Their most important activity, however, is gathering and disseminating accurate information about local public schools. Schools want the public to form a favorable impression of school quality. Consumers, by contrast, seek to form an accurate impression. ECAs enable consumers to pool their knowledge. With an ECA, parents shopping for a new home have a way of contacting other parents.
Employers seeking to locate a business have a way of contacting other employers.
Consumer impressions are not a perfect guide to quality but they add a critical balance to the information that comes from schools themselves. In addition to permitting consumers to pool their knowledge, ECAs help parents and board members find and understand technical information about school quality. A considerable amount of factual information is available but it must be located and interpreted. Often there is a range of facts to consider, thus the facts rarely speak for themselves. The ClearingHouse is funded by paid subscriptions and dedicated to empowering education's consumers.