Broward County Elementary Schools (Florida)

Broward County is huge and each "zone" is different. My sister teachers in Broward and my BIL teaches at a private school in Broward- same school we all attended.

I would suggest that you move East of Hallandale- b/w 95 and US1 or A1A... if you can, North of Broward Blvd, but South of Atlantic. The schools in Fort Lauderdale tend to have better ratings.

Honestly, the public schools in South FL are highly inconsistent and are undergoing significant budget issues (like everyone else). You may have better luck with a private or parochial school if you are unable to actually move to a different location. In Hallandale, you have several options if you are able to spend the $$ for private education.

Unfortunately the best schools are out west. Schools on the east side aren't so good. You can go and tour any school - even now. I got in touch with the director of charter schools and she sent me this list of questions and told me to tour anything I was considering while school is in session and students are there!

The questions for charter schools are:
What is the rating/ What is the AYP status? What makes their program unique? Where do the students have PE/recess? Is there an full time media specialist? What electives/specials are available? What is the teacher certification? How many students are in the classes? (Charters fall under different guidelines for class size). Will the student have ese services if needed? What is the policy on transportation? On food services? How long has the school been accredited?

Also, do some research on how the school grade is made up. It is not just FCAT scores but has to do with the amount of improvement over the previous year. Thus a school can get a poor grade because they didn't improve much, but students last year had an average 98% test score and this year have a 98% test score. Let me know if you want further info - my mom is a teacher here.

My son is at Pembroke Pines Charter School. They are an A rated school. School rating is what you have to look into. The public school system is rated based on F-Cat scores. You want to look at a school that has consistently high marks. Not one that fluctuates. We got lucky, his school has always been an A or A+ school. It goes from Kinder to 12th grade. That was very important to me. Good Luck!

Here are some websites for you to look at..

www.elcbroward.org
www.greatschools.org
,www.broward.k12.fl.us
www.psk12.com

Have you ever heard of the Montesorri program? That would be something to consider also..I am not an expert in it but have heard great things about it but I hear can be pricey..