There are few things about which communities are more sensitive than the quality of their public schools. So when NeighborhoodScout.com, the locality-comparison Web site developed by Woonsocket-based Location Inc., created its first-ever lists of the nation’s 100 best and worst schools, the reaction was swift and sharp.

“I guess it’s human nature – the schools that did poorly are grumpy and the schools that did well like it,” said Andrew Schiller, Location Inc.’s founder and CEO.

Schiller put together the rankings by creating an algorithm, which he plans to patent. It uses each state’s student passing-rate on the National Assessment for Educational Progress test, which is uniform across the country, to standardize the testing results that individual schools report as part of the No Child Left Behind law.