Choosing a school is a real education--Part 2

Blue ribbon schools, gold medal awards, schools of excellence--ratings and rankings come in various forms.  How do you distinguish one from another?  What do they mean in a world where lawmakers want every school to be the same in their efforts to provide a good education for every child?

Every school rating website considers student achievement on state proficiency tests, graduation rates, and college readiness.  Some sites like usnews.com/education publish a list of the Best High Schools Rankings awarding gold, silver, and bronze medals to what they consider to be the top schools in the nation.  Sites like greatschools.org use a scale of 1-10 to rate individual schools adding to their basic criteria reviews by students and parents, resources to help interpret data, and articles related to parenting and learning.  Niche.com grades each school on ten areas: academics, teachers, clubs and activities, administration, food, diversity, college readiness, health and safety, sports, and resources and facilities. Each category is explained with data and poll results.  The Minnesota Report Card at rc.education.state.mn.us allows you to see any of its 13 reports rating and explaining your school as well as the entire system on topics such as demographics, graduation rates, school performance, and staff.

Each of these sites contains helpful information about the school systems near you.  But how do you decide if your neighborhood school is your best option?  Should you consider that distant public or private school instead?  Jordan Friedman at usnews.com offers some points for consideration here.  Aside from the programs, activities, size, and cost, he advises parents to think about the school culture, student-teacher interaction, technology and resources available, and parent engagement.  Kylie Orr offers a few tips not included on most lists at www.essentialkids.com.au.  (Read it here.)  She encourages parents to look locally, determine their educational priorities, decide if the school is a good fit, visit, form their own opinions, and lastly, ask where the prospective student wants to go.

The bottom line is parents need to be involved in the education of their children, from start to finish.  With lots of resources available, you don't have to do it alone.  

_{CREDIT:  Northfield, MN Patch and southernminn.com}