It is a great website, I managed to get my kid into a school rated 10 out of 10 and I urge other parents to do the same. It makes a world of difference. This is your kid, this is their life.
My daughter was being teased by the Mexicans for being smart in her old school. Why? She would come home crying all the time, she is very emotional. Now, every day, she comes home with a smile and stories to be told.
Her old school was not that bad, only 50 percent Mexican. Her new school is more evenly mixed with every ethnicity.
In her old school, the kids all had skeletons and skulls on their clothes, even infant ware. When I visited the new school, I pointed out to my wife that there were no skulls and skeletons on their clothes.
Pay attention parents. If you can get your kid into a non-union school, your kids will be way ahead. In her new school, the parents take an active part in their kid’s education. I’d expand on the differences, but that is off topic.
Our two girls are now full grown, and our youngest is a TA(1). Since getting her B.S.Ed and passing all the IL Certification Teacher Tests (can teach K-9), she's worked for two districts near our and her place. Both are way above average in all grade test scores and also have very high overall ratings.
I also checked 'greatschools' for the Elem School our two grandkids are going to. That school is also above average in all areas. And a big plus is, they're Patriotic. When our grandson 'graduated' from Kindergarten the kids sang God Bless The USA (honest), American Flags were everywhere in the Gym, and the Teacher talked about her sons who were serving in Afghanistan for 'Our Country' (no commie NEA union junk in that school). And all this is in a Public School!
But I digress ;-), the greatschools website was a gem to find. Besides the School info, it tells you about the makeup of the entire community.
(1) B.S.Ed from ISU (IL State) and now taking an accelerated Masters level course for ESL and Aced (4.0 gpa) this past quarter. ESL will soon be a Requirement for all IL teachers. This is one more reason why I 'go off' on Illegals and their 'right' to an education at our expense. This ESL Course is $6,000!.. and that's with a 50% discount for her. The one good thing is all these ESL credit hours count towards her Masters Degree when she goes for that. But a teacher who already has a Masters is s.o.l., it's $6K down the drain for them. Just so they're able to teach illegals.