If you have ever wondered how your local public school stacks up against similar schools in the state, you now have a user-friendly on-line resource. Idaho has joined Just for the Kids, found at www.just4kids.org.

From the home page, just click on your state (most are participating) to start a search for the school you wish to research. The format allows you to compare your school to other schools in the state which have similar characteristics, such as percent of disadvantaged students and total enrollment. Next, the “opportunity gap” is identified – the difference between test performance in your school, and performance in the top similar schools in the state.

You may be surprised at what you find. I am a taxpayer in, and patron of Bonneville District 93. I was interested to learn that schools in Coeur d’Alene, Preston and Lewiston, among others, all perform a little better in 10th grade reading than students in our Hillcrest High School.

But that’s not all this organization is doing. They are also conducting studies to determine just how the high-performing schools are succeeding. The results will be contained in the “State Best Practices Studies”, which can then be utilized by any school to make improvements.

Take a minute to check out your district schools. Next, do something about what you learn.