Hi Moms - we are putting our townhouse on the market within the next month and plan to buy a house (IF we can sell our place!!)and wanted to get some recommendations of the best resources to evaluate school districts. We're looking to stay in the Chicago western suburbs. I noticed that there are ratings listed on one of the real estate websites that I use: ziprealty.com, but wasn't sure how reliable these are and wanted others to cross reference.
Illinois Interactive Report Card has a lot of information on schools performance. The site is run by NIU with the State Board of Education. You can break down information by district or by schools.
http://iirc.niu.edu
Once you narrow down your pick, just be aware that unfortunately there can sometimes be big differences between elementary schools within the same district. For example, we live in Naperville 203 and our home school would be Mill (if we went there.) Mill Street is a huge school with a very diverse population and lots of in school social services to support them. The school is overcrowded too. There are other schools with tons of open spaces, whole empty classrooms. There are still other schools so wealthy that the PTA organization has raised enough $ that they could buy laptops for every kid in the school (pretty sure district stepped in though and reallocated some of those $.) Ask lots of questions. Good luck.
You may want to try
www.greatschools.org
my personal recommendations are these school districts
wheaton/warrenville
Naperville 203 or 204
Glen Ellyn
Plainfield
Oswego
Batavia
St. Charles
Minooka
I would avoid at all costs Aurora, Joliet, Romeoville school districts
(former teacher, so looking at it from that perspective)
Go to your State Dept of Education website and look for each district and school's "report card". That will give you a ton of information!
greatschools.net
Updated
greatschools.net
In addition to state Ed Dept resources and realtor info that give you things like the graduation rate and the standardized test scores (which should not be your only criteria), a lot of parents meet with the principal or someone else at the district office of their prime choices. Some things to look at are class size, # of paraprofessional aides in the room (and whether they are helping just one child as is often dictated by special needs, or whether they are assisting in general), how much of the classroom needs and enrichment programs are met by state funding vs. how much fundraising the parents have to do. A school with a lot of volunteers and a lot of activities usually has more of a community feeling to it with a lot of involvement. On the other hand, if your kids are expected to go out and sell stuff all the time to make ends meet, that's another problem! Can the district afford textbooks or does everything in there pre-date the space race?
The job of the real estate sites is to sell more houses at higher prices, and schools are a big factor for people. They are a resource, but not the only one. The richest school districts aren't necessarily the best if there is a competition among students and a snooty attitude. But new materials and enrichment funding (whether it's afterschool stuff or programs that come in to entertain/educate the kids during the day) are key indicators of a forward-moving district.
Fundraising in our town is essential and it's really done well most of the time. Book fairs & ice cream social nights raise money but build community while promoting reading. There is an annual Trivia Bee but the teams wear costumes and make it entertaining, while raising money for the educational foundation which in turn accepts proposals and issues grants to teachers doing innovative things. Can and bottle drives promote recycling while raising money. But the kids are not out ringing doorbells and constantly selling magazines followed by wrapping paper followed by citrus fruit followed by chocolate bars. Know what I mean?
Hi J.,
For test score information you can go to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) website and click on "report card". Also, Schoolmatch.com has district ratings (they are have a national range, and I believe, charge a fee for their info., I don't know the specifics currently).
Finally, I have a home-based business that offers school, child care & community info for cities/towns across the U.S., including a website, www.metroprofiles.com. I don't do evaluations of schools, or make recommendations, but can provide good basic info for a nominal cost. If you would like to email/contact me privately: ParentLink Info Services, 1674 Cumberland, Aurora IL 60504, ###-###-####, ____@____.com this helps.
S. Redfern
