https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:23:03 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-do-you-research-the-quality-of-public-schools#post-89520 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:41:16 +0000 banana 89520@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@oliviaoblivia: Totally! It's one of those moments that I always refer back to when I feel kind of down. Such a small gesture that makes such a big impact in someone's life. I remember the dress I was wearing too. White with tiny velvet pink polka dots. I hope my kids have teachers like that growing up. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-do-you-research-the-quality-of-public-schools#post-89506 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:34:44 +0000 oliviaoblivia 89506@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@banana: Mrs. Johnson sounds so great...what a nice thing to say! I love those little memories that stick with you through to adulthood. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-do-you-research-the-quality-of-public-schools#post-89416 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:21:32 +0000 banana 89416@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@shellio: Yes, it was a very good school! Those 2 years really did shape the way I learned and developed my self esteem. Once in 5th grade, the teacher called me up to her desk. I was so scared that I did something wrong. I slowly walked up to her desk and she whispered in my ear "You have on a very pretty dress today. That's all I wanted to say." and smiled at me. I didn't say anything and walked back to my desk because it caught me off guard. I still remember that moment vividly to this day. It made me feel so pretty and special. I loved Mrs. Johnson!</p> <p>@joyjoy: Library time was awesome! I think it really made me like to read more, especially since we were allowed to read whatever book we wanted (and not from the curriculum or whatever). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-do-you-research-the-quality-of-public-schools#post-89398 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:44:02 +0000 joyjoy 89398@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Like artbee, I've lived in the same general area my whole life, and it's fairly widely known around here which areas have the best schools. The home prices generally reflect which schools are good, too, and you'll often see drastic drops in housing prices where the zoning for great school ends and the zoning for good/okay school begins.</p> <p>We're not moving to the final school district we want to be in quite yet (expensive!), so for this move we got a lot of help from greatschools.org. There were a good number of parent reviews for our area, so we were able to read about the rating based on test scores and curriculum as well as parents' opinion on the teaching staff and practices of the school. </p> <p>@banana My school was like that, too! I always looked forward to library time. We didn't get read to for quiet time, though. Our teachers would put on soft music and either have us relax or give us prompts to use our imagination. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-do-you-research-the-quality-of-public-schools#post-89356 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:50:12 +0000 regberadaisy 89356@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Do they have Business First in your area? They do a yearly run down of school ratings. I forgot the site but there's a site that does statistic of average test results for each school.<br /> And honestly just word of mouth from living in the area.<br /> There's a high school in our area that this year was top 16 in the nation according to a national publication. The high school our kids will be going to was within top 200 in the nation. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-do-you-research-the-quality-of-public-schools#post-89331 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:11:20 +0000 shellio 89331@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@banana: That school sounds awesome! </p> <p><a href="http://www.greatschools.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.greatschools.org/</a> is a site that DH and I have used to research schools. I think it is largely based on things like test scores and teacher:pupil ratio, so it is obviously not the whole story but might help you get started. There is a place for comments, but the schools I've looked at don't have very many.</p> <p>It is tough - DH and I are also looking at homes and hoping to find a place in a good district. I went to pretty bad/mediocre elementary, middle, and high schools and I'm a physician, of course school quality is not everything, but I agree with you that it is important. Another thing I like about the areas we've looked at where there are better schools is that there are many families that move there for the schools, so your neighbors and kids' friends' parents are all people who also value education. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-do-you-research-the-quality-of-public-schools#post-89316 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:51:20 +0000 banana 89316@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>When I was in 4th grade, I went to a school in a so-so area. Looking back, all I remember is recess and learning my times table. In 5th grade, we moved to an upscale neighborhood with excellent schools. And man.... I noticed a HUGE difference. </p> <p>We had music classes, crafts classes, typing class (we learned to type on those old school manual typewriters in 5th grade), we had orchestra and chorus. And I remember the teachers giving me more attention in class. They would hold more parent/teacher conferences and send notes home with my progress much more often than in my previous school. I also remember we had library time (they had a GREAT library) where 2x a week, we would all head down to our school library, check out leisure books (any book you want) and read them for an hour before heading back into class (and writing a book report on it). We also had quiet time after recess. Right after we came back from recess, there was always a cup of water on each of our desks. Then we all put our heads down while the teacher read aloud (usually Judy Blume books). We were allowed to either take a nap or listen to the reading for 20 minutes. Then we all got up and sang a song to stimulate our minds before engaging in learning.</p> <p>So that's what I personally look for in elementary schools now. A diverse curriculum (which includes music &amp; art), more parent/teacher involvement, healthy food offerings, emphasis on reading and just overall body/mind development.</p> <p>Thinking back, I realize that this school was AWESOME. I learned so much from my 2 years here (5th &amp; 6th). I wish I had attended this school from the get go! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-do-you-research-the-quality-of-public-schools#post-89277 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:02:44 +0000 heffalump 89277@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We've lived near where we live now our whole life, so we already pretty much knew what schools were good and bad. Plus we talked to some neighbors with kids when we were looking at our house. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-do-you-research-the-quality-of-public-schools#post-89272 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:58:57 +0000 Witz 89272@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mrs. Bee's post about the public schools in her neighborhood (and the prospect of moving to be in a better district), got me thinking -- how do you figure out the reputation of schools? </p> <p>We are looking to buy a home in the next year and want it to be a home where we can live for at least 10 years (or better yet, forever!). We probably won't be able to afford private school for our (future) children, so the quality of the public schools will be an important factor for us to consider. How do we figure out where the best public schools are? Most of our friends do not have kids yet, and if they do, they're all less than a year old, so they don't know either. </p> <p>If anyone has intel on Seattle's school districts, that would be awesome, but just knowing how to research it on our own would be really useful information! </p>