Why I Find It Comical That Anyone Gives Credence To GreatSchools Rankings (Cary: house, neighborhoods)

[tkeru408]

I've always found it a little amusing that some parents are so concerned about what score GreatSchools has assigned to a given school--how many times do you see on here "we're only looking for a house in neighborhoods where the schools are rated 10"? I guess it just irks me that people find it so convenient to outsource their research into a school choice to some website that may or may not have priorities anywhere near to what their own priorities are.

Anyway, I came across this hilarious little nugget this morning: apparently, in the new GreatSchools rankings for 2016, the vaunted Davis Drive ES just had their ranking dropped from 10 to 6 (not sure if I'm allowed to link directly to their site, but you can find it for yourself).

I wonder if everyone in Cary will be relocating this summer to another ES assignment? After all, it would be blasphemous for little Susie and Johnny to be sent to a school with a rating of only 6!

[TarHeelNick]

I'd be willing to wager that many people look at school profiles on greatschools.com because that site also has the demographic pie-chart included for each school. The "scores" are as you've said, are very arbitrary.

[pierretong1991]

Eh like with every ranking system, you have to take it with a grain of salt. It is useful though but not the sole indicator of how good a school is.

[shanti1]

It is hard for those of us "new" to the area. We dont have a lot to go on if we do not have family and friends to help guide us.
Any better suggestions for people to find out how well a school is in a certain area?

[BoSox 15]

Originally Posted by tkeru408

how many times do you see on here "we're only looking for a house in neighborhoods where the schools are rated 10"?

I've never seen it on here - specific decisions based on GreatSchools that is.

I've seen people ask questions and perhaps the GreatSchools number was part of the equation but I don't think it's the sole factor. But I could be wrong.

I know for me I put more weight on the location, age of the teachers, and how many students receive free/reduced lunch. Those were basically my criteria.

[m378]

It's the Zillow of schools. A good starting point, but that's it.

[lamishra]

really not reliable at all.

[michgc]

I very rarely see people on City-Data asking for schools that only rate a "10" on Great Schools. People asking for schools with good test scores - yes. People asking for "great" schools - yes. People asking only for schools with a "10" rating - no.

Having said that, people who are looking for schools with good test scores are usually not using that metric as their sole determiner of where they will live. They usually use sites such as Great Schools, School Digger, NC Report Cards, along with asking questions on C-D, comparing commutes, and looking at housing costs, size of home, lot size, etc. I don't know anyone who has looked at Great Schools, found a school rated a "10" and made their housing choice only based on that specific criteria.

I'm not very familiar with Davis Drive Elementary and what their ratings usually are on Great Schools. If the most recent ratings just came out, and the school had a "10" last year and a "6" this year, then it's worth looking into what happened. It might be that the EOG test scores of a specific group (such as ELL students) drastically changed. Or it's possible, that there's a mistake in Great Schools. That happened one year in Virginia when the latest ratings came out. Regardless, I doubt anyone who is looking at Great Schools ratings is only using that source to define where they will live.

[butterflies1375]

I know several people at work looking for a house that ARE going by the score on that website. I've tried explaining it to them but they don't want to get it so whatever. So yes, some people will use it as their only tool. Others know that you have to do more research into anything. I have people shocked that my kids went to Reedy Creek when they were in middle school. Like I denied them some fabulous opportunity somewhere else but my kids did great, especially the one with learning disabilities. She had the best team support. It's rated a 6 on that website. The horror!

[e6jakobh]

Some weird things going on for sure. How about Magellan Charter? 3 out of 10 on greatschools and on schooldigger ranked 2nd of elementary schools in North Carolina.