User:Eurodog/sandbox21

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GreatSchools, Inc., is a San Francisco-based non-profit ranking firm. It was founded around 1998 by William R. Jackson (aka Bill Robert Jackson), who has been its president and CEO since inception. The company is organized as a California not-for-profit 501(c)(3). GreatSchools operates an informational website designed to assist parents of school-age children by providing a searchable database containing information on about approximately 115,000 public, private, and charter schools across the country.

GreatSchools recently (around 2013), launched the website www.greatkids.org, which supports parents in guiding their children toward educational success. Built around the concept "parent smarter, not harder," GreatKids is a free and smartphone-friendly stream of personalized information and advice that helps parents foster their children's academic and character strengths. With bite-sized articles, videos, and activities added daily, GreatKids provides the resources and inspiration parents need to help their kids meet high standards.

Selected online publications

• "Top Cities to Live and Learn," launched 2010, published annually and partnership with www.forbes.com

Funding

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Walden Family Foundation
• Robertson Foundation
• Kern Family Foundation
• Joyce Foundation
• Zoom Foundation
• Fight for Children
• Target Foundation
• Bradley Foundation
• Arnold Foundation
• New Schools Venture Fund
• Goldman Sachs
• Packard Foundation

Governorship

Executives

• Bill Jackson, Director, Founder, and CEO, GreatSchools
• Leanna Landsmann, Director, Co-Chairman — former president of TIME for Kids
• Matthew Nelson, COO
• Gilman Louie, Director, Treasurer — former online gaming executive and directors for New Schools Venture Fund
• Lilly Fu, CFO — formerly with Teach for America
• Ryan Grabenkort, Mg. Dir. Media Sales
• Karissa Sparks, Dir. Prod Marketing
• Jane Newcomb, Dir. Online Marketing
• Carol Lloyd, Executive Editor
• Vidya Sundaram, VP Bus. Insight

Directors

• Clesont G. Mitchell (born 1947), Director — Former President of the Manhattan Federation of Parent Associations
• Sean Ryan, Director — Director of Game Partnerships at Facebook, former executive with SegaSoft
• Eric Hanushek, Director — Paul & Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University
• Chris Adams, Director
• Peter Cunningham, Director
• Ann Fuell, Director — Board member of Almaden County School
• Karen Hill-Scott, EdD, Director
• Matt Hill, Director — Chief Strategy Officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District
• Bill Jackson, Director, Founder, and CEO, GreatSchools
• Larry Kane, Director — lawyer (partner) with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
• Leanna Landsmann, Director, Co-Chairman — former president of TIME for Kids
• Gilman Louie, Director, Treasurer — former online gaming executive and directors for New Schools Venture Fund
• Michael Schmier, Vice Chair — VP of Product at Thuuz, Inc., former executive with The Advisory Board Company
• Anthony J. Colón, Board Secretary — Founder of A.J. Colon Consulting, co-founder of AVANTI Strategy Group

Former directors

• Louie Gilman, Director

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Jackson was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2013.

Clesont Mitchell is/was director of family and community outreach for Harlem Village Academies

Criticism

Online centric agenda

• According to a story in the The Indianapolis Star of October 27, 2014, and a review of the story in the online publication Advance Indiana™, because GreatSchools' goal is to inform parents about choices in educating children, its most important function is evaluating and assigning ratings to schools. At-home learning opportunities are important to the organization. Its board is largely made up of wealthy high-tech entrepreneurs like Jackson who benefit from e-learning investments.

Charter school centric agenda

• Teachers from Washington Township, Marion County, Indiana contend that GreatSchools' survey is designed to erode public schools already struggling with increased competition under the state’s new school voucher law. They added that GreatSchools is funded by groups that have been major supporters of charter schools and other choice initiatives. GreatSchools dismissed the concern as a natural reaction when public schools are competing with charters.

Ratings methodology

• GreatSchools relies heavily on standardized test scores. An "A" Florida school (rated "A" by the state) would intuitively result in a high rating by GreatSchools. But a school that rates a "10" in Florida may rate a "5" in another state. It's all relative to the individual state and which standardized test scores it uses. In North Carolina, for example, the GreatSchools rating is based on the EOG (end-of-grade) tests they give every year. In FL it's based on the FCAT.

• Great Schools very biased toward private schools. Public school rankings based on test scores, private school ranking based on parent reviews, which are less reliable for private schools (usually private schools have a gag rule about posting negative reviews). Great Schools founder sends his children to a segregated private school in San Francisco. GS often removes fair but negative reviews of private schools from it's web site.

Alternative online ratings for public schools

• New York City: insideschools.org
• San Francisco: www.sfkfiles.com