What’s behind the school’s ratings on Zillow and other real estate sites?

On By Littum

Locally, one group – Great MN Schools (no affiliation with the national GreatSchools) – offers one Minneapolis School Finder website and a booklet that assesses the city’s schools on professionalism, climate and equality. The nonprofit also organizes a school finder fair held in January for Minneapolis families.

“I think there’s a lot more acceptance that parents need data and it needs to be transparent and comparable,” said Sheilah Kavaney, the director of operations and pschool support for Great MN Schools. Still, she added, much education data — including discipline data — is not comparable from school to school.

St. Paul Public Schools spokeswoman Erica Wacker encourages families to schedule a tour or attend an open house to learn about a school.

“SPPS does not invest time or resources in rating websites,” she wrote in a statement. “These sites do not consult with the district or individual schools about their records. Much of the data these sites display is outdated or from unknown sources.”

The demographic data listed on GreatSchools for Hidden River Middle School in St. Paul, did not match internal district data, Wacker said, and many of the school names on the website are not accurate.

Students came through an upper-level hallway at the end of the school day Tuesday. ) (AARON LAVINSKY/STAR TRIBUNE) aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com Wayzata Public Schools became the latest Minnesota district to "turn" start times so that high school students can sleep later and school students get on the bus earlier. The vote came at an emotional meeting that reflected divisions among parents over academic quality, family time and busy working parents. Proponents say these flips cater to

The students made it through an upper level hallway at Wayzata High School. (Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Realtor Vicki Peters advertises herself as an expert in the Wayzata district, which is highly sought after by families looking for top-ranked schools. That’s how Cerkveniks found her, and that’s why they made it out.