same schools.) So we were easily allowed to place her at the nearest HS that offers IB. Kids in an IB high school can do the same in the other direction -- request transfer to attend an AP high school.

Check to see whether your school system has similar kinds of reasons for allowing academic transfers for HS. Sometimes other reasons are permitted as well, such as transportation hardship. (Some parents would love it if there were transfers permitted for sports programs but the schools don't play that game!) But don't assume you can just pick a HS without proving an academic or hardship reason for doing so. And watch for deadlines -- I knew a family that wanted its kid at a different HS but missed the boat on the deadline for filing the forms.

I have no idea because I'm no where near California, actually on the opposite coast, but here is what I can pass on. The two highly rated elementary schools in my area have given both my sister and myself more trouble than any of the lower rated schools. My older two went to the highest one for about 3 months (in my parents district) and they were miserable. Miserable to the point my 5 year old told me his teacher was hitting kids who did bad things. My 7 year old hated going to school, and even now at 11 she still loves school. My niece goes to the second highest one this year in K and she also has more problems than my kids ever have at the school we are districted for.

So basically I'm saying to not only go by ratings, they really don't give the whole picture. We opted for schools that focused on the whole child and not just straight A's. And go figure, with the schools working on the whole person all my kids have thrived.