Is that why test scores at Ames are toward the bottom in the state? What exactly are they preparing students for?
Ames High changing conferneces
- Thread starter JohnnyAl
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I went to a small school and it did not prepare me for college as well as my wife who went to a bigger school. Even if you are taking AP courses but want to go to college, a bigger school is going to prepare you better.
Overall test scores are down because Ames is getting a higher ratio of low income students with a lot of higher income students going to Gilbert because of all the new construction in north Ames.
Previous superintendent kinda sucked too, and questionable middle and high school principals. Ames had a rough few years.
All you need to know about the difference between Gilbert and Ames schools:
The most famous person to ever graduate from Ames High moved back to Ames and sent his kids to Gilbert
The most famous person to ever graduate from Ames High moved back to Ames and sent his kids to Gilbert
Waukee knocked us out of the postseason (not that I was playing) my senior year Fall 2004.
My uncle was an all-state WR for Boone in the late 70s/early 80s.
One time they went down to play Ankeny. Before the game, Ankeny's players were out of the field warming up together, stretching together, doing drills, running a few mock plays, very organized.
More or less what you'd expect of a well-run college team nowadays.
In comparison, he said, "Our warmup was me and the QB playing catch on the sideline."
They lost 40-something to zero.
As with most high-profile ISU coaches (or anyone with a lot of money) he bought a house in the Gilbert district because that's where all the new expensive houses are.
Almost all new hires to ISU and area businesses are forced to buy homes in Huxley or Ankeny as Ames has minimal housing supply compared to needs. I'd bet 1/2 of all employees in the research park do not send their kids to school in the Ames school district.
One big problem with Ames growing though is ISU land control. A lot of land in and surrounding Ames cannot be developed as the Foundation and University own it. Another is the lack of developer incentives like abatement and TIF to encourage growth.
The American economy is currently run on consumer spending. Students are for the most part dead broke and Ames has A LOT of senior citizens on fixed incomes. The city and community lack a significant population of young and middle-aged families, in their highest income earning years. Those are the real spenders, filling up the school system, and contributing to the outsized growth.
They should have also fought harder to annex to on the edges, rather than hand all that growth to rural school districts.
1/3 of Ames Middle School is on free or reduced lunch (https://ams.amescsd.org/resources/ames-middle-school-fact-sheet/). That was below 25% less than 15 years ago (https://ams.amescsd.org/resources/ames-middle-school-fact-sheet/). It's a dying school district which is not great news for the long term of the entire community, including the homes with Ames addresses but in different school districts.
1/3 of Ames Middle School is on free or reduced lunch (https://ams.amescsd.org/resources/ames-middle-school-fact-sheet/). That was below 25% less than 15 years ago (https://ams.amescsd.org/resources/ames-middle-school-fact-sheet/). It's a dying school district which is not great news for the long term of the entire community, including the homes with Ames addresses but in different school districts.
True, but he also could have open enrolled his kids back into the Ames district and for some reason chose not too.
Ames is going through a period of what we use to call "white flight", but the district's numbers have stabilized, just not as rosy has they were predicting a few years ago. Like a lot of smaller cities, people are moving or at least open enrolling their kids, to the smaller communities around Ames to educate their kids in the smaller districts. Much like you see happening in Van Meter or Solon, but this time it's Gilbert and Huxley.
Not sure if it has a negative affect on the town of Ames, as much as it will not allow Ames school district to continue to grow. Most of the new homes being built are in the city limits of Ames, and the people are shopping in Ames, just not sending their kids to the Ames school district.
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Look at who was in the conference they left, pretty sure it isn't a lesser competitive conference.
