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By Ellen Highland Fernandez
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Relocation Information
If you are planning to move into Harrison County or are new to this area, we have the site for you! http://cpubco.com/guide/harrison.htm features information on schools, shopping, attractions, restaurants, lodging, demographics, and other useful information. It is java enhanced and best viewed in Netscape or Explorer.
If you are planning to move anywhere, here or there, the information in this column could be useful.
Selecting a School
For those with children or those who plan to have children, a good starting point for deciding the location of your home is based upon the schools. What kind of school do you want for your child?
The NSRS School Report allows you to examine a school by state, city or county. The report will tell you the total student population, average elementary school population, student teacher ratio, average class size for first grade, average class size for high school math, if there are computers in the elementary classroom, average composite SAT scores, average composite ACT scores, and the average percentage of seniors who go on to four or two year college.
From the NSRS site, you can also request in-depth report from an area real estate agent and link to school location maps.
Another good school information site is the American School Directory . It gives basic information on all the K-12 schools registered with the site. If the school has a web site, you can link to it from this site.
For school data, look at The School District Data Book, from the National Center for Education Statistics . It is an electronic library containing social, financial and administrative data for each of school districts in the United States. You can compare school districts and get demographic information as well.
Finally you will want to look at the International WWW Schools Registry , especially if you plan to live outside of the United States. This site includes special school categories such as arts, charter, gifted and talented, handicap, international, math, Montessori, on-line, parochial, private, and science. From this site you can link to school home pages throughout the world.
It is fun to see what children are learning in other places. For example, I looked at a primary school in Singapore and learned that "The teaching of the abacus is compulsory in Japan and most parts of China and Taiwan."
Finding U.S. Demographic information
No matter where you move, you will want to know what your neighbors might be like. Are you looking for people who are similar to you or are you looking for those who are different?
The U.S. Census Bureau allows you to search for local area information by place names, zip codes, and more.
With the Harden Political InfoSystem you can get census and government information about any county.
The School District Data Book , from the National Center for Education Statistics will give you demographic data by school district.
Completing the search
Once you have narrowed your choices to where you plan to relocated, you are ready to "get local". Check the local newspapers in the area you plan to move to for relocation guides. For a list of newspapers, you can go to our News Links page . Look also for city web sites (see "http://www.city.net/countries/" to start) and school web sites.
Input
As you voyage down the cyber-path, you are encouraged to send me your ideas for topics you would like to see discussed and to share your favorite links. Send correspondence to me at:
e-mail: Webmaster@cpubco.com, via post: Web Voyager, Ellen H. Fernandez, PO Box 2000,
Clarksburg, WV 26302, or through our web site.
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