Wednesday, November 21, 2001
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Wednesday, November 21, 2001 |
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Fayette County schools receive 'What Parents Want' award Only 15 percent of the nation's 15,620 public school districts have been recognized for meeting the needs of families choosing public schools. The nation's largest school selection consulting firm, SchoolMatch of Columbus, Ohio, recently announced that Fayette's school system is one of about 2,356 systems in the country to receive the coveted "What Parents Want" award. School administrators who were concerned about the negative publicity directed toward public schools inspired the award seven years ago. They suggested that SchoolMatch use its auditable database on every school system in the United States to find a way to recognize those schools that are accountable and meeting the needs of their students. SchoolMatch researched its files of more than 81,000 parent questionnaires, developed criteria and accessed its database to identify what parents consistently want in public education. The data revealed that parents most often look for school systems that are competitive in academic test scores, accredited, recognized for excellence by a national foundation or by the U.S. Department of Education, competitive in teacher salaries, above average in instructional expenditures on a national percentile basis, above average in expenditures for library/media services on a national percentile basis and known for small class size. In order to receive the award, a school system must provide secondary programs and be a close match to what SchoolMatch users most often request. SchoolMatch is a full-service educational consulting and research firm with an extensive database on all school districts in the country. The firm collects data annually from auditable sources such as county and state auditors, state taxing authorities and state boards of education. Corporations and consumers use SchoolMatch when moving across town, upgrading residences, relocating to a new area or for general information about schools. School administrators use the firm to focus on goals for school system improvement based upon the performance of other "mean matched" schools, a method of comparing their school system with those that have similar characteristics.
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