“Are the public schools good here?” This is the question on the lips of every parent with school-age children. Perhaps you’re moving, and finding a top-notch school district is your first priority. Perhaps you just want to know how your school district stacks up against others. Or perhaps you live in a district that has instituted school choice, that is, it allows you to send your child to any school within its boundaries. How can you go about getting reliable, up-to-date information about the local schools?

This is a hot topic that we, real estate professionals, get around schools. You are probably asking, Is this a good school system?, or if I buy this home, which school would my kid go to? So here is why we cannot really comment as professionals, because we would be committing something called “steering”. This is a fair housing violation that would be steering people away, or to a certain demographic or area. 

To give you an insight, here are some of the ways that districts determine their schooling system. So, the most common way is by street. What street you live on, kind of belong to which neighborhood school your kids would go to. There’s another one called magnet school systems where it’s more kind of a themed area, maybe this school focuses on art or STEM. Another one is equities, some districts are trying to create equity within their district and every now and then the districts go ahead and try to “Re-district”. SO if we tell you “that you buy this house, your kid can go to this school”, and he or she doesn’t, it causes a problem.

Are School Ranking System reliable?

There’s a great deal of variety in what individual states focus on, so you have to check your own school or district’s report card to know which measures are actually studied in your state. But as far as the federal government is concerned, test scores are very important. While schools aren’t required to do achievement or assessment testing, those test scores often determine if a school can access federal grants or funding.

So there can be a lot at stake in these numbers. But let’s get down to business: what’s actually making up those school rating numbers? And how reliably can the ratings predict whether your child will achieve their academic goals? 

So often, what you need to know is that those grades that you’ll see in real estate websites are actually a third-party company that sends their data and unfortunately, that data may or may not be fairly representative of the districts. 

Read Beyond the Ranking

The good news is that parents can still find information about a school independently. If you do like to see ratings, look beyond the number to the summary rating system from third-party companies. It’s based on a collection of data from state departments of education and the Civil Rights Data Collection, which includes standardized test scores and data on demographics, enrollment, discipline, and teacher experience, among others. From there, these third-party companies assemble the data into five sub-ratings: college readiness, test scores, equity, advanced courses, and attendance.

As real estate professionals and community builders, our role is to share diverse data sources and put it into context for parents trying to understand the issues around school quality as well as paint a broader picture for parents about how they can support their kids.

Here are some good sources of information:

Your state department of education Many states rank their school districts and offer other vital statistics to the public. You can get the phone number online or by calling directory assistance for your state capital. Follow the school districts on social media. Almost every district now has a page on facebook or instagram that will really show you a lot of what you want to know. Research the school district on “niche.com.” Read the reviews of parents, students and residents.

Parent-teacher associations PTAs and PTOs (parent-teacher organizations) can be a great resource for inside information. In this day and age, most PTA’s now have their own websites and social media presence. Join local facebook groups and the communities that you’re planning to purchase a house in and ask questions of the people who are already sending their kids in those districts.

Board of Education ask your specific questions whether it’s about special education  or graduation rate etc. Ask the questions there, so that you can get accurate information and be able to make informed decisions.

The schools themselves Call each school and ask to receive a school catalog in the mail along with any other printed material available, particularly about how this school or district compares to others in the area. School calendars, newsletters, Web sites, and handbooks can all give you insight into the tone of the school and help you evaluate it. Then when you’re ready, call back to make an appointment for a visit.

“Test score performance, which is often heavily weighted, isn’t an accurate indicator of a school’s overall quality or how well-programmed the school is academically. It instead reveals more about school demographics, family incomes, and parental education levels.”  – Jack Schneider, Ph.D.

The Bottom Line

We can’t totally dismiss school ratings, nor should we. They can provide valuable information to state and federal leaders working to improve education for all students as well as parents. School ratings are important because they convey expectations about school performance and can spur action when used for good. While rankings can be a starting point, parents and caregivers are encouraged to peel the onion and understand the algorithm behind the ratings as well as use the resources shared in this blog to do their own research. A single ranking can’t tell you everything you need to know about a school.

Tezeta “Tez” Roro is a real estate broker and a parent. She is an advocate for children and parents and has been recognized for her positive efforts in her community.