Greatschools.org has listed Mercer Island as one of the nation’s top 10 public school districts for “small U.S. cities.” Mercer Island was ranked number 7 out of 10 districts nationwide. The Web site gave Mercer Island a quality score of 95.93, behind a number of small towns in Massachusetts (Belmont, Mass. took number 1) and Mason, Ohio.

The online article wrote that MISD “has some of the highest performance scores in the state for primary and secondary students. It also noted Mercer Island High School’s numerous national-level scholarship recipients and National Merit finalists.

Bringing up the national education system’s budgetary woes, Greatschools.org gave credit to the Mercer Island Schools Foundation for its financial support of MISD, along with mentioning the Island’s high profile as the home of big names such as “Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, Ford CEO Alan Mulally and financial analyst Colby Hanover (who rank among the richest people in the world).”

Greatschools.org did make one blunder, however, when describing the Island’s picturesque setting.

“Situated in Lake Washington in the Seattle metropolitan area, Mercer Island offers a stunning natural setting and a quick ferry commute to the big caffeinated city,” the article wrote.

It’s a mistake that most Islanders have heard before.

Mercer Island schools were also listed as one of “The best schools for your housing buck” by Forbes magazine. The list, which was based on research through 49 states and 17,377 towns in the U.S. done by Forbes and GreatSchools, includes 25 best schools broken down by median home price.