ConnectingNeighbors Offers School ‘Report Cards’

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ConnectingNeighbors.com Internet partnership puts school ‘report cards’ on neighborhood sites. Parents can see if their neighborhood schools are making the grade.
ConnectingNeighbors Offers School ‘Report Cards’

RISMEDIA, Sept. 24 — A new Internet partnership allows parents to see if their neighborhood schools are making the grade.

The educational partnership between ConnectingNeighbors.com, an innovative, highly successful network of neighborhood Web sites, and GreatSchools.net, a nonprofit organization and advocate for educational excellence, gives Internet users easy access to “report cards” for local schools.

The GreatSchools.net profiles, now available on ConnectingNeighbors.com, feature everything from test scores, teacher experience and class size to student demographics and contact information. You can even compare your child’s school to others in your state.

Other options include:

? Free e-mail updates for those who wish to receive bulletins with late- breaking school statistics and periodic newsletters with educational tips and resources to help children throughout the school year

? An extensive online resource center featuring more than 100 practical articles, covering topics such as boosting academic performance, applying for a school transfer and current educational legislation

? Tools to help prioritize your own goals for your child’s education and select a school that matches your needs

Principals can enhance the school profile by adding details, such as curriculum, extracurricular activities and special programs.

“Since GreatSchools.net went live on the Web four years ago, we’ve been the premier site for school information,” says Bill Jackson, president of GreatSchools.net. “ConnectingNeighbors.com is key to advancing our mission of reaching parents of school children across the country.”

All 3,000-plus ConnectingNeighbors.com Web sites nationwide offer direct access to school information by clicking “schools” or the “GreatSchools.net” logo on the site. For examples, see the ConnectingNeighbors.com sites, www.lakelandneighbors.com or www.rivermontonline.com.

Each ConnectingNeighbors.com Web site is sponsored by a local real estate agent and is dedicated to a single neighborhood, providing residents with always up-to-date information about local babysitters and handymen, garage sales, community meetings and home-centered resources.

“This is a great information-gathering and decision-making tool for parents who want to get involved with their local schools,” says Jay Otlewski, president and CEO of Real Estate on the Web, ConnectingNeighbors.com’s parent company. “It’s an easy way to learn what’s going on in your neighborhood schools without ever leaving home.”

“It’s also a perfect match for ConnectingNeighbors.com,” he adds, “because our mission is to provide the best information to home owners and home buyers — whether that information is about home owners’ meetings or the local school.”

ConnectingNeighbors.com, with more than 3,000 sites in 32 states and Canada, offers the following services:

? Gives users free, immediate access to what’s going on down the block and around the corner.

? Lets people access their neighborhood site directly, rather than connecting indirectly through a central site.

? Targets neighborhood rather than business needs. The focus is on community activities, not real estate.

? Provides Today’s Life Solutions — tips and resources from major retailers and specialists directly on the site — rather than taking users to the retailers’ own commercial sites.

? Screens all material for content and language before it appears on the screen. It is not a glorified bulletin board that allows anyone with a password to log in and indiscriminately post material.

? Allows neighbors to place free classified ads and other postings but exclude paid corporate ads and advertising banners.

Real Estate on the Web, ConnectingNeighbors.com’s parent company, is headquartered in Walled Lake, Mich., a Detroit suburb.

For more information, visit www.connectingneighbors.com.

GreatSchools.net is an independent, nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that helps parents choose schools, track school performance, support their children’s learning and advocate for education excellence. With the support of foundations and corporate sponsors, GreatSchools offers unbiased information about thousands of K-12 schools nationwide on its free Web site, GreatSchools.net. Founded in 1998, GreatSchools.net provides information on schools in all 50 states and in-depth school profiles in California, Arizona, Florida, Texas and Washington.

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