GreatSchools.net050

A school directory that lays out in clear, easy-to-understand fashion all the public schools in the state. Not only does it provide brief profiles of each, it enables you to compare salient features of one school against another. The force behind this website, GreatSchools, Inc, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the best, most comprehensive information about schools. Its mission is to not only help parents choose schools for their children, but to help parents and community members understand, support, and improve public schools in particular. For each school, the site includes class size, test scores, demographics, and teacher qualifications. What we like best are the tools, which allow you to refine your own search for the right school. It lets you look by district, type (charter, public, private), and specialty (gifted, special needs). We're slightly less enthusiastic about the service articles, which address various ways of coping with problems parents might encounter along the way. Topics include "Homework Horrors," and "How to Choose the Right School for Your Child." You're likely to still be looking for the answers after you've finished reading these. There's only so much detail the site can go into in describing each school. It's not clear, for instance, how involved the parent body is, nor how effectively particular programs are implemented. (And the site that can figure out how to do that is a truly great one.) But if you're just beginning the search for a school and need an overview, you might want to start here.