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Cathy Clark

Cape Cod Real Estate

Do School Ratings Correlate to Better/Worse Towns?

By: Cathy Clark
Saturday, September 15, 2007 1:53 PM

Since the majority of my business comes from off-Cape and outside Massachusetts, I often receive questions such as "what are the better towns/schools/communities".  A tough question which we, of course, cannot answer.  It's all subjective.  What do you want in a community?  What do you want in a school system?  Does a "mid" ranking make a school any better or worse than the one immediately above or below it?  Also, an incredibly driven student could do very well in a lower ranking school while a lazy one is going to do terrrible in even the best environment.

I did, however, recently find a website that I found very helpful.  It's national and broken down by school, not just town or district.  An observation I made while scanning this site was that not every school in a particular town/city is rated equal.  For example, one urban city in MA has a pretty bad reputation for crime, low income, being run-down, etc.  We all have them.  However, two of it's schools ranked extremely high in our state.  Above my own town, which is considered rural, middle class, and a pretty good school system.

The people I have sent to this site have found it very helpful.  Hope it helps you, too!

www.schooldigger.com

 

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Comments

Phil Anderson
Member Since '04

Phil Anderson said:

Thanks for the website, Cathy!!!  I'll check it out!!!!

September 15, 2007 12:09 PM
Gary Szolosi
Member Since '03

Gary Szolosi said:

Cathy I always have referred clients to local school districts for information and never will I give an opinion on any school since I only can provide the information they have to do their own judging. Thanks for the site and will add it to my current list.

September 15, 2007 12:09 PM
Mike Farmer
Member Since '03

Mike Farmer said:

Thanks, Catz. I will cherish this link.

September 15, 2007 12:25 PM
Mary Welch
Member Since '04

Mary Welch said:

Catz you should have posted this during money month. You could have purchased the other shoe. Great link. Thanks.

September 15, 2007 12:28 PM
Shelly  Constantz
Member Since '07

Shelly Constantz said:

Cathy, thanks for the link.  I will add that to the one I currently use:  www.greatschools.net for my clients to make their determination on what a good school is.  If you have a child with special needs, it isn't always the best scores...

I tell my clients, "good schools" are very subjective, and I prefer to deal with facts.  How about I give you this link that helps sift through facts and also gives you the perspective of teachers and parents there.  You can review the information and tell me what school(s) seem to fit your criteria for "good".  Then I will find the neighborhoods within those districts.

Shelly

September 15, 2007 12:29 PM
Cathy  Clark
Member Since '06

Cathy Clark said:

Yeah, Mary, poor Ben's going to have a rough winter with that frostbite problem.  Oh well.....he can hop on one foot.

September 15, 2007 12:35 PM
Cathy  Clark
Member Since '06

Cathy Clark said:

Is that the one that allows anonymous comments?  I found one like that and located a comment from a local parent I knew who was a major league thorn in the side.  The school system spent copious quantities of cash on her kid to evaluate him for special needs, even independent evaluations in Boston because she was so adamant.  He was just lazy and troublemaker. Violent, too. I had personal experience with him, and her, and refused to take her calls or have my son in his class.  Almost moved him to another school.

She wrote a scathing comment about the school that was completely unwarranted.  She ended up moving one town over.  I got a call from the local PTO asking about her.  They're all fed up with her now, too.

September 15, 2007 12:43 PM
Shelly  Constantz
Member Since '07

Shelly Constantz said:

Cathy, yes it does.  I always tell  my clients, read the comments with your filter on.  Typicall, only the far sides of the pendulum take time to write, really, really drank the kool-aid and really, really can't please 'em no matter what you do.  Somewhere in the middle lies the truth.  They get it.  

shelly

September 15, 2007 12:49 PM
Candice A Donofrio
Member Since '07

Candice A Donofrio said:

CO OO OO OOOL!

We have terrible public schools, but we have good private schools. This is a GREAT resource for prospectives. Kisses and hugs for that my little supersleuth!

September 15, 2007 12:58 PM
Cathy  Clark
Member Since '06

Cathy Clark said:

Dinada, Dahlin'

September 15, 2007 1:04 PM
Michael Klijanowicz
Member Since '07

Michael Klijanowicz said:

Thanks a bunch I will put the link on my site!

September 16, 2007 5:55 AM
Craig Barrett
Member Since '07

Craig Barrett said:

Cathy! I haven't seen this one. Thanks for sharing!

September 16, 2007 6:53 AM
Jana Davis & Virginia Houghton
Member Since '05

Jana Davis & Virginia Houghton said:

I don't like the ratings.  I am not sure where they really come from.  Word of mouth is much more reliable.  Site that allow parents to post will most likely get negative comments from the disgruntalled parents.  Happy people hardly ever take the time.

Jana

September 16, 2007 12:29 PM
Cathy  Clark
Member Since '06

Cathy Clark said:

Jana, I don't like rankings much either.  But when I reviewed my town's on this site, they were pretty spot on.

September 16, 2007 1:07 PM
Shelly  Constantz
Member Since '07

Shelly Constantz said:

I don't much like the ratings either, but when you are dealing with mostly transient, families... they want to know the "good" schools. I need to give them something for them to make a decision!!

September 16, 2007 4:47 PM
Mipeco Realty, Inc -  Michaela Krestenic, Broker-Owner
Member Since '03

Mipeco Realty, Inc - Michaela Krestenic, Broker-Owner said:

that's a great link! In my opinion the importance of all this school ranking is way overrated. I'm already worried about my stepson going to high school next year ... our high school is ranked the 15th best for Illinois and I'd much rather have an average school where the expectations wouldn't be so high. I don't think he'll be a "college material" and we just want him to find a career that will make him happy, whether that involves higher education or not.

Personally, I have a 1-year long first-hand experience with badly ranking high school ... and I mean BAD ... As a foreign exchange student in 1993/94, I was placed in a family in Kansas City, KS ... the school they put me in is currently one of the 5 worst high schools in KS ... and from what I remember, it was just as bad back then. ... now imagine, my parents had to PAY for me to be here and to go to that school ... sure heck of a "private" school I got myself into! But despite all the crime in the area, metal detectors we had, all the fighting and lock downs I experienced, there were some GREAT teachers that made a wonderful impression on me. And a lot of kids who otherwise would be less then average in a better school, had a chance to excel ... the teachers gave them a lot of personal attention because they knew that these kids really wanted to learn, no matter what the conditions were.

So, to me, the most important thing is the company my kid is in ... the rest, that doesn't really matter.

September 16, 2007 5:15 PM
Shelly  Constantz
Member Since '07

Shelly Constantz said:

OH Michaela, what a nice first impression of our great country you received!!  bless you!!

shelly

September 16, 2007 7:37 PM
Sarah Phelps, Broker Asc., ABR
Member Since '04

Sarah Phelps, Broker Asc., ABR said:

I really believe that school is what YOU make it.  I have several friends and kids of my friends that went to schools in my area that were considered "bad" or very low on the list and have still received a good education and have gone on to be very successful people - one in fact just received a full 4-year scholarship to Illinois State based off his grades, etc. at this supposedly "bad" school.  I think you can only put so much weight into these different school rating websites and have to take them with a grain of salt.

September 17, 2007 11:23 AM

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Cathy Clark
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