With a 2 year-old we are just starting to dip our toes into the world of investigating school options and deciding where we want her to eventually go. The question seems necessarily complex with the vast disparity between nearby school funding, demographics, and student achievement.
I have been investigating (online) a few schools and seem to find the following trends: school ratings (via GreatSchools.org) and average student test scores are directly correlated with a) the amount of kids receiving free or reduced-priced lunches and 2) the % of English language learners. I also have read that statistically-speaking, my kid is likely to do fine because is a mix of two races that generally achieve well, her parents are financially secure and have high academic achievement themselves, and we are actively involved in her upbringing in a stable home environment. Therefore, setting test scores aside for a moment, what are the key things we should be looking at when evaluating a school, especially at the lower grade levels? I have heard teacher/student ratio is one. What else? The issue is so complex and intimidating and has significant implications for where we will end up living a few years down the road that we want to do this "right".
This is a tough one.
The school we attend is a "4-5" rating because of test scores (aka, free lunch and English learners, 70%). Plus we are the magnet for developmentally disabled, and they get tested too.
The school next door is a "9" because it is the GATE magnet school and the school white parents transfer into, if they can. (EL/poor: 10%)
The school district we are IN is a 1-2 because of a higher % of free lunch/ English learner students. (95%)
Our experience is that our son is doing fine in the 70% EL/ poor school. We opted to stay instead of transferring him to the "9" school (he was selected for GATE, could have transferred him).
The advantage to our school is that he mixes with a lot of students. Some of the higher ranked schools have a LOT of rich kids, and a lot of kids with the gimmies. (So and so has an Iphone!) That sort of thing.
That's also a disadvantage. Budgets being what they are, a lot of extras (science, phys ed, music, art, computers, field trips, assemblies, classroom supplies) have to be covered by PTA fundraising.
PTA fundraising:
Our school: $60,000 (student body about 500)
"9" school: $600,000 (not exaggerating, they raised $125,000 in the first month)
"1-2" school: they don't have a PTA. I don't know what they raise. Not much. The teachers end up doing most of the fundraising.
I spent 2 years as fundraising PTA VP. I'm still volunteering. It's exhausting. That would be a benefit to going to a school with richer parents, or parents who don't work and fight to volunteer.
Our teachers are great. They do grouping and "pull outs" from the classes for the advanced students and the students who need more help. Homework is adjusted to your level.
Student-teacher ratio may vary. In our public school, it is capped, but for example, kinder can be anywhere from 22 to 29 students - depends greatly on the year and the # of babies born that year.
I'd mostly recommend trying to talk to parents with kids in the various schools. Talk to teachers in the elem schools and the junior highs. (Junior high teachers have a good sense of the elementary schools.)