How To Find The Best School Districts in America

How to find the best schools

When moving out of state or into a new area, it’s important to take the time to research which school district will be best for your child. Below you’ll find some great tools to help you learn how find the best school district for your child!

Tools to find the best schools in your area

On the U.S. Department of Education’s website, you’ll find the National Center for Education Statistics. This is a great place to start to find the best school district. The first tool you should check out is the School District Demographics Search. Simply select your state and you’ll be able to see the school districts in your new state and data from the 2010 U.S. Census about each district. The data includes social characteristics like the total number of teachers, housing stats, race/ethnicity stats, and much more. The second tool is the School District Comparative Profiles. With this tool, you can use the 2010 Census information and compare any two school districts in the United States. These two tools can be very helpful, so don’t miss them!

Greatschools.org is a free tool you can use to compare nationwide K-12 schools. When you go to the Greatschools website, just type in the school district and state and click “go!” You’ll immediately see a district overview listing each school in the district. You can read reviews, look at test score stats, and even see how its community rating.

I also like Schooldigger.com for their interactive school search map. When you get to the website, click on your new state on the map and voila! – Ratings, reviews and much more are a click away.

The Public School Ratings tool from Neighborhoodscout.com is also very helpful. You can compare school district rankings, test scores, and even compare the best neighborhoods near the school district you’re looking at. Some of the data in the school district report is free, while other data is for paying subscribers.

The best way to find the best schools

While these tools can paint a good picture of what a school district is like, the best way to get the inside scoop on a school district is to talk to parents in the city you are moving to. The honest information and advice you get from other parents can really help you decide if the school district is the best fit for your child.

Is the school that your children attend located in one of the best school districts in America? We would love to hear where you’re located and what makes the school so great – just leave a comment below. This type of information can be very helpful to new residents moving into the area!