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Here are brief directions on how to use the popular websites
Question: Is this the kind of town for my family?
Answer: Go to www.City-Data.com. The screen will show states.
Highlight: State listed as its full name shows towns over 1,000 in population and second entry for state listed by its abbreviation shows towns under 1,000 in population.
Screen will show list of towns.
Highlight: Town of Interest.
Screen will show comprehensive profile of the town; the detail will be reduced for smaller municipalities. Key demographic characteristics will include: racial composition, crime by category and total index in comparison with U.S. average, adult educational attainment, adult family status, household income and housing values.
Question: Are the schools suitable for my children?
Answer: www.SchoolMatters.com is a powerful database that can be sorted in numerous ways to tease out evermore bits of information. However, there is a learning curve which demands your time and attention. The following directions are straight forward and should allow you to gain enough information to make a decision.
Go to www.SchoolMatters.com
Screen will show homepage with locator bar at top for district or school.
a. Tick radio button for school
Highlight: School name.
Screen will provide graph of reading and math scores by school, district and state. A pie chart will show the racial/ethnic composition. The percentage of students who are disadvantaged because of economic background or lack of English language skills is given.
Highlight: NCLB (No Child Left Behind)
Screen will provide state assessment of students' Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) in meeting objectives under No Child Left Behind legislation.
Highlight: School Environment.
Screen will display in columnar form the composition of the student body by racial/ethnic special needs.
Under School Environment there are six sub categories listed in the second line of the category bar taht deal with staffing and enrollment. Highlightine each will display the data.
Highlight: Community Demographics.
Screen will array information by state and district and list household education, household income and population.
www.City-Data.com and 
www.SchoolMatters.com.
b. Enter city, state and zip.
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