Which school should my child go to? It’s a question every St. Louis-area parent has likely asked themselves. The St. Louis school guide from the Post-Dispatch gives you the tools and information you need to make an informed decision about your child’s education.

Missouri releases many indicators of school performance — so many that reaching any conclusion can be difficult. No single measure, or even a combination of measures, can declare one school superior to another.

Determining school quality isn’t easy. The St. Louis school guide seeks to simplify the process as much as possible, and help you navigate the numbers by putting the state’s key measures of performance in one place, sortable by school and district.

Standardized exam scores, or Missouri Assessment Program tests, are the foundation of the St. Louis school guide. Students at public schools take MAP tests each spring and results are reported by the fall. The tests cover a range of topics. The state places the greatest weight on reading and math performance.

In recent years, Missouri sought to broaden what’s included in measuring school performance. The state now considers graduation rates, attendance, and college and career readiness in addition to MAP scores.

All of these indicators now form the basis of the Annual Performance Report, which rates school districts and individual schools on a scale of 1% to 100%. The APR score helps determine whether school districts maintain state accreditation.

State accreditation is a baseline measure of adequacy. In addition to APRs, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education considers Comprehensive School Improvement Plan Goals, previous department Missouri School Improvement Plan findings, financial status, leadership stability, pre-kindergarten programs and superintendent certification when determining accreditation.

Individual school APR scores are for informational purposes, and do not factor in to district accreditation decisions.

Accreditation is broken down as follows:

• 70% or above, fully accredited
• 50% to 69.9%, provisionally accredited
• 49.9% or below, unaccredited range

If you notice any mistakes or want to offer suggestions to improve our St. Louis school guide, please email Janelle O’Dea, the Post-Dispatch's data reporter, at jodea@post-dispatch.com

The St. Louis school guide is just one tool for gauging quality. It doesn’t indicate whether schools are lacking in resources such as textbooks or technology, or whether they offer a wide array of honors and college-prep courses.

Deciding whether a school is right for your child is about more than data.

No school guide is a substitute for visiting schools, meeting with teachers and experiencing classrooms firsthand. Find school contact information to set up a meeting, and you can compare schools by searching the guide for a school and clicking the “compare to another school” button.

Start early: Plan to start at least a year early. If you are interested in a magnet school in St. Louis city, know that some are more selective. For gifted magnet schools, your child must score in the 95th percentile on IQ and academic evaluations. School tours for prospective parents typically are planned for September. Private schools hold open houses in the fall, with application deadlines usually in the winter or early spring. Catholic elementary schools invite parents and students to tour on a Sunday afternoon in January.

Stay organized: An Excel file or binder makes it easier to track and go back to information on different schools. When you visit schools, write down your immediate likes and dislikes right after visiting a school so you won’t forget. Keep track of when you visited and who you met, dates to remember for the admissions process and questions you still need to have answered.

Prioritize: What factors mean the most for you in a school? Location? The size of the school? Our St. Louis school guide goes beyond the test scores and lets you compare teacher salaries, student-teacher ratios, graduation rates and more.

Keep things in perspective: Remember that continued parental support at home is more important than small differences between school performance. You play perhaps the most important role in your child’s academic success.

Conventional public schools: The vast majority of public schools in the region fit into this category. Think of these as your typical neighborhood schools, supported by local, state and federal tax dollars. Students attend based on their address, though in some cases school districts — perhaps most specifically St. Louis Public Schools — offer flexibility for students to enroll outside of an attendance boundary.

Magnet schools: St. Louis Public Schools operates more than two dozen of these specialized public schools. Like conventional public schools, they are tuition free and tax supported. But unlike neighborhood schools, they draw in students from across the district. In addition, non-African Americans from suburbs outside the city can enroll under the Voluntary Desegregation Program (The city also operates "choice schools" which we label as magnets but are not part of the desegregation program). Magnets often specialize their curriculum. Many are accelerated and require students to meet certain academic standards.

Charter schools: These schools are also public schools, tuition-free and supported by tax funding. But they are distinct in that they are independent from the school system, operated by independent boards. Missouri currently limits the schools to St. Louis and Kansas City. Enrollment is open to St. Louis city students, with lotteries held if the number of applications are greater than available slots.

Alternative schools: These schools are geared toward at-risk students with behavioral challenges whose needs might not be met in traditional schools.

Technical schools: These are vocational schools that teach skills related to a specific career.

Private schools: The St. Louis School Guide does not include private, parochial or home schools, which are not required to report data to the state like public schools are.