How do you research the quality of school districts?

Brain of J.Lo

I want to make sure that by the time my daughter is in school, we are settled into a community with a good school district. (I definitely want her to go to public school.) But how do I do that? What resources are there for parents to find this info?

AmentsChick

UM.... publicschoolratings.com?

CityMouse

most states have online databases with statistics comparing the districts in the state on different metrics.

however, you really have to be careful when comparing school districts. Keep in mind that no one has ever found a causation between class size and student performance or any financial indicators and student performance. Also test scores can be a poor indicator of the quality of the districts, and almost every statistic on student performance and school quality cannot be separated from outside variables like parental education levels, ect.

Honestly I would look at teacher education. that is probably publically available information, which may not be directly found on the website, but could probably be provided with a call.

Inhiding230

Ask everyone you know in that area - even if they don't have kids, I guarantee you they know people who do, or know about the schools in the area. That is what I did when I moved to Nashville. I rented at first and then when it was time to settle in, I ended up moving to the other side of town for the better schools. I was very lucky that Nashville has amazing Magnet schools also. I would certainly not just rely on ratings and scores.

decides2dream

i agree with both posts above. there is a plethora of online info, all stats on performance, etc. bottomline though....word-of-mouth is best. look into what areas you are considering, talk to real estate agents, hopefully talk to some residents of the area who have children in the school district of the areas you are considering for some solid info on student performance and care for students growth overall. many schools on 'paper' don't score as well as others, but does not mean they are a poor school district necessarily. also, look at the overall ranking for schools in your state to get a 'bigger picture' of the education climate.