Families That Relocate Should Look to High-Achieving Districts

By Michael Keating

The results are in, and once again a good number of Northeast Ohio school districts scored well on Expansion Management magazine's 2007 Education Quotient report. A total of 14 districts earned Gold Medal or Blue Ribbon ratings in this, the 16th annual Education Quotient (EQ), which rates 2,819 secondary school districts throughout the United States.

Gold medal districts include Avon Lake, Brecksville-Broadview Heights, Hudson, Medina, Solon, Strongsville and Westlake. See the chart for more rankings of Northeast Ohio districts. To achieve a Gold Medal rating, a district must rank in the top 16 percent of those districts evaluated, while Blue Ribbon districts rank in the top third nationally.

Expansion Management magazine is a national business magazine for executives of companies that are actively looking for a place to expand or relocate their facilities within one to three years. The magazine rates school districts as a way of providing its readers with a basis for comparing the type of work force they are likely to encounter in various communities around the country.

This year’s EQ looked at all secondary school districts in the United States with an enrollment of at least 3,300 students. The EQ is calculated on a weighted scale that measures three indices: graduate outcome (how well students learn and how many stay to graduation), resource index (which measures a community’s financial commitment to education) and the community index (which measures the community’s adult education attainment and income levels). All three indices, as well as the EQ score, are calculated on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 99 (highest), with 50 being the midpoint.

Individual school districts receive one of five rankings. Green Flag districts comprise the average, while Yellow Flag (bottom 25 percent) and Red Flag (bottom 10 percent) districts are below the national average.

Unlike many other educational ratings, which equate excellence to the level of public funding received, Expansion Management’s EQ focuses primarily on results. Although it includes data on spending, teacher salaries and the socioeconomic background of the surrounding communities, by far the most important factors in the EQ are test scores and graduation rates.

Shaker Heights School District earned a Blue Ribbon rating in the 2007 EQ. "We work with many relocating families every year," Superintendent Mark Freeman said. "The factors that seem most important to them are opportunity, community and the success of graduates. By opportunity, I mean the availability of a wide range of academic and co-curricular activities that will meet the interests of students and challenge them. It’s also important that the school offer additional support for students after school so that a new student can get assistance in adjusting to the new setting, if necessary."

Freeman suggests that parents planning a move should start with a visit to the school district’s Web site. "If it is well-organized, user-friendly and informative, that’s a good sign," he said. "I would also request literature, especially the high school course catalogue and list of co-curricular activities, as well as information about college admissions. If possible, the family should schedule appointments to talk with administrators and tour schools, and obtain contact information so they can talk with other parents."

"The quality of schools is a very important decision-making factor in the home-buying process, not only to families that have children, but also buyers who are childless," said Sharon Siloac, a regional vice president of Coldwell Banker Hunter Realty in Fairlawn. Prospective home-buyers should research area schools before they start looking at houses, urges Siloac, who was a teacher and curriculum director in Detroit’s public schools and was a professor in the Early Childhood Education Department at Kent State University before starting her real estate career.

One Web resource that prospective homebuyers in Ohio may want to check out, Siloac says, is the Ohio Department of Education at ilrc.ode.state.oh.us. Here, Web surfers can find out about a district’s enrollment, overall state ratings, standards met, test results and other measures. Coldwell Banker Hunter Realty agents can provide hard-copy district information from area newspapers.

Face-to-face contact is important, says Robert Haag, who is the director of elementary education for Mentor School District, which earned a Blue Ribbon rating. "Getting on the Web and finding out the statistical data about the district is one thing, it’s a good start, but talking to the families in the neighborhood under consideration is really important. Schools really show themselves well in what is said about them by the alumni who have attended in the past, the students who are attending now and parents who chose those schools for their children to attend."

Check out the district’s financial situation, Haag says. "I would look at whether or not the schools have been able to pass tax levies. How well the community supports the schools in terms of levy passage is an important issue for parents to be aware of in Ohio in 2007."

Here are a few factors to consider in choosing the right school or school district from Randy Grose, who is director of corporate relocation at Russell Real Estate Services in Medina:

(bullet) Parents should consider the size/enrollment of the school. If their child is quiet or needs more attention, parents should consider a smaller school with smaller class size and more teacher interaction.

(bullet) Parents should consider how far their commute to work will be from the school. If it is a lengthy distance, what after-school programs are offered?

(bullet) Parents should visit a school they are considering for their children, preferably during a school day, to see how things are done.

Some real estate firms and relocation companies offer school data on their Web sites. One example: click on the school information tab at www.russellrelocationservices.com/community_report.asp#.

Another high-achieving education center in Northeast Ohio is the Stow-Munroe Falls School District, which earned a Blue Ribbon rating. "Much of our excellence," says Superintendent Dr. Russell D. Jones, "is the result of careful planning. Our Five-Year Strategic Plan provides a blueprint for our district to continue our excellence into the future. We have developed our Five-Year Strategic Plan through input from the community, board of education, administration, faculty, staff, and students."

Another Northeast Ohio district that achieved a Blue Ribbon rating is North Olmsted. "Our district has been recognized several times in Expansion Management magazine for the quality of its graduates," says Vera Brewer, the district’s communications/community relations manager. "With a comprehensive curriculum, the North Olmsted schools provide a variety of programs that offer the real-world experience that businesses are looking for, whether a student enters the work force upon graduation or goes on to college."

Prospective homebuyers look to the schools, Brewer says. "Even if you do not have children that will attend the public schools, the quality of a community is directly tied to the school system. People want to live in a community that has a sense of pride in their children and their accomplishments."

Yes, we couldn’t have said it better. A high-achieving school district can have a big impact on the success of a community. Family magazine readers can look to the Expansion Management Web site at www.expansionmanagement.com. In the future, readers will be able to get detailed 2007 Education Quotient data for select districts for a small fee. Summary data from the 2007 EQ is at www.expansionmanagement.com/emstatic/research/educationquotient.asp.

Michael Keating is a senior research editor for Expansion Management magazine. He can be reached mkeating@penton.com.