School System Ratings?

Rebel 3

Senior Member
Is there a way to find out what school systems are better than others? I only have two years to go before my oldest goes to kindergarden. We are looking at trying to get him in pre k for next year, but I have learned there are limited opportunities. We may have to move to get to a better school system before he starts regular school. I dont want to move and find out the school system is not good.
 
J

JR

Guest
Every county/state has a 'rating' for the DOE (Department of Education). Now, "better than others" is subjective. Are you concerned with 'passing scores'? Number of children that are "ESL" (English as a Second Language)? Number of minorities? Number of children on "free/reduced lunches"? Number of students per teacher?

Some folks place more emphasis on certain aspects, while others are worried about other aspects.

Try here: http://gaosa.org/score.aspx

Or here for specific counties:

http://gaosa.org/FindASchool.aspx?PageReq=106&FromSection=score&StateId=ALL&SY=2008

Let me add, you may want to google your county's DOE website for further detailed information.
 

fishtail

Senior Member
And don't worry too much about the overall Georgia school system, we were rated #48 in the nation.
Only South Carolina and Arizona outranked us as being the worst school system in the nation!
I think we are around #41 or so now.
 
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Doyle

Senior Member
Never, never go just by the ratings for a particular "system". Those ratings disguise the truth because the ratings for all schools within that system are averaged together. You need to look at the ratings for each individual school. You can have individual schools that are absolutely fantastic in the same system with schools that are the pits. We have that situation down here in my county. The schools in the good neighborhoods are ranked very good (judging by student test scores). The schools in the "minority" neighborhoods score very poorly.
 
J

JR

Guest
Never, never go just by the ratings for a particular "system". Those ratings disguise the truth because the ratings for all schools within that system are averaged together. You need to look at the ratings for each individual school. You can have individual schools that are absolutely fantastic in the same system with schools that are the pits. We have that situation down here in my county. The schools in the good neighborhoods are ranked very good (judging by student test scores). The schools in the "minority" neighborhoods score very poorly.

If you click through the links provided, you'll see the "State", "System" (re: county), and "School" breakdown. You can pick the EXACT school and see how the scores, demographics, etc...
 

Mr. Green Jeans

Senior Member
I think that the one that you are looking for is here:

www.gppf.org


Go to "issues" then look for the link to the "report card." Here is the direct link:
http://gppf.org/pub/edrc2009.htm


It takes a lot into consideration. We followed this extensively when we were in your shoes. You will be amazed at how school ranking affects home values in an area.
 
J

JR

Guest
I think that the one that you are looking for is here:

www.gppf.org


Go to "issues" then look for the link to the "report card." Here is the direct link:
http://gppf.org/pub/edrc2009.htm


It takes a lot into consideration. We followed this extensively when we were in your shoes. You will be amazed at how school ranking affects home values in an area.


You got THAT right... Look at Mountain Park Elementary school over in Roswell, average home value for that school is ~$700K!!! :hair: :hair: :hair: But also, one of the best public elementary schools in N. Fulton.
 

Doyle

Senior Member
You will be amazed at how school ranking affects home values in an area.

I think it is totally the opposite. The good schools follow the construction of high dollar homes. My wife has been an educator for about 25 years now (she is currently working on her PHD in Literacy Education). I get to both sides of things as a parent and through her eyes as an educator. What I've noticed is that the schools that have kids from good neighborhoods get kids that are what I would politely describe as "more ready to be educated". It isn't that low-income kids can't learn. It is more that the high-income kids start out with advantages that the low-income kids would have to deliberately work hard to overcome.

I live in a "moderate" income neighborhood but we have always been lucky enough to be in the same zone as the seriously rich kids. Along with the high-dollar kids and the moderate-income kids, there are also a number of kids from "way out in the country". Some of these are from migrant laborer families. After seeing how these migrant kids struggle with school, I can only imagine what it would be like to try to go to a school that was full of them. There is no way that the higher perfoming students could be challenged enough in such an environment.,
 

bamafans

Senior Member
And don't worry too much about the overall Georgia school system, we were rated #48 in the nation.
Only South Carolina and Arizona outranked us as being the worst school system in the nation!
I think we are around #41 or so now.

You can not go by this. As an educator, I know that different stated report their scores in different ways. For example, some stated do not include the ESOL kids in their scores or the students in special educations..... and their are other schools that report all of the kids...
I would suggest going to the school for a visit. They can walk you around and you can ask as many questions as you would like... if you do not like the school, ask for a permissive transfer to another schoool ( you have to provide transportation) and most of the time you will be granted this transfer....

good luck!!
 

ROBD

Senior Member
Don't know if your still looking, but try schooldigger.com
It searches by address, city, zip, district, ect and tells you where the school ranks in the state.
 

Doyle

Senior Member
Don't place too much stock in Annual Yearly Progress. It is an artificial value that has little to do with real education.
 

Ta-ton-ka chips

GONetwork Member
I think it is totally the opposite. The good schools follow the construction of high dollar homes. My wife has been an educator for about 25 years now (she is currently working on her PHD in Literacy Education). I get to both sides of things as a parent and through her eyes as an educator. What I've noticed is that the schools that have kids from good neighborhoods get kids that are what I would politely describe as "more ready to be educated". It isn't that low-income kids can't learn. It is more that the high-income kids start out with advantages that the low-income kids would have to deliberately work hard to overcome.

I live in a "moderate" income neighborhood but we have always been lucky enough to be in the same zone as the seriously rich kids. Along with the high-dollar kids and the moderate-income kids, there are also a number of kids from "way out in the country". Some of these are from migrant laborer families. After seeing how these migrant kids struggle with school, I can only imagine what it would be like to try to go to a school that was full of them. There is no way that the higher perfoming students could be challenged enough in such an environment.,

:crazy::crazy::crazy:

You mean some kids have to work to get educated?

Not here in GA., all you have to do is show up to class but that's alot more than most are willing to do.


btw glad you're "lucky" enough to be living in a nice neighborhood, most people work hard and earn the right to live in "good" neighborhoods - keep up the good luck :cheers:
 

Doyle

Senior Member
glad you're "lucky" enough to be living in a nice neighborhood, most people work hard and earn the right to live in "good" neighborhoods

No, I said I live in a modest neighborhood that is lucky enough to be in the same school zone with the seriously nice neighborhoods. Slight difference.
 
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