As families turn their attention to the choice lottery application, the SMARTERHartford website once again is providing updated school profiles and a mapping tool to help in the process of choosing the right school.  School demographics, academic performance, and even principal attrition can be found in each school profile.
The latest Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) State test score reports and informative profiles of each school are two useful indicators for parents who want to find the right schools for their children.  The SMARTERHartford website provides one-stop shopping for this important choice.

For example, seeking information for a Third Grade student, based on the sample address of 500 Main Street, SMARTERHartford advises that:

• You live in Zone 4 (there are four quadrant zones in the city);
• Without specifying a particular zone or magnet, charter, or technical school (which can narrow your search), 36 schools are available;
• One neighborhood magnet school (Ramon Betances Early Reading Lab Magnet) is just .2 miles away, while several neighborhood schools are nearby and a number of Hartford and suburban magnet schools some 5 miles away are listed;
• Transportation information is available for each school;
• Whether the grades the school serves are K-8, Pre-K3 to 5, etc., is highlighted; and
• Reports on each school are available.  For example, take a look at the major data takeaways for Betances Early Reading Lab Magnet, the school closest to the address searched.

SMARTERHartford compares the demographic data of each school with that of the city and state at large, details the minority, special education and English learner student proportions, cites the principal turnover since 2008, and highlights chronic absenteeism rates and State SBAC achievement results.

“The State has released new cohort growth data from the SBAC assessments, which SMARTERHartford is working to synthesize and present,” Achieve Hartford! Executive Director Paul Holzer said today.  “Especially during Choice lottery season, which ends February 28, we are very grateful to The Hartford and the Vance Foundation for opening this digital doorway; parents can get an enormous amount of information efficiently on this website – and it’s only going to be enriched further.”