Niche.com is a website that offers free information to families across the United States regarding choices in education. If you’ve recently moved to the Tri-Cities or are considering where your children would find the right fit in a school, Niche offers ratings regarding all things “schools” for you to analyze. In the overview of Niche, the lead-in says, “Find where you belong; Niche connects people to their future schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces.”
Niche’s categories of information are plentiful, but one that is significant to those with children in the Tri-Cities is the newly released “2023 Best Public High Schools in Washington”. This resource lists schools in order based on the following considered factors:
Academics Grade 50%
Teachers Grade 15%
Culture & Diversity Grade 12.5%
Parent/Student Surveys on Overall Experience 12.5%
Resources & Facilities Grade 5%
Clubs & Activities Grade 2.5%
Sports Grade 2.5%.
Statistics are obtained from many sources, including the U.S. Department of Education. Additionally, factors that are generated from responses from students and parents play a role. The company recognizes “factors to represent a healthy balance between statistical rigor and practical relevance in ranking”. More information on how the sophisticated ranking algorithm is achieved is available on the website at Niche.com.
When considering high schools in our region, Niche.com allows the researching parent to inquire where does each school rank in the overall performance, based on the criteria outlined above. Using the parameters of the schools being traditional public high schools in Washington State, there are only two schools located in the Tri-Cities that rank in the top 100, and only one earns an A grade. Nearly all top-ranked schools are located on the west side of the mountains, with a predominance in the Bellevue/Mercer Island/Redmond/Issaquah areas. Some schools in the Spokane region made the top 100 list.
Earning a spot in the top 100 for 2023, at #34, is Hanford High School. It is the only Tri-City public high school to earn an A grade from Niche. They are also #6 in the state when ranking the quality of the teachers. When only considering Eastern Washington, there are four high schools in the Spokane region that follow Hanford High in the top 100 and then at #85 Richland High School takes its place in the top 100, earning an A- grade. Other area high schools earn grades in the B range, so are also worthy of consideration. When researching on this website, parents can read student and parent comments about the various schools, see the population, the student-teacher ratios, and even a link to view nearby homes for sale on the website movoto.com. Of course, Windermere One of Richland is our recommendation to inquire about homes available in the Richland and surrounding school districts!
As the new school year is in full swing, consider using Niche.com to help you make decisions about the best placement for your student in Tri-City schools.
