“Great Schools” ratings have become useless; ignore completely

[Anonymous]

Appears “Great Schools” has changed their methodology yet again. They seem to be changing methodology every year or two. The scores are now essentially meaningless.

For at least the last five years, it hasn't been unusual for schools to bounce from a 9 to a 6 and then back up to an 8 or 9, with the changes having nothing to do with changes at the schools and everything to do with changes in the ratings methodology, as decided solely by GS for their own reasons.

It's crazy that the GS ratings still get as much attention as they do, but they rely on lazy people looking for short cuts and willing to put their blind trust in numerical ratings, regardless of the ratings’ source or basis.

[Anonymous]

its pretty accurate with W schools and langley/mclean pyarmids being the best

[Anonymous]

school digger or nothing

[Anonymous]

2010 called; it would like its newsflash back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:its pretty accurate with W schools and langley/mclean pyarmids being the best

Really?

Do you remember a few years ago when Great Schools listed TJHSST as a 9 ?

TJ:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_school

[Anonymous]

You already posted this in the FCPS forum: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1269250.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You already posted this in the FCPS forum: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1269250.page

That wasn’t me.

[Anonymous]

They still get attention because they were the first, and because it was a way for people to buy houses in a new area and immediately see where the good areas were. Agree that the ratings are now completely useless.

[Anonymous]

It was always useless in my flyover metro area.

It didn't even get the schools right for my address for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They still get attention because they were the first, and because it was a way for people to buy houses in a new area and immediately see where the good areas were. Agree that the ratings are now completely useless.

Unfortunately, all the real estate sites still use Greatschools as the default. Some, like the upstart local company Homes dot com, supplement Greatschools with Niche. Schooldigger is interesting with all of its data—you can see a school’s progress over the decades—but very few people know about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They still get attention because they were the first, and because it was a way for people to buy houses in a new area and immediately see where the good areas were. Agree that the ratings are now completely useless.

Unfortunately, all the real estate sites still use Greatschools as the default. Some, like the upstart local company Homes dot com, supplement Greatschools with Niche. Schooldigger is interesting with all of its data—you can see a school’s progress over the decades—but very few people know about it.

GreatSchools/Niche/etc PAY sites like Redfin to use their ratings. They're not displaying them out of the goodness of their hearts, LOL!