How to Research School Districts

Try starting with greatschools.net! Wealth of information for me prior to a move-now, I get their newsletter that corresponds to my childs' age...Good luck!

Here is a great website: www.greatschools.net

It will give you teacher to student ratios, test scores, etc. which you can search by school district or county.

Good luck!

If you are moving to Milwaukee, they have a system where you fill out a your choices to go to school. Personally, I would recommend Milwaukee German Immersion no matter where you may live in the area. The test scores outrank most of the suburban schools and the children become fluent in another language.

Other than that, there are some studies that rank districts by test scores. Here is the website for National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/.

I hope this helps!

I've heard wonderful things about Wayzata and Minnetonka's school districts.

My school dist. Eagan/Burnsville/Savage 191 is really good I have my daughter in full day kindergarten

FYI some districts have full day kindergarten and charge for it some don't. Some have waiting lists and some have lotteries. That might make a difference to you.

No.St.Paul has free full day kindergarten
Wayzata has a lotter system and charges I beieve
Burnsville has a fee of 258 I believe a month and then they're is scholarships available which we have.

I'm just big on the whole kindergarten thing don't mind me. I just think a half day would be a waste for my daughter by the time she got her coat off and did something it's time to go home.

I would like to add that instead of relying on websites, which are a great source, also go and tour the school, ask to sit in the back and observe the classroom and the teacher in action, and then go with your gut feeling. Is the teacher enthusiastic about teaching and are the children enthusiastic about learning? Is the classroom warm, welcoming, and stimulating or is it cold, sterile, and boring? My husband is an educator and I am working towards my degree in education and although we can look at all the resources online and the school's "report card" we find that we get the most information by talking to the teachers, the principal, and observing the classrooms in action.

Good luck to you! Finding the right school for you and your children can be a very stressful experience...I know from experience!

I am interested in this information myself as we are looking to move in a year.

K.

Try going to the district's website and you can usually go to individual school websites.

If you do a google search for "compare schools", you can get a list of numerous websites that you can look at. I cannot remember the exact site that I used when I looked for this, but I could put in the district I was in now and the areas I was looking at to compare the schools. It gave me a good idea of what area I wanted to focus on.

I just went through this process and I found that there are a few good districts but I thought the best was the 621 district! here are a few web sites...

http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/go/MN
http://www.greatschools.net/search/search.page?state=MN&a...
http://www.moundsviewschools.org/

The 2nd site is the 621 district, I ma not sure why but it would not let me put the district in so I had to put Shoreview!

I would say Shoreview, Arden Hills, New Brighton, Edina, Eden Prairie, Eagan and Bloomington are all great areas! I think Roseville, richfield area are not as good as they once where! I know that Lino lake in a nice place to live but there school district in not good

The 621 district is a great district to get into! I can tell you all about it if you would like more info!

Greetings from Mahtomedi! We're just west of Stillwater. My husband and I moved to Mahtomedi mainly for the schools. My younger siblings and friends kids have gone to Mahtomedi and have all received excellent educations. My little sister just graduated and as I watched her go through school, I was amazed at everything they had for kids. The teachers are fantastic!! I even have several friends in Stillwater who drive their kids to Mahtomedi just for the schools. Good Luck!!!!

Hi A.,

I own an art business that goes into a lot of the public and private schools around the Twin Cities. From my experience in the schools I am only willing to send my children to schools in the following areas in the first ring of suburbs: Plymouth (which is really the Wayzata school district), Edina, Eden Prairie (although the class sizes in EP are typically in the 30 range), and a few schools in Hopkins and St. Louis Park. As for links to check out the schools, I found a great site run by a realtor which has links to all of the school districts in one place (you'd think the state could do this!). It's www.nobuhata.com. I actually used him as my realtor and really liked him so if you need someone, give him a call. He's incredibly helpful.

In addition, to compare the stastics from the schools there is an annual report put out by the State Department of Education. I don't think the 2006 report is out, but you can probably call them and have them send you a copy of the 2005 report. Their website link is:
http://education.state.mn.us/mde/Accountability_Programs/...

Hope that helps!
S. Lawrence

Hi A. -

I used to be a Realtor, so I got asked this question a lot. A good resource is the Schoolhouse Magazine - or you can go online at www.schoolhousemagazine.com After you have narrowed down the area based upon what is important to you and your family, I would suggest going to that school district's web-site and reviewing it as well. Good Luck!

T.

im in insurance so for the most part i know the good and bad areas around here. Let me know where you were thinking.
C.

Hello there,
Greetings from White Bear Lake. As the parent of a child with some learning delays I was a little worried when we moved to White bear from Saint Paul. The Saint Paul school district has some pretty good resources fro chilkdren with all tyoes of delays. Let me First say when I enrolled my Daughter in the ESCE program out here two years ago all my fears were laid to rest. Since then she has had the best school experience. Not only that but As a PTA member I see first hand just how invovled the parents are in there childs education. Especialy Birch Lake Elemetary which is where my daughter attends. They are very diverse and the staff seem full able to handle children at all different developemental levels. they have a program called C.U.B.S. which stands for creating unique bridges for students. The children in this program are those that have developemental delays suchas downs syndrome and such. If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.

I suggest doing a search for the Minnesota Department of Curriculum and Instruction......I think you'll find some helpful stuff there.

You could contact the Minnesota Department of Education and see what kind of information they could give you. I know you can go on their website and find out info also. Im not sure how accurate it all is though and what they base it on. This would be a good place to start. B.

Hi A.,

Here's a website that might make your search a little easier--it's called GreatSchools.net and offers comparisons of school districts across the country, state or metro area.

http://www.greatschools.net/?state=MN

A.

I usually go to greatschools.net to check things out. You can usually find test scores and sometimes parents will write comments. I just recently moved to the Madison area from another state and I am amazed at the difference in the schools! Good luck with it!
L.

A.:
Picking a school district is a tough thing to do. I know we had a hard time deciding when we moved too. Here are a couple ideas you might want to try. When you go to look at homes online a lot of reality companies now have links or at least tell you what district the new house is in then you can contact the district directly. Also try calling the local police department in an area you might be interested in, they are always a great source of info. You could also try calling the county you will move to, they can tell you how boundries are laid out for schools and how many choices you may or may not have.

Good Luck and keep us updated I would love to hear how it all turns out.

T.

I just wanted to share with you that I know that the Hopkins school district which includes Minnetonka is one of the best in the state and so is the 196 Eagan, Apple Valley, Rosemount district. Eastview High School in 196 has consistently been rated one of the best high schools in the country. (My neice just graduated from there last spring.)Good luck on your search.