Does School Rating Really Matter?

Welcome to the land of Common Core
First off, please do not attempt reconciling Indian textbooks to the schooling here. It will not work. The standard of English is way ahead. Math is taught differently although the standards are the same in both countries.

How old are the kids? Which grade do they go to? Ranking of schools definitely matters. In addition I would also assess responsiveness of teachers to kids, how active PTA is (its directly proportional to the school doing well), demographic composition of schools, the income levels of the demographics. All these factors play a vital role in how the school functions. Unlike India schools are not independent of the community in which they operate.
Which schools do your kids go to? I will try to get the info you need.

Elementary schools in Schaumburg (Fairview Elementary is ranked very high, although I am not a huge fan) are good. Lots of apartments are available. Rents average about 1200usd.

You need kids to go to good elementary schools so their fundamentals are strong. No amount of Kumon or home-coaching is a substitute for a good school. Kids neither have the energy nor time to do a school after attending elementary school for 7 hours. They have "earned" their right to play then.

I am also curious about the cutoff you mention for the highly ranked schools. What is your source of this info?Those are some of the excellent schools in the whole state. Most schools will administer tests like MAP. Try having your kids take these. Ask the school district what kind of test they administer and you can coach kids on the test. Good luck! Let me know if you need more information.

 

You need not check - that's what the ratings are for. I was explaining what went into making the number.

It might be difficult to get into the gifted program right after coming from another country. Have your kid take the exam every year, he is bound to improve with every passing year. Don't get disheartened.

 

Your English is fine.
I guess you can find a one bed apt in that range if you look around. There are plenty of options in schaumburg. You can look up the various rental communities in rent.com, apartments.com etc. Call the rental property and ask them if they have specials. If they do, you might get a deal.
Mount prospect might have lower rentals too.
The thing is Rockford is not part of chicagoland - suburbs very close to chicago and having excellent train access to chicago. So you cannot really compare rents in Rockford to chicagoland suburbs. However I have to say that the gifted program at Rockford is top-notch. I was pretty impressed by what I saw and asked DH if he can commute