Lisa Fung, Great Schools
(415) 977-0700, ext. 114
lfung@Greatschools.net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

One-Stop Shopping for Neighborhoods and Schools: GreatSchools.net Teams Up With Sperling’s Best Places

San Francisco (August 10, 2005) — A new Internet partnership allows real estate professionals the ability to stream the most accurate data about schools, surrounding neighborhoods, community profiles and local businesses right onto their Web sites.

Providing key school information and neighborhood profiles all in one place will provide a single-source solution that the real estate professional demands. Greatschools.net is the first and only online resource to provide test score data for all K-12 public schools. The site also features parent reviews and ratings covering all public, private and charter schools.

The partnership between Sperling's Best Places, a nationally recognized company that identifies the best places to live, work, retire and raise a family, and Greatschools.net, a nonprofit organization and advocate for educational excellence, gives real estate professionals the information their customers are seeking.

“Thanks to the Internet, today’s real estate buyers are much more informed,” said Allen Brown, Executive Vice President of Greatschools.net. “This strategic partnership adds value to the home-buying experience by helping parents make good choices on schools and surrounding neighborhoods.”

“Home buyers naturally look for homes in good neighborhoods with good schools,” adds Bert Sperling, CEO of Sperling’s BestPlaces. “With this data available at their fingertips, real estate agents can provide accurate and timely information to their clients, which could very well result in a positive customer lead conversion.”

The BestPlaces.net and GreatSchools.net neighborhood and school profiles are currently available and feature everything from state test scores, parent reviews, teacher experience and class size to neighborhood demographics and local business information. Visitors can even compare schools and neighborhoods within the state.

Real estate professionals will also find quality information for leads and prospects, such as:

Integrated community and school profiles;

• Full coverage of the United States, including all states, cities, counties, metro areas and zip codes; and
  
• Unique content and research tools.
  Additionally, this information is available as a co-branded (hosted) solution, or a data compilation.

"This partnership is key to advancing our mission of providing parents with the best information about schools and their communities so that they can make wise choices." adds Bill Jackson, CEO of Greatschools.net
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About Sperling’s BestPlaces (www.bestplaces.net)
For over 20 years, Sperling’s BestPlaces has been a trusted source of information about cities, communities and neighborhoods, which is now available for use on real estate Web sites. Last year, well-known real estate columnist Bob Bruss named Sperling’s “Cities Ranked and Rated” one of 2004’s best real estate books.

About Greatschools.net (www.greatschools.net)
Greatschools.net is an independent, nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that helps parents choose schools, track school performance, support their children’s learning and advocate for education excellence. With the support of foundations and corporate sponsors, Greatschools.net offers unbiased information about thousands of K-12 schools nationwide on its free Web site, Greatschools.net. Founded in 1998, Greatschools.net provides information on schools in all 50 states.

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