GreatSchools

GreatSchools is a United States national nonprofit organization that provides information about PK-12 schools and education. The website provides ratings and comparison tools based on student growth, college readiness, equity, and test scores for public schools in the U.S.[1] As of July 2017, the GreatSchools database contains information for more than 138,000 public, private, and charter schools in the United States.

GreatSchools
Formation1998
TypeNonprofit organization
Location
LeaderJon Deane
Key people
  • Bill Jackson, Founder
  • Jon Deane, CEO
Employees
35
Websitegreatschools.org

History

GreatSchools was founded in 1998 as a school directory and parenting resource in Santa Clara County, with seed funding from New Schools Venture Fund. The next four years (1999–2002), the school ratings expanded statewide in California and expanded nationwide in 2003. In 2008–2011 the College Bound Program was launched, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Robertson Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation.[2] In 2013 GreatSchools received a three-year grant from the Walton Family Foundation[3] and saw Zillow integrate GreatSchools information such as school search, school ratings and reviews into their real estate database.[4] In 2014, there was an expanded partnership with Maponics.[5]

Recognition and awards
  • GreatSchools received Outstanding Achievement awards in 2011 and Best In Class awards in 2009 from the Interactive Media Awards.[6]
  • In 2020, GreatSchools received two nominations in the 25th Annual Webby Awards in the Science & Education category for its parenting podcast, Like a Sponge: Best Limited Series Podcast and Best Individual Episode for its season 2, episode 4 title, “Liar, Liar: How to Raise an Honest Child in a Post-truth Society.”[7][8]
  • In 2020, GreatSchools.org won two "Awards of Distinction" in the 27th Annual Communicator Awards for Best Family & Parenting and Best Education website.[9]

Equity and Student Progress ratings update

In 2017, GreatSchools introduced a "Summary Rating" to individual school profiles. The Summary Rating is a score on a 1-10 scale composed of themed ratings including how well schools serve students from different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds (Equity), how much students are improving within a school year (Student Progress), performance on state tests (Test Score), and how well schools prepare students for college (College Readiness). In 2020, GreatSchools further evolved its Equity and Summary Ratings for K-12 schools to emphasize equity and elevate student academic progress as a key measure of school quality.[10][11]

The increased emphasis on equity had the effect of lowering the summary scores for many highly-rated schools and raising ratings for poorly performing schools, as schools with a small population of disadvantaged students do not receive an Equity rating. GreatSchools ratings also do not take college level courses other than Advanced Placement into consideration when calculating "college readiness." As a result, high schools with the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program or Cambridge Program score lower on this criteria, which gives an artificially lower overall school score.

Despite these adjustments to the methodology, the ratings continue to generate generate criticism among parents and education stakeholders for their role in housing choices and reliance on indicators known to be associated with student race and income.[12]

References
  1. "About GreatSchools' ratings". Parenting. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  2. How Can Schools Best Communicate with Immigrant Parents?, KQED, June 14, 2012
  3. Walton Family Foundation Invests $7.5 Million in GreatSchools to Reach 45 Million Users With Information on School Quality, Walton Family Foundation, March 13, 2013
  4. Zillow Launches New Schools Search Tool; Allows Shoppers to Search in Multiple School Areas Simultaneously, Zillow, September 12, 2013
  5. Maponics Adds GreatSchools Ratings and Reviews As Partnership Grows, Maponics, January 10, 2014
  6. Interactive Media Awards - GreatSchools Award Category, Interactive Media Awards, 2011
  7. "NEW Webby Gallery + Index". NEW Webby Gallery + Index. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  8. "NEW Webby Gallery + Index". NEW Webby Gallery + Index. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  9. "Winner's List". Communicator Awards. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  10. Samuels, Christina A. (2020-09-24). "GreatSchools' Ratings Revamp Credits Schools for Boosting Academic Growth". Education Week. ISSN 0277-4232. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  11. Barnum, Matt (2020-09-24). "GreatSchools overhauls ratings in bid to reduce link with race and poverty". Chalkbeat. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  12. Barnum, Matt (2019-12-05). "How GreatSchools steers you toward whiter, more affluent schools". Chalkbeat. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.