School quality is always a concern for relocating parents. In a world where a good education is increasingly important, many parents even base their final decision about home choice on the reported quality of the schools in various neighborhoods.
Here in Florida, the states A+ school reporting plan is supposed to give parents an easy way to compare schools with one another at a glance, but many question whether the system really reflects the situation accurately. When the Florida Department of Education released the school grades for 2007 a couple of weeks ago, there seemed to be more confusion and controversy than information in the published reports.
If you were a parent trying to decide where to relocate, youd be understandably confused by the newspaper reports announcing the gains and losses over the preceding year. In Orlando, the papers announced that school grades had taken a nose dive. In Palm Beach, they reported that there were dramatic improvements and crushing drops. In Tampa, the papers admitted to confusion over exactly what the school grades were measuring, but reported a general dissatisfaction with the entire system. When the professionals are...