Colorado Springs has many school districts. School districts are very important here, because they affect your property taxes, they can affect your re-sale prospects at times, and can definitely affect the quality of life of your children. School districts tend to mirror home prices, in that the districts with highest test scores also tend to have the most expensive homes (and highest property taxes). Another factor in choosing a school district can be the availability of schools of choice. Sometimes these can also be charter schools, which have unique entrance procedures (such as waiting lists or lotteries). Public ’schools of choice’ can vary from science magnet schools, IB schools, performing arts schools, and a host of choices in between.
Comparing schools on an objective basis can be difficult. Standard and Poores has a very useful tool called School Matters, which allows side by side comparisons of schools, even across state boundries. It can be very helpful in comparing your current school system with that of an area of Colorado Springs you may be considering. The Colorado State Department of Education also publishes test scores for all schools and districts online. From time to time we feature more in depth coverage of this in the blog, here is an article from 1/10/2010 that you may find useful: Colorado Springs Schools – You Get What You Pay For. On 1/14/2010 the state graduation rates became available, and updated comparison including graduation rate information is Colorado Springs High School 2009 Graduation Rates Now Available. On 1/28/2010 there is an article called Colorado Springs Area High Schools Get Graded. This article gets pretty in depth about individual public high schools in the greater Colorado Springs area.
Using the pull down menu system at the top of the screen (Relocation Center>>Schools>> ), you can select one of the major school districts of the area for brief overview.
