Calif. Web Site Provides Parent-Friendly Portraits of Schools

By Lynn Olson

Click on the profile of Hubbard Elementary School in San Jose, Calif., and you'll find that the school is using the Success for All reading program.

You'll learn that 12 of its 689 students were suspended last school year, most of them for fighting; and that 20 percent of the teachers have been on the job less than two years. You'll also discover that the principal thinks Hubbard is a "happy place," where parents feel at ease and there's a "culture of trust."

GreatSchools.net, where Hubbard Elementary makes its home on the World Wide Web, is one of many up-and-coming sites devoted to providing a detailed portrait for parents and others of how individual schools perform. The nonprofit group of that name was begun by computer afficionados in California's Silicon Valley who were searching for ways to marry their interest in education with the particular...