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Photo credit: CDC Public Health Image Library
For many people, what school their child attends is an important consideration in buying a home. Some buyers only look at homes in a particular school or school district, while others consider homes across different school districts. Many buyers ask their real estate agent how “good” a school or school district is, but agents risk violating the Fair Housing Act by responding (https://www.justice.gov/crt/fair-housing-act-1). This blog entry addresses where buyers can access good information on schools for use in their home search process.
Online Information Sources
Schools/school districts, state and federal governments, and various websites that rank or rate schools offer school information online. I strongly recommend the following two resources:
- Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Future Ready PA Index (futurereadypa.org). It consists of academic and career-related measures and statistics, and includes only public and charter schools.
- GreatSchools (greatschools.org) is a national non-profit organization that provides information on public, private, and charter schools. Among this resource’s strengths is that it includes information provided by students, parents, and educators based upon personal experience in these schools. In addition, this website includes nuts and bolts, like what time the school day starts and ends, and offers resources such as what to ask when touring schools.
Supplemental Information Sources
Seek out first-hand knowledge by visiting schools and talking with students, parents, and educators at those schools. Most schools encourage parents of prospective students to take a tour with a staff member. In general, avoid making decisions about school quality based solely upon their reputations. Although reputations are sometimes justified, just as often they are based largely upon hearsay (which has taken on a life of its own!).
Rankings
Finally, some well-known media outlets rank schools. If you decide to refer to rankings, do so with care. In my earlier professional life, I reported data to one of these for their annual ranking of MBA programs. Understand that people create rankings based upon their assumptions about what makes a school “good”. Look at the measures each ranker uses and decide if you believe that is how schools should be evaluated. Also, be aware that schools ranked closely together may be virtually identical in quality. In short, remember that although rankings can be useful, they exist primarily to make the ranker money – not benefit the consumer.
