Is school digger a reliable source to get info on schools? If not, where else?

[moonsky]

http://www.schooldigger.com/go/CA/schools/1389011205/school.aspx?entity=82


TIA!

[denvergal]

i like www.greatschools.org

[wencit]

In California, I personally look at the API scores rating:

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/

[Laurel]

I like that great schools has parent reviews. Most of these sites are ranking schools on test scores alone!

I don't put as much stock in test scores as in parent experiences. We have schools around here with insanely high test scores producing kids who cannot do anything but parrot back the info they have memorized. They have great handwriting and use correct grammar but balk at a creative writing assignment. Other local schools with decent, but not perfect, test scores seem to have way better arts and science programs.

Ok, off my soapbox now.

[jenandahalf]

I preferred greatschools, the parent reviews say much more than test scores alone.

[crl]

I agree that test scores are only one piece of information about a school, and not the most important one. One thing I have done is look at test scores in conjunction with information about the number of english learners and the number of kids on free lunch. My view is that test scores coorelate strongly to parental educational and income levels. So a school that has a more challenging population and good test scores is more impressive than a school that is full of kids who are going to do well on the test no matter what the teachers are doing. Of course, some people feel strongly that putting a child into that kind of environment is doing them a disservice because the teachers will be focused on the kids who need extra help.

I found the great schools reviews somewhat helpful, but I also ran into internet accusations that great schools deletes negative reviews. I don't know if that is true or not, but it did give me some pause in relying on them.

In our area, there is a blog (something like sfkfiles) originally done by a woman navigating the horrors that are the San Francisco school assignment system. It now has a gazillon comments and some of those are enlightening about schools. I would try to search out sites like that---blogs, local parenting boards, etc. Of course, only major urban areas are likely to have those kinds of things.

You may also find school websites themselves to be a bit helpful to you. Because of my views of test scores, I always prefer schools that are bragging about a variety of things: our chorus sang in the holiday tree lighting performance! 10 kids art work chosen for state level competition! spelling bee victory! record-breaking numbers of families participate in our fall festival! If all the school's own propaganda talks about is test scores, I think it is likely that's all the school values.

Good luck!
Catherine

[JTsMom]

The citydata boards are also a good place to search/ask.

I've seen tons of negative reviews on greatschools, so they are definitely there. It may depend on the school though- maybe some complain?

[Tondi G]

I like great schools. I look at their scores, parent reviews and also the make up of the school populations.