The district allowed him to select the right school among a number of options. It was unforgivable that there were no guidebooks for public schools. So in 1995, Rees started a publishing company to address that need. At the time, Rees didn't predict the Internet's growth. The growth of education testing and the computerization of school data have led to an explosion of information available on the Internet.
Home buyers can survey their new school district before they buy.
But the quality of the data varies. Some states don't do a good job of collecting data. The Web sites of those states' education departments don't answer all parents' questions, though. School Wise Press supplies rankings, news and quick snapshots of individual schools. It looks at demographic data and can compare test scores.