Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Me and the wife and kids are leaving where we live for a county back farther into the mountains of North Georgia. Where we live now the schools are HORRID, mostly the high school. Its thanks to a certain group of the citizenry here who just don't care about education and that in return increases the amount of teachers who do more yelling, threatening to send students to principal, getting onto them about vaping, disrespectful and loud students etc and my oldest who is a freshman has about had it, I have about had it and am on the verge of yanking her out and letting her homeschool or do online school until we can move in February if not sooner. I know how the middle and elementary schools are in 2 of the counties we are considering but have no idea about the high schools since this is her first year. Is there someway to find out without actually going and talking to the schools administration and taking a tour?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,550 posts, read 81,103,317 times
Reputation: 57750
The websites that rate schools can be useful, but are largely based on test scores, which can be taught, and not reflect other issues. When we were going to move from California to this area east of Seattle, I came up ahead of time and learned a lot by going to school board and PTA meetings. For us with 3 kids ages 5-13 schools were one of our reasons for moving, so getting into good schools was critical to where we bought our house. There are red flags, such as a PTA meeting where very few show up, or it's dominated by discussion of head lice, or complaints about the lack of funds. Where we ended up, the elementary PTA meeting I attended (1992) had a "pass the hat" to raise funds for music and art programs and got over $20,000 from attendees.
Is there someway to find out without actually going and talking to the schools administration and taking a tour?
Personally, I would only move to a school district if all the schools - elementary, middle and high - are rated 7 or higher on great schools. That is my cutoff because I have school age children.
I wish I could get 10 out of 10, but those areas are usually wealthy.
A lot of states have their own report cards. Sometimes the Niche/Greatschools ratings may not be entirely accurate. I would rely more on the report cards from the state than Niche or Greatschools.
A lot of states have their own report cards. Sometimes the Niche/Greatschools ratings may not be entirely accurate. I would rely more on the report cards from the state than Niche or Greatschools.
It sounds as if many of your complaints are related to discipline. IIRC, Greatschools, Niche, and the state all have sections that detail suspensions and attendance. These would be key indicators for me about the vibe in a school If attendance is relatively high and suspensions and disciplinary actions are relatively low, kids want to be there, and it's likely a calmer school than where you are now. I would also put some weight on the graduation rate and college readiness statistics. The higher, the better, as this will likely show how big a share of the student body is willing to work instead of goof off.
Yes, educational stats can be gamed, but it is a start, and the only better way to do this is to talk to parents who send their kids to the schools you might be interested in and see what they say.
Good luck
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
