Greatschools

Across the country, greatschools, states and school districts have devised their greatschools systems of letter grades greatschools color-coded dashboards based on test scores and graduation rates. But arguably the most visible and influential school rating system in America comes from the nonprofit GreatSchools, whose ratings appear in home listings on national real estate websites Zillow, Realtor.

With more than 40 million unique visitors each year, the school ratings site GreatSchools. GreatSchools is also licensed by real estate listing sites such as Redfin and Zillow, which allow potential homebuyers to easily see the school zones for houses for sale, or permit users to search for houses for sale that are zoned to a particular school. In addition to the ratings, the site also collects reviews from parents, who can offer their own star ratings. Nationwide, the population of public school students is becoming more diverse, and a growing percentage of schools are predominantly black and Hispanic, with high concentrations of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch. Such schools tend to have fewer experienced and effective teachers, a more challenging school climate, and less rigorous academic offerings than schools with a wealthier student body. One research paper receiving renewed attention suggests an earlier version of the GreatSchools scoring system may have accelerated already existing trends of racial and socioeconomic segregation.

Greatschools

We conducted a data analysis of their scores. In America, most children go to school based on where their family lives. So affluent parents often take the quality of schools into consideration when they make housing decisions. It can be hard to determine the quality of a school, though. Parents can use test scores as an indicator, or they can do their own research within their own social networks. But eventually they find data through Google or the real estate website Zillow. And GreatSchools makes it easy: Almost every school in America is rated, 1 to But what do these scores measure? To find out, we collaborated with the education news website Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat reporters Matt Barnum and Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee found that these ratings correlate highly with socioeconomic levels — while not doing a great job at capturing how much a school helps students grow. In their excellent piece , they explain:. The result is a ubiquitous, privately run school ratings system that is steering people toward whiter, more affluent schools. And to keep up with Vox videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Greatschools encouraging more affluent families to go to high-performing schools in low-income neighborhoods could have unintended consequences, greatschools, such as displacing other students. That could mean GreatSchools loses credibility with a powerful constituency of families.

GreatSchools is an American national nonprofit organization that provides information about PK schools and education. The website provides ratings and comparison tools based on student growth, college readiness, equity, and test scores for public schools in the U. The next four years — , the school ratings expanded statewide in California and expanded nationwide in In , GreatSchools introduced a "Summary Rating" to individual school profiles. The Summary Rating is a score on a scale composed of themed ratings including how well schools serve students from different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds Equity , how much students are improving within a school year Student Progress , performance on state tests Test Score , and how well schools prepare students for college College Readiness.

As an independent nonprofit, our mission at GreatSchools. In , we launched our Summary Rating, which is comprised of themed ratings that each reflect important factors in how students experience school, including how well schools serve students from different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, how much students are improving within a school year, performance on state tests, and how well schools prepare students for college. In August , we piloted new methodologies in California and Michigan for both the Summary Rating and the Equity Rating to provide a clearer lens to see how schools serve all children. This new methodology was available nationwide as of September, We believe that every parent — regardless of their background — needs reliable information in order to understand whether their child is being served by their school.

Greatschools

GreatSchools is the leading nonprofit providing high-quality information that supports parents pursuing a great education for their child, schools striving for excellence, and communities working to diminish inequities in education. We collect and analyze data from all 51 state departments of education and the federal government to provide analysis, insights, and school quality ratings for parents, partners, researchers, and policymakers. We empower education stakeholders with research and data insights to improve schools, with the goal of creating a more equitable future for all children. Sign me up for updates relevant to my child's grade. Please enter a valid email address.

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Parents can use test scores as an indicator, or they can do their own research within their own social networks. Oakland, California , U. Walton is also a funder of Chalkbeat. Mar 28 Thu. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K districts. Principal Jobs. Categories : American educational websites American review websites Consumer guides Education companies established in Internet properties established in The Summary Rating is a score on a scale composed of themed ratings including how well schools serve students from different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds Equity , how much students are improving within a school year Student Progress , performance on state tests Test Score , and how well schools prepare students for college College Readiness. In an interview, Kumar suggested two potential policy changes that could lessen the segregration trends found in his study: changing school boundaries to equalize access to high-performing schools, as well as incorporating more measures in a school rating than just test scores, which are highly correlated with race and family wealth. But arguably the most visible and influential school rating system in America comes from the nonprofit GreatSchools, whose ratings appear in home listings on national real estate websites Zillow, Realtor.

The Summary Rating is a multi-measure school quality metric intended to reflect how well a school is preparing students for postsecondary success. GreatSchools currently produces four themed ratings, all of which are included in the Summary Rating when available.

Open image caption Close image caption Florida Gov. The Associated Press. The scores, based on state data, appear on the information page for a given school. But GreatSchools was dogged by criticism that its scores were crude measures of school quality that penalized schools for serving low-income students. Around the same time, charter schools and other school choice policies were gaining traction. Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day. Parents can use test scores as an indicator, or they can do their own research within their own social networks. Could GreatSchools do things differently? In addition to real estate websites, GreatSchools ratings are embedded on GoSection8, a site for people using federal housing vouchers. Goux, the GreatSchools spokesperson, said the organization works to ensure all facets of school performance are visible.