Even glance at WRAL's news on a typical day and you're probably going to read something about the Wake County School System. Between the year-round school controversy, reassignments, and the tremendous growth rate of this area, schooling is a hot topic.

Yahoo is making it easier to get information about local schools with the addition of schools to its Yahoo Real Estate application. Not only can you get basic information on schools mapped out, but Yahoo Real Estate also provides opinions, test score information, and demographic data.

Start off at http://realestate.yahoo.com . Yahoo will try to guess where you are and link to your area -- Raleigh's URL is http://realestate.yahoo.com/North_Carolina/Raleigh . Look for the "Research Schools" link over the map of the area.

When you click that you'll get another map with areas schools mapped on it. A filter on the left allows you to restrict schools by grade level or school type, or search for schools within a specified radius. (Note that the map only shows ten schools at a time as you page through the lists of schools and the default sorting for the listings is alphabetically. So you're not going to see, say, Brentwood Elementary and Underwood Elementary on the map at the same time when you first look at the listings.)

You can browse the schools within a list or you can click on a map marker. When you click on a marker you'll get basic information about the school -- address, grades, and whether it's a public or a private school. Click on the "More Details" link to get to the good stuff.

"The Good Stuff" offers a wealth of detail. In addition to a little more information about the school (phone and fax numbers, student/teacher ratio, number of students enrolled), you can also read opinions of the school from GreatSchools.net. (These are parent opinions, which link to a page that has more opinions, ratings, and a place for principals to respond.) Over to the right you'll see additional school information, including links to detailed test score data, demographic information (years of teacher experience, teacher certification, attendance rate, etc), and a table that compares the school you're looking at with other schools in the area.

On the details page for a school you'll also see another map that lets you see what grocery stores, parks, restaurants, and gas stations (!!) are near the school you're reviewing. I think if it'd been me I would have chosen libraries over gas stations.

Nevertheless if you're trying to get a handle on a new school, this is a great place to go for a roundup of information in an easy-to-read format. Well done Yahoo Real Estate!