Evaluating K-6 schools?

[sewhappy]

Hi there -

How do you all evaluate school systems (specifically K-6). What websites do you turn to?

Thanks!

ETA Just a little background. My daughter is 2 1/2 and I'm expecting a second in October (my daughter will be turning 3 at that time). Although we're several years away from kindergarten, we're anticipating moving to a new town (bigger house) and so we want to make sure we're in a good school system as we plan to be in this next house for approx. 10 years or so - at least through grade school, possibly jr high. I would _probably_ anticipate moving before the high school years.

[sublime311]

Here, I would look at the Arizona Department of Education website. They publish "school report cards" which tell what the school's rating is and how they performed on tests. The reports also give me statistics on certain behaviors like assults. Also, I value technology so I would check the school's website to see what they have going on. At my school EVERY teacher has a homework blog that is updated at minimum, once a week - that would be a plus for me as a parent!

[TenOClockBird]

I found some really useful information at GreatSchools.net. You have to look at the whole picture, not just individual statistics, but it is all there. They give each school an overall rating 1-10. I found that very helpful. Here, the districts vary widely, and elementary schools within any of the good districts also vary. We finally decided to move into the smallest district in our area because it only has ONE elementary school! Well, there are a million other reasons, but that's one of them.

[Natasha]

Greatschools.net is what we used to pick my son's elementary school. Good luck!

[AlisonCO]

We have started to look at elem schools too. Besides greatschools.net I have also looked at our individual school districts website - they post test scores, IB school info, how the school is run (charter, co-op), class size and what extra things each elem offers (language, science, art/music). Once a year the dictricts publish their test scores and you can see them side by side. Also once a year our newspaper does a huge story about the main districts and how many bond issues have passed in that area, how much money is spent at the school level, how many new schools are scheduled to be built and what their focus will be etc.

[sewhappy]

Thanks guys...if I find any other useful links I'll try to get back here to post them. :)