Do you have school-aged children? Are you trying to find the school districts in the U.S. where they will get the absolute best education possible? If it seems like your kids aren’t getting everything they should from their schools, there are districts where they will not only get the best education, but where they can also get into sports, community-based activities, and other family-friendly activities. Here are the 15 best school districts in the U.S. based on 2015 Niche Rankings.

1. Edgemont Union Free School District, Greenburgh Town, New York

• This school district ranks among the top in academics, and the teachers work with the students to ensure that they receive a top education.
• When it comes to activities, kids can participate in a variety of clubs, music, art, community groups, and much more.
• The sporting program is one of the best around, and students can take part in all of their favorite sports, from volleyball to football and more.

2. Jericho Union Free School District, Oyster Bay Town, New York

• Parents and pupils surveyed on their experiences in this school district gave it a ranking of 4.4 out of 5.
• The education offered in this district is second-to-none, and students graduate fully prepared for university or the work force.
• This district is rich in family-friendly activities for learners and parents, and there are many school-based extra-curricular activities to take part in.

3. Tredyffrin-Easttown School District, Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania

• Ranked 4.3 out of 5 by parents and students, this school district provides kids with the education they deserve, as well as other activities to help them grow into well-rounded adults.
• The teachers in this school district are among the best in the country, and receive high grades from students and their parents.
• Extracurricular activities are highly encouraged, as well as fitness, and there are plenty of sporting activities learners can take part in.

4. Lower Merion School District, Lower Merion, Pennsylvania

• If you are looking for a school district that is welcoming to pupils of all cultures and backgrounds, this district has what you want, with plenty of student culture and diversity.
• Resources for learners and parents are numerous, and each school has resources and facilities to meet the needs of all students.
• Health and safety of all pupils is a priority in this district, and the teachers and school administration staff take this aspect of education very seriously.

5. Scarsdale Union Free School District, Scarsdale, New York

• Pupils receive the highest level of education, and the teachers are always willing to go that extra mile for their students.
• There are plenty of resources for students who need tutoring, counseling, and other important services.
• This is not a district that is rich in sports, although there are plenty of activities students can take part in.

6. Great Neck Union Free School District, North Hempstead Town, New York

• Parents who want their children to study in schools where academics are on the highest end of the scale should consider this district.
• The teachers were given a high score for their knowledge, sensitivity, and ability to relate to the students on their level.
• Extra-curricular activities, sports, and community service are highly encouraged by district teachers and administration staff.

7. Pittsford Central School District, Pittsford Town, New York

• Parents and students gave the district a ranking of 4.4 out of 5.
• This school district provides learners with the education they need to get into the best universities in the U.S. and around the world.
• Culture and diversity are encouraged, and you will find kids from many cultures studying side-by-side.

8. Rye City School District, Rye, New York

• This district gets one of the best rankings from kids and parents, with 4.6 out of a possible 5 points.
• You will find many resources to cater to all pupils, as well as numerous facilities for sports, recreation, and more.
• There is not as much student diversity and culture as with other school districts, but it more than makes up for this with the high level of student activities that are open to all students.

9. North Allegheny School District, McCandless Township, Pennsylvania

• Ranked 4.3 out of 5, the district offers students an educational atmosphere that is challenging yet fulfilling.
• Kids graduate knowing that they have received one of the best educations in the country, and they are prepared for their lives as adults.
• This school district receives an A+ in just about all categories, from academics to extracurricular activities.

10. Chappaqua Central School District, New Castle Town, New York

• Students are fully prepared for their SAT examinations, and often get some of the highest marks.
• Enjoy a rich variety of sports, clubs, and other activities that are geared to make all pupils feel welcome.

11. Dresden School District, Hanover Town, New Hampshire

• Not only does this school district offer the highest standards for education, it is located in one of the most beautiful parts of the U.S.
• Parents and learners can expect to find teachers who want to see their students succeed, and go above and beyond to make sure that they do.
• Outdoor activities such as skiing in the winter and swimming in the summer are popular in this area, and New England is known for its amazing school sports teams.

12. Adlai E. Stevenson High School District No. 125, Vernon Township, Illinois

• This district receives straight A’s all the way around, with some of the best resources for students and parents in the state.
• This district offers a great blend of academics, sports, and other activities so kids are well-rounded and learn many skills.
• Students enjoy a huge variety of extra-curricular activities, including sports (as players and spectators), student council, and more.

13. Manhasset Union Free School District, North Hamstead Town, New York

• Teachers and administrators go out of their way to provide the best educational services possible, including tutoring and counseling.
• The health and well-being of students and teachers is of utmost concern, and you can be sure that any and all accommodations will be met for particular health needs.
• If the U.S. is a melting pot, then NYC is its capitol, and pupils in this district enjoy plenty of cultural diversity, and acceptance for all cultures, religions, etc.

14. San Marino Unified School District, San Marino, California

• This isn’t an inner-city school district, and teachers are there to really work with your kids to ensure that they are fully prepared for life after high school.
• Sports and fitness are a priority, and there are plenty of sporting teams to join, as well as events to watch.
• If you are worried about the dangers of sending your kids to California schools, you should take a look at all this district has to offer, including a safe area to live and attend school.

15. Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, West Marlborough Township, Pennsylvania

• This district offers a good blend of academia and activities, and kids and parents alike give this district a 4.2 out of 5 overall ranking.
• As far as academics go, your kids will have the highest level of learning possible when they attend schools in this district.
• Resources for pupils are abundant, and students can enjoy tutoring sessions, life counseling, career counseling, and much more.

Featured photo credit: Tom via flickr.com

Some people see the trees for the forest, and some see only the forest, meaning they lack strong attention to detail. But even if you’re one of the people who take a macro rather than a micro view, true professionalism requires balancing both.

If focusing on the fine points is not your forte, you will benefit from training yourself to pay attention to details. You will profit by saving yourself time, effort, money, and credibility.

Why Training Yourself in Attention to Details Pays Off

You add value to your organization when you make the effort to ensure that you performed your work thoroughly and effectively. This is why job postings often list “attention to details” among the required skills.

When you present your supervisor or client with well-completed, high-quality work the first time, it maximizes your value and minimizes wasted time. Detail-oriented people are also more adept at catching mistakes that could lead to costly blunders.

Moreover, attention to detail is an indicator of possessing other in-demand employee qualities, such as organization, thoroughness, and focus. In some professions, such as accounting, engineering, medical research, and more, you can only excel if you have trained yourself to pay attention to details.

In other professions, possessing strong attention to detail is the very quality that will get you promoted to a position where you will be asked to consider the big picture.

Finally, if you are the “go-to” details person, everyone else on the team can relax a bit. They know the project is in good hands and will likely throw you more projects as a reward. This will ultimately lead to your advancement.

3 Important Aspects of Becoming More Detail-Oriented

Here are the 3 important things you need to learn if you want to remedy your lack of attention to detail:

1. Respect deadlines
2. Understand the work-flow plan
3. Build in time to mess up

1. Respect Deadlines

Deadlines lend all projects a finish line. One smart idea is to take the given deadline and work backward from it, calculating when your piece of the project is due. Then, if you stick to the proscribed schedule for completing the mini-projects that you have, you will never miss a deadline.

One important note on this: It is smarter to stick to the deadline and turn in work that merits a “B+” than to blow the deadline with “A” work. Chances are, through revision and suggested changes from others on the team, you can bring up your B+ work to an A later. But if you disregard deadlines, you will lose the respect of your boss and fellow teammates.

2. Understand the Work-Flow Plan

Your team is developing work in conjunction with other teams who have projects and deadlines of their own. When you grasp the whole work-flow plan, you may be able to either add insight to the greater project or to your own smaller piece of it that others at the firm will consider valuable.

3. Build in Time to Mess Up

You can expect that “what can go wrong will go wrong.” Don’t overpromise on deadlines. Something likely will mess up, but when it does if you built in the time to fix it, those around you won’t freak out.

Chances are, you already give your attention to several details. Take heart. You can do this! You can overcome your lack of attention to detail and become more detail-oriented.

For starters, consider this: Most people take the time and put in extra effort into the activities or undertakings that matter to them most. Training yourself to become more detail-oriented can mean adopting a similar pattern of behavior.

Apply the same attention you give to your appearance. Are you a meticulous dresser? Do you pay attention to how you pair patterns and colors, and how you accessorize a particular outfit?

This is the same system to use when you lack attention to detail with your work. Give every item careful consideration so that each one contributes to the perfectly pieced-together whole.

Assemble the ingredients the way you do when you cook. Cooking and baking from scratch require close attention to details as you measure and add each ingredient in sequence, and you time everything so that the meal comes together at the same time.

Similarly, your work product requires you to gauge whether all the ingredients have been added and that your final product is delivered on time.

Organize your business network like you do your social contacts. If you follow a broad base of friends and acquaintances on social media, you can apply similar skills to stay up-to-date on details associated with business acquaintances.

When you meet somebody who could be influential to your career or a resource for improving your skills, follow that person on social media. Respond to their posts to keep the lines of communication flowing.

12 Tips to Help You if You Lack Attention to Detail

Teaching yourself to take note of important details involves sharpening your perceptions and thinking ahead. The following tips will help you adopt these practices. Master these habits when training yourself to become detail-oriented.

1. Learn to Listen Well

You will pick up relevant information and needed nuance when you apply the skills of active listening. In conversations, train yourself to make eye contact, give your undivided attention to the speaker, and ask pertinent follow-up questions.

Training yourself to pay better attention to details in conversations includes learning to fully concentrate on what others have to say. If you find it hard, there’s no harm in taking notes on what they say.

2. Pay Attention to Social Cues

Make a point of noticing body language and facial expressions that provide insights into how others perceive a situation. Social cues offer details that give you an understanding of how words and actions impact others. The infamous character Michael Scott of the television show “The Office” epitomizes the consequences of not paying attention to others’ body language.^[1]

3. Follow Rules

Rules and protocols usually come about from lessons learned and are put in place to avoid further mishaps—whether from a safety or efficiency standpoint. If you’re given step-by-step procedures to follow, check them off as you go. Also, return to the rules at the project’s end just to make sure you adhered to them all.

4. Take Notes

Note-taking is a way to boost your retention and gives you something to refer back to when you need to keep track of pertinent details. You will also heighten your focus as you listen for relevant information. Review your notes shortly after the meeting or conversation and highlight the content that you intend to apply.

5. Prioritize What Needs Your Attention Now

When you have a full slate of work that demands your attention, take a few moments to sort assignments from most to least urgent. Keep a calendar, spreadsheet, or project planning software up-to-date with schedules and deadlines to help you stay organized.

As you tackle each urgent assignment, give it your full attention so no details are missed. Give yourself ample time—especially if you tend to be someone who waits until the last minute—as rushing can make you overlook important details.

6. Have a Detail-Oriented Assistant Check Your Work

If you lack attention to detail, then it makes sense to seek help from someone detail-oriented. If you have this option, take advantage of it. Two sets of eyes are better than one. Just be sure to credit your assistant for their help once the project is completed.

7. Learn the Rules of Writing Well

English is a difficult language, and grammar, punctuation, and spelling can all sabotage you unless you pay attention to detail. When in doubt, look it up. Free to use website services such as Grammarly can help.

8. Proofread Before You Hit Send

Nothing is perfect in its first draft. If you lack attention to detail, then put in the extra effort before submitting things. Before you send off any written work, check carefully not only for misspellings and incomplete sentences but also for improper tone, inappropriate colloquialisms, and inconsistent formatting. When your written communications are error-free, they will have their intended impact.

9. Minimize Distractions

It is impossible to stay focused when colleagues carry on conversations nearby or your mobile notifications ding you throughout the day. Do your best to limit distractions.

If you are working where there is a lot of noise or side activity, try wearing noise-canceling headphones or seeking out a quiet corner. Disable your notifications when you need to focus, and resolve to only check them after you have completed your assignment.

10. Take Breaks

It may sound counter-intuitive to stop and take a walk, but it’s necessary. Walk away from the screen. Moving from one task to the next across the span of your workday is a recipe for brain fatigue. Give your brain a recess time when you come to a natural stopping place or after you complete one project and before you start the next. These short pauses are necessary for sorting through all the details needed for coming up with successful solutions.

11. Make Time for Reflection

At the end of a workday, take a few minutes to go over the day’s events in your mind. What was said or relayed in conversations? What is the status of the projects you worked on? What else occurred that you should pay attention to? Could there have been any details you might have missed that you should address tomorrow?

12. Keep a Detailed To-Do List

This simple organizational tool is your best ally for getting your work done on time and for paying attention to the details. If you are pressed for time (and who isn’t?), write your list to coordinate with dayparts.

Allot a certain number of hours to complete each task, do it, and then check it off. Nothing feels more rewarding than completing all the tasks on your list. But if you can’t finish them, then carry them over to the following day.

Final Thoughts

Details may seem small, but they can become a lot larger when they are overlooked. If you know you lack attention to detail, commit to training yourself to embrace the many facets that can help you consistently excel in the tasks you set out to accomplish.

When you begin to catch your mistakes in advance or apply the tidbits of information you gathered from paying close attention, you will know that you have trained yourself in the fundamentals of becoming detail-oriented. After that, you should start hearing the phrase “Great job!” more often.

More Tips on Boosting Your Attention to Detail

• 7 Simple Habits to Improve Your Attention to Detail
• How to Improve Focus: 7 Ways to Train Your Brain
• 10 Things Only Detail-Oriented People Do

Featured photo credit: Cristina Gottardi via unsplash.com