Parents seeking alternatives to failing public schools have access to the profiles and ratings of over 150,000 schools nationwide, courtesy of the search platform GreatSchools.
A profile by Stand Together says GreatSchools collects and analyzes data from all 50 state departments of education, the District of Columbia, and the federal government to deliver comprehensive profiles on more than 150,000 public, charter, and private schools across the country.
Ratings are provided on a 1–10 scale to help parents understand how a school performs in comparison to other schools. Ratings of 1–4 on the scale signal that the school is below average, 5–6 indicate average, and 7–10 indicate above average.
The school’s rating is based on:
- Students’ academic progress: Whether students are making expected or above-average academic gains.
- College readiness: How well high school students are prepared for success in college and careers.
- Test scores: How students perform on state assessments.
Wichita parent Alanea Endsley was seeking a new school for her elementary school daughter when Great Schools pointed her toward a school in the Wichita suburbs:
“The biggest issue was the quality of teachers because we have such a teacher shortage,” she said of her neighborhood school. She was also concerned about large class sizes and low test scores.
GreatSchools CEO Jon Deane told standtogether.org that the Endsley family’s search has been replayed countless times over the decades:
“We think we can help families make choices that are better aligned with what they’re looking for. We see an opportunity to evolve from being a place where parents find schools and compare ratings to an infrastructure to find what’s possible.”
The Endsleys’ search was a successful one with the help of GreatSchools:
“We came from an area that had no kids to one where the majority of our neighbors’ kids go to the same school”, said Alanea.
Through GreatSchools, Endsley’s family found a great house — and, more importantly, the right school. Her daughter is now happy and thriving in second grade.
