As those of you know who have been reading this blog for a while, my family and I are in the process of moving from New York to Massachusetts. One of our prime considerations in choosing a new town is the quality of the schools. Luckily, there are a number of online resources for comparing school quality. Here are a few that may be useful for those of you also considering a move:
- Great Schools is the most polished of the sites, with information on choosing schools and preparing for college as well as standardized-test scores, student-teacher ratios, ethnic diversity, parent reviews, and more. It also identifies which schools are not making Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program. (I’ve posted before on what I think of NCLB.)
- Yahoo! Real Estate has just added a Research Schools feature that integrates Great Schools information with Yahoo! Maps.
- School Matters from Standard & Poor’s also has testing, NCLB, and school demographic information, as well as community demographics.
- Realty mega-site Realtor.com has very limited school-quality information, with no details on test scores. Competitor Zip Realty has some basic test-score and school-budget information linked to its listings, but requires registration. Still, if you’re using either of these sites to search for homes, their school-mapping features are convenient jumping-off points to Great Schools or School Matters.
- Individual states may also have school information available through their official state Web sites.
- Two other school-data services either require a paid registration for full details (PSK12.com) or are undergoing major site renovations (School Wise Press). Not recommended at the moment, but things change.
I always urge caution in using statistics like these, especially standardized-test scores, which I believe only give the roughest estimation of a school’s quality and suitability for a particular child. If at all possible, visit the schools themselves and speak with teachers, administrators, and other parents.
For LGBT families, another major consideration is a school’s LGBT friendliness. Without a safe, supportive environment in which our children can learn, the best academics and extracurricular programs may go to waste. HRC has a number of resources for Evaluating Schools. Once you choose a school, check out the publications on Making Schools Inclusive from the Family Pride Coalition for ways to be proactive and begin a dialogue with a new teacher.
(Thanks to My Tech Opinion via Dumb Little Man for the Great Schools, School Matters, and School Wise links.)