School may be out for summer, but for those of us with kids under 5, the education journey is about to start. And when the journey is starting…where the heck do you go for information?
Well, have no fear because I have more information that you could ever want. Because I work in education, I have been fortunate to learn more about student gains and trends than my little brain thought it could ever retain. Throughout educating myself on education, I learned that there are several resources that exist (outside of the trusty word of mouth and Facebook) to help families decide what school is right for them. Before deciding what school is right for you, though, you must understand a bit about school choice.
What is school choice? School choice is the right that you have, as a parent/guardian, to choose where your child goes to school. Back in the day, students were zoned to schools (a traditional public school) and that was it–end of story. Now, there are several ways that a parent can opt-out of their neighborhood school if it’s not the right fit for you or your child or decide to attend another type of school like a faith-based private school, selective-magnet school or an open-enrollment charter school.
What do you mean I opt-out? Some school districts offer something called diversity choice. What that means is, as someone who lives within the district, you can elect to attend a different campus than their zoned school, if you prefer it. An example of this exists on the East Side of Austin; Govalle Elementary students are zoned to attend Martin Middle School, however, if parents do not want them to attend that school, they can select, through diversity choice, to attend O. Henry. If this is something you are interested in, you should look at your school district’s website to learn what diversity choice options exist for you.
What about those other choices you mentioned? Aside from attending a traditional public school, some of your school choice options are the following:
- A charter school: A type of public school that is tuition-free, non-selective and has the flexibility to adapt to the education needs of its students.
- A magnet school: A type of public school that is also tuition-free and has a specialized curriculum. Unlike charter schools, magnet schools are selective, meaning there is an application process.
- A private school: A school supported by a private organization or private individuals rather than by the government. Most private schools are tuition based.Many are faith based.
It’s all a bit overwhelming, how do I know what school is any good? It can be overwhelming and…drum roll please…the purpose of today’s blog is to introduce you to some tools that can help make your school choice process a bit easier. Disclaimer: I am sure there are other similar tools that exist, but these are the ones I am most familiar with.
Great Schools (www.greatschools.org) is a website where parents, like you and me, can go in and rank the school we currently attend. What Great Schools does is it takes that community feedback and looks at state testing data and generates scores for the school. What’s great about a tool like this is that testing really only tells you so much and the parent/community piece added to it allows you insight into the culture. Warning: Like any sight that has open commentary available, you will read some reviews of people that have had sour experiences and while it can be distracting, you should look at the bigger picture and not let one stranger’s bad experience deter you from a school. I’ve gone to the site and looked up Westwood High School (Allison’s alma mater) to talk through as an example. Picture 1 is the comprehensive ranking. It shows the overall Great Schools score and the other rankings. You can see what grades it serves and where the school is located. Picture 2 is a snap shot of the reviews page. You can see how three different categories rank out of five stars and you can read through the reviews. Picture 3 is for you to see if you’re zoned to the school. If you don’t know where you’re zoned, this is a great starting point. Also, if you’re looking up schools generically, you can type in your zip code and you will see a ton of rankings and you can go from there.
US News and World Report (www.usnews.com). If your child is approaching high school, US News and World Report ranks the Best High Schools in the nation annually. This is a great place for you to go to see the high-quality schools that are in your area.
Texas Education Agency (Site). This is the Texas Education Agency’s site. They own all of the data for all state-funded school districts. Their website is not as intuitive as Great Schools, but it still has useful information. Through this site you can learn if your school or district has achieved an Exemplary (the highest possible) rating. If they have, that means 90+% of their students passed the state exam the year prior. There are few districts ranked as Exemplary, so this is a great sign if your neighborhood school is. Beware of other rankings like “Acceptable” because they are on the lower end of the spectrum. Here is a link to the rankings definitions to help you navigate that.
The number one thing we tell families, moms and dads, is that you child’s school has to be a good fit for them in order for them to succeed. If your child is a stand-out reader and they are in a class with below-grade level readers, than you child may not being served to the capacity that they should be or vice-versa. If your child is a struggling student in an elite program, they may not be getting the individualized attention they need to improve.
How did you navigate the school choice process?
