Great Schools Find a Niche in School Ratings
Plug a school name into any Internet search engine, and within a few pages, you're likely to come across the GreatSchools website.
GreatSchools.org neatly ranks more than 136,000 traditional public, private, and charter schools nationwide on a scale of 1 to 10, based on state test scores. But the eye catcher are the posting of the parents, students, teachers, and staff members of each schools weather it is negative or positive feedback. Readers don't pay much attention to the rating stars because that's base off of what the school produces out and not what actually happens in the school.
The development of online school rating services has grown side by side with the progress of the school choice movement: Parents need self-regulating statistics on the assortment of educational options opening up to them. GreatSchools from San Francisco-based nonprofit has stored long-running support from charities that back such school choice measures as charter schools and private school vouchers.
GreatSchools.org is not the only website that ranks pre-K-12 schools. Google and Yelp searcher engines offer school ratings, as do websites such as Schooldigger.com and Privateschoolreview.com. However GreatSchools.org is the most visited site for relative information by unknown source.
GreatSchools was found by a very knowledgeable man by the name of Bill Jackson. Jackson is the chief executive of this company. He is looking to expand this website where it can be more than just a site to find school ratings. Mr. Jackson gives a few examples to show his comparisons. It would be producing services as the way AARP serves retirees or AAA represents drivers. The chief wants to see this website offering incentives and discounts on products and services that will support parents towards preparing a high school graduate.
'Skin in the Game'
One thing that Mr. Jackson is a firm believer in is that parents need to know their role in their child's education career path.
GreatSchools was founded in 1997 as an independent rating system for schools in the Silicon Valley area of California. Being an Internet entrepreneur, Mr. Jackson had several projects going on and this was one of them being his top priority to worked on as a way to promote the nascent computer-networking industry.
The site next expanded to Arizona with Texas, Florida, and Washington states to join shortly after. The federal law No Child Left Behind Act, with its emphasis on standardized testing as source of information if schools are cutting it or not really helped out Mr. Jackson out with GreatSchools web site.
Another thing Jackson really like to do with his website is reach out to the viewer's seeking information. Some states put out the results in a not so friendly reading material and Bill takes that information and makes it people friendly so everyone knows what they are reading and understands it.
By 2001, parents and others involved in a school could leave anonymous comments on the site, which draw more attention from school leaders than the rankings based on test scores, Mr. Jackson said. The site is closing in on nearly 1 million reviews and plans to expand its rating systems next year, inviting its anonymous commenters to go into more depth about benefits—or drawbacks—of a school that may be difficult to capture in a number ranking.
Under the protection of anonymity, commenters tend not to pull their punches. For example, this comment on the 4,000-student Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill., which rated 10 out of 10 points based on test scores and received five out five stars in its "community rating": "This is a school meant only for super achievers," said one poster identified as a parent.
On the Web page for Pflugerville High School in suburban Austin, Texas, which has a 6 out of 10 rating for its test scores and an average of three out of five stars from its community members, one poster identified as a student praised the teachers, the administration, and counselors but had harsh words for his peers.
"Being a student, I have firsthand experience dealing with the kids who go here," he wrote, "and, to be quite blunt, a good amount of them are loud, annoying, and rude to not only teachers but also other students."
For information on going back to school and accomplishing your degree online, visit: http://www.getdegreed.com
All articles: By The GetDegreed Staff.
GreatSchools.org neatly ranks more than 136,000 traditional public, private, and charter schools nationwide on a scale of 1 to 10, based on state test scores. But the eye catcher are the posting of the parents, students, teachers, and staff members of each schools weather it is negative or positive feedback. Readers don't pay much attention to the rating stars because that's base off of what the school produces out and not what actually happens in the school.
The development of online school rating services has grown side by side with the progress of the school choice movement: Parents need self-regulating statistics on the assortment of educational options opening up to them. GreatSchools from San Francisco-based nonprofit has stored long-running support from charities that back such school choice measures as charter schools and private school vouchers.
GreatSchools.org is not the only website that ranks pre-K-12 schools. Google and Yelp searcher engines offer school ratings, as do websites such as Schooldigger.com and Privateschoolreview.com. However GreatSchools.org is the most visited site for relative information by unknown source.
GreatSchools was found by a very knowledgeable man by the name of Bill Jackson. Jackson is the chief executive of this company. He is looking to expand this website where it can be more than just a site to find school ratings. Mr. Jackson gives a few examples to show his comparisons. It would be producing services as the way AARP serves retirees or AAA represents drivers. The chief wants to see this website offering incentives and discounts on products and services that will support parents towards preparing a high school graduate.
'Skin in the Game'
One thing that Mr. Jackson is a firm believer in is that parents need to know their role in their child's education career path.
GreatSchools was founded in 1997 as an independent rating system for schools in the Silicon Valley area of California. Being an Internet entrepreneur, Mr. Jackson had several projects going on and this was one of them being his top priority to worked on as a way to promote the nascent computer-networking industry.
The site next expanded to Arizona with Texas, Florida, and Washington states to join shortly after. The federal law No Child Left Behind Act, with its emphasis on standardized testing as source of information if schools are cutting it or not really helped out Mr. Jackson out with GreatSchools web site.
Another thing Jackson really like to do with his website is reach out to the viewer's seeking information. Some states put out the results in a not so friendly reading material and Bill takes that information and makes it people friendly so everyone knows what they are reading and understands it.
By 2001, parents and others involved in a school could leave anonymous comments on the site, which draw more attention from school leaders than the rankings based on test scores, Mr. Jackson said. The site is closing in on nearly 1 million reviews and plans to expand its rating systems next year, inviting its anonymous commenters to go into more depth about benefits—or drawbacks—of a school that may be difficult to capture in a number ranking.
Under the protection of anonymity, commenters tend not to pull their punches. For example, this comment on the 4,000-student Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill., which rated 10 out of 10 points based on test scores and received five out five stars in its "community rating": "This is a school meant only for super achievers," said one poster identified as a parent.
On the Web page for Pflugerville High School in suburban Austin, Texas, which has a 6 out of 10 rating for its test scores and an average of three out of five stars from its community members, one poster identified as a student praised the teachers, the administration, and counselors but had harsh words for his peers.
"Being a student, I have firsthand experience dealing with the kids who go here," he wrote, "and, to be quite blunt, a good amount of them are loud, annoying, and rude to not only teachers but also other students."
For information on going back to school and accomplishing your degree online, visit: http://www.getdegreed.com
All articles: By The GetDegreed Staff.
