Moving to the best places to live with your family presents its own challenges; trying to choose the best places to live where it'll be best for your children can feel overwhelming. Many parents choose a place to live because of the quality of the education available. If this is your primary concern, then find out how to choose where to live based on school statistics. If you're trying to decide where to move to, this article will help pinpoint the factors you may need to consider, how to research places and provide tips on making that final decision.
All About Schools
Even though choosing where you live based on school performance is common-sense, and something most of us look at when deciding where to live, picking a place to live because of a school requires a little more research then just choosing the school with the best educational record.First, check out the reading and mathematical scores of the local schools, both for private - if that's an option or even if it may be an option in future - and public. Also, if you have young children, don't just look at elementary schools, but also high schools, particularly if you're not sure how long you'll be living in the area.
You may also want to check out colleges if your child is entering their senior or even junior year - this will allow them the option of staying home for at least part of their college years.
While you're checking out overall scores, also look at the number of public and private schools. This will give you a variety of options and will also let you know how "family-friendly" the city or town may be and how much money the local school district might contribute to local education.
Good Research Sites For School Stats
- The Nation's Report Card
- National Center for Educational Statistics
- Free School Report
- SAT scores by State: College Board
For more information on choosing a good school, check out the following articles:
Elementary School Statistics - Most money spent on education:
Washington, D.C spent the most per student followed by New Jersey and Alaska. Expenditures included health, attendance, and speech pathology services, curriculum development, staff training, libraries, and media and computer centers, school administration, operation and maintenance and student transportation.
2007 Scores in Mathematics, Writing and Reading
- In mathematics, the highest average score was obtained by grade 4 students in Massachusetts followed by New Jersey and New Hampshire. For students in grade 8, highest math scores were obtained by Massachusetts, Minnesota, and North Dakota.
- Highest writing scores for grade 8 students were obtained in New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, in that order.
- Highest reading scores for grade 4 students were obtained in Massachusetts then New Jersey, followed by New Hampshire and the DoDEA with equal scores. For grade 8 students, highest readings scores were produced by students in Massachusetts and Vermont equally, followed by the DoDEA (Department of Defense Education Activity).
States with Highest SAT Scores 2005-2006
- Critical Reading: North Dakota students averaged the highest score with 610; Iowa followed with a 602 and Illinois and Minnesota both obtained a 591.
- Mathematics: North Dakota averaged a 617 while Iowa averaged a 613 and Illinois a 609.
- Writing: Iowa students obtained the highest average score with a 591; North Dakota averaged at 588 and Illinois at 586.
- States with the most students taking the SATs: In New York, 88% of students took their SATs; in Massachusetts 85% of students were tested and 84% in Connecticut.
