Relocating: How do you investigate quality of school districts?

[TheLittleRoo]

In a few months, DH will begin interviewing for jobs in the midwest where we are originally from. Hurray! But, I'd like to start vetting the school systems before he starts so we can eliminate some cities from consideration. I'd hate to have him interview and then find out the state school system is tanking...

I know the best source is talking to the parents, but that's not realistic since I don't even know which areas of town we'd be living in so I'm trying to do some legwork on the web, but what information is actually helpful in making comparisons? I like to look at passing % for the SOL (the NCLB type testing) as well as the HS scores in AP participation, etc. Sometimes those can be very mixed within a school district, and I could easily end up in a micro-analysis almost by ZIP code without knowing anything about the real estate market at this point.

How do you sort this out when the school system is your #1 priority in deciding where in the midwest to live?

 

[Elmo888]

I would guess that most states have a school and/or district ranking system, so I would find the state's education web site and try to find it from there.

Also, have you looked at something like monster.com? It is for jobs, but I think that they have a relocation tool that may help direct you (it was something like that). I found a cost of living translator at their site, and I think that there is more relocation help.

Good luck!

 

[Elmo888]

Oooo...here you go (just did a google search on Texas school ratings to see what I found)...

http://www.greatschools.net/

Good luck!

 

[moparop]

For me, we were only looking at communities within a single city. I drew a 10 mile radius from DH's office and then started looking at districts within that area. I also talked to a few DISers that were from the area we were moving to get names of districts. Then I made a 20 column spreadsheet looking at everything from the # of bonds passed, amount of technology available, free and reduced lunches, specific curriculums used, to scores on atandardized tests. Once I knew we got the job, I got a much better feel for where we wanted to be. Based off that sheet, we picked a district in the area that we love!

 

[trcckdarby]

when we moved i contacted the school board ahead of time told the lady at the school board office that i was moving there and wanted to know about the schools ranking on standardized tests for the last couple of years in order to decide which area to look for a house. They sent a packet with the results of the schools in there area for the last 5 years. I believe it took about two - three weeks before i received it. The lady i spoke with was not surprised by my request. This must be a common occurance. You do need to do some digging however and find out if the teachers are allowed to teach material that is not going to be on "the test" . Teachers in some states get into trouble with administration if they teach extra stuff that is not on "the test", even though it is material that is good to know or makes learning more interesting, or even will help them in the future. As far as i know the parish i live in does let teachers add extra info into the learning experience that does add to the childs general working knowledge even though it is not on "the test" , however a state that borders us is not allowed to, i only know this from friends and family that work in that particular state. It does make me wonder how many other states do this, in order for their state education rankings to look good.

 

[Aubrielle]

Try contacting each district's main administration office. They should be able to provide you with very specific information for each school, including test scores, class size averages, etc. I believe all of this is public record and should be accessable to anyone who requests it.

My advice would be to look at how the data trends over time. If a school has consistently high test scores, or scores that are improving steadily, that would be more informative for you than just one year's worth of data.

Finally, don't forget that test scores are a good indicator of the quality of a school, but they are not everything! Would it be possible to narrow your choices down to several schools and then visit each one to get a feel for it?

Good Luck!

 

[DevilDuckie]

We talked with our son's current teacher (who helped do some research) and our realtor. We also have friends in the area we're moving to, but it sounds like that may not be a resource you have for this move.

 

[Cindy B]

Go to the state dept of ed. website. In my state (NJ), they have a school report card for every school in the state. This list is sectioned off by county and region as well.

This school report card has information on passing scores, student/teacher ratios, free and reduced lunch, certifications of staff and faculty, attendance rate, expulsion/suspension rate, as well as the racial makeup of the staff and students.