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My family is newer to Massachusetts, and we have a daughter is will be elementary-age next year. We purchased in Natick in the Lilja district (<1mi away), which at the time (and still showing on Zillow) was a 9 at great schools. In fact, it's still showing as a 9 on Zillow When I decided to look today, I noticed that Lilja has plunged to a 5 Looking further into it, it would seem to be based primarily on test scores, particularly math. The MA DOE seems to show Lilja as performing slightly under the town of Natick, and about equal to the state. Lilja is rated a "Level 1" school by MA DOE.
That said, Johnson elementary, which is about 2 mi away, also in Natick scores very well in math, and is rated a 10 at great schools. Not knowing how districting works in MA, Will my daughter be able to attend Johnson, which funnily enough has a far smaller student population? Will I need to arrange transportation, or will she likely be able to take the bus?
I'd ask myself if anything substantive has really changed. It's not like the day the ranking went from a 9 to a 5 the school started teaching any differently! That is the problem with some rankings, GreatSchools in particular: they seemingly put a heavy weight on the most recent year's test scores and therefore can be pretty volatile year-to-year. A school in my city went from an 8 -> 4 -> 6 over the course of two years. I seriously doubt the teachers, curriculum or student population changed much at all in that time.
I find it hard to believe that anything legitimate occurred that caused a high performing school to suddenly become a terrible school. Talk to people who actually have kids in the school system.
I don't know how it works in Natick, but some towns have "buffer zones," where parents can express a preference for one school and may get it, depending on what the enrollment is at the schools. I have heard of people in districts that will allow you to put your kid in another school if you provide the transportation, but I don't know that some perceived notion that the students at the other school are just smarter will be a sufficient reason.
If you are on Facebook, there must be a group called Natick Parents or Natick Moms or something like that. There may also be pages for the particular schools. Those groups often have a lot of people in there who are happy to give all their thoughts about the schools.
My family is newer to Massachusetts, and we have a daughter is will be elementary-age next year. We purchased in Natick in the Lilja district (<1mi away), which at the time (and still showing on Zillow) was a 9 at great schools. In fact, it's still showing as a 9 on Zillow When I decided to look today, I noticed that Lilja has plunged to a 5 Looking further into it, it would seem to be based primarily on test scores, particularly math. The MA DOE seems to show Lilja as performing slightly under the town of Natick, and about equal to the state. Lilja is rated a "Level 1" school by MA DOE.
That said, Johnson elementary, which is about 2 mi away, also in Natick scores very well in math, and is rated a 10 at great schools. Not knowing how districting works in MA, Will my daughter be able to attend Johnson, which funnily enough has a far smaller student population? Will I need to arrange transportation, or will she likely be able to take the bus?
Greatschools - the black hole integer that people allow to dictate their lives. I prefer Niche, it's more balanced and transparent. Greatschools really just measures socioeconomics.
Please stop. Take a deep breath. You are reading too much into this. Your daughter will be fine. No, you cannot switch elementary schools because great schools lowered it's score. It means nothing. Send her to her districted school where she will go to with the other kids from your neighborhood.
When the Westborough district dropped from a 10 to a 9 on GreatSchools.com, I moved. Now it's back up to a 10, and I'm regretting the decision. I'm looking to move back, but the agent fees and closing costs are starting to take a toll. Thank God I'm upper-middle class.
Please stop. Take a deep breath. You are reading too much into this. Your daughter will be fine. No, you cannot switch elementary schools because great schools lowered it's score. It means nothing. Send her to her districted school where she will go to with the other kids from your neighborhood.
You're not going to be upper middle class for long if you keep making big ticket financial decisions based on every school ranking change.
But I only want what's best for my children.
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When I decided to look today, I noticed that Lilja has plunged to a 5 
Looking further into it, it would seem to be based primarily on test scores, particularly math. The MA DOE seems to show Lilja as performing slightly under the town of Natick, and about equal to the state. Lilja is rated a "Level 1" school by MA DOE.
