MPS wins What Parents Want Award
SchoolMatch is honoring Mesa Public Schools with the 2012 What Parents Want Award. Only 16 percent of the nation's schools were recognized for meeting the needs of families.
Only 16 percent of the nation's 15,571 public school districts (2,437) have been recognized for meeting the needs of families choosing schools.
The nation's largest school selection consulting firm, SchoolMatch® of Columbus, Ohio, announced the 21st annual awards in a recent letter to state school leadership associations and state department of education superintendents.
Award criteria . . .
. . . A close match to what SchoolMatch® users most often request — Compilation of over 97,000 parent questionnaires completed by SchoolMatch® clients reveals parents most often look for school systems that are:
- competitive in academic test scores and academically solid, but not so rigorous as to intimidate their children
- 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
- known for small class size
. . . Availability of programs at the secondary level — Since relocating parents often focus on finding a school system that produces a certain quality of "end product" (a high school graduate), only school systems that provide secondary school programs are eligible for the award.