Speaking of schools and their impact on property values, the California Department of Education has just released their Academic Performance Index (API) reports for 2009.
The API is based on a 1,000 point scale. And with respect to rankings, not unlike George Webber you want a (double) ten.
∙ Academic Performance Index (API) Reports: San Francisco 2009 [ca.gov]
∙ SocketSite Gets Schooled By A Plugged-In Reader [SocketSite]
800 is the general target for the CDE and signifies respectability in performance. Almost every school at all levels handily exceeds 800 in strong districts. These are, unfortunately, primarily in the suburbs. Lowell ties with Mission San Jose (Fremont) as the highest API senior high followed closely by Miramonte (Orinda). If you are raising a family, suburb is where the education bargains are…
has anybody done a study as to if the school really has any big difference? It seems that the schools that have the highest scores are also in expensive neighborhoods where parents who put high priority on education tend to move into. Parents who put a higher emphasis on education tend to have children that do better in school. So the scoring could just be a reflection of that. I’m not saying that’s the case, just curious.
I think the correlation between higher wealth and higher API is obvious. Teachers are the same but better prepared students with motivated parents allow teachers to set higher education goals. That said, many of the lower scoring schools have over recent years made significant progress but the underlying disadvantage will always be there for some districts.
lyqwyd,
To answer your question, these API scores are not based on a normal view of neighborhood schools. SFUSD has had a district wide lottery for years, which means there is absolutely no guarantee that your child would be placed in the school that is literally across the street.
Now, SFUSD is moving away from the district lottery concept and going back toward neighborhood schools. This has been on the plate for awhile. Here is a link:
http://portal.sfusd.edu/template/default.cfm?page=policy.placement.assignment
There are schools where specific families with certain socio-economic and racial profiles prefer to send their kids. These school are highly sought out by specific groups and you can see the breakdown when you research the student profiles of each school.
Outsider wrote:
> I think the correlation between higher wealth and higher
> API is obvious. Teachers are the same but better prepared
> students with motivated parents allow teachers to set higher
> education goals.
It is not PC to say that wealthy people are (usually but not always) smarter than poor people and that wealthy people (usually but not always) have kids that are smarter than poor kids. I have been able to point out (without getting attacked by PC people) that wealthy neighborhoods have a higher percentage of parents that went to Cal, Stanford and Harvard and poor neighborhoods have a higher percentage of parents that didn’t go to college.
While pointing out that most poor people that live in poor neighborhoods are stupid and lazy will get you in trouble pointing out that a parents who have busted their ass in school for years to graduate at the top of their class and far more likely to push their kids to do well in school than a parent that didn’t go to college (or graduated and went to truck driving school)…
The running joke about the API is that it is called the Affluent Parent Index.
The similar schools rank is fascinating. Our oldest is enrolled at our mid-range neighborhood school (yes – it could happen even under the old system) with a decent API ranking and a better similar schools rating. Our year has been great and she’s learned an astounding amount. We are committed to staying in the City, but you really don’t seem to get a much better bang for the buck on average by moving the the generic suburbs.
We’ve bucked the trend among our social circle by sending our kids to public school – I’m fairly hopeful that it will turn out ok given the graduate degrees and general wealth of our household.
I’m with FAB here. While it’s not PC to point it out, the fact that the poor and the rich have different attitudes toward schooling is something that needs to be considered when developing solutions to the problem. One of the few people to take this fact into account is Geoffrey Canada who designed the Harlem Children’s Zone.
Pretending that these differences don’t exist is not helping us solve the problem. One of the biggest problems with throwing money at the problem is that we often throw money at the wrong things.
Some of the SF elementary schools do pretty well, even with most kids from low-income families.
Elementary schools are not as bad as people make it sound to be. Only 23 out of 60+ elementary schools have API below 800. Among them, several have improved a lot during the last few years, in high 700, and probably will get above 800 in the next couple of years.
MS and HS is where it falls short. MS are seeing some improvements, but still most schools are below 800. Only Lowell scored above 800.
I would take exception to the idea that the poor are both lazy and stupid. Maybe one or the other, but it’s hard work being poor.
That said, the API is really not everything. Heck, a kid from a stable family where they read lots of books and have interesting conversations and in general have good parenting going on will probably do well wherever they end up. It’s just not that pleasant to go to a school with less resources and decaying facilities and having to wait for the other students to catch up and not having enough (or any) AP classes. In other words, fully agree with Outsider – the quality of the teaching itself is about the same.
If you find a school in the 700s that has a good school community and a low incidence of discipline problems and teachers who have a high level of autonomy in their teaching style – you just might have a better fit for your child than a 800+ school that is only 800 because all the kids are afraid of what might happen if they bring home a “B.”
The test scores are not the only indicator of school quality. Going to a high scoring school does not guarantee admission to an Ivy League School.
Americans love to compare and “grade.”
Visit the school you are planning on sending your child to. Research the experience level of the staff. Put time in visiting the school at recess. Are the students generally respectful of each other?
Wealth does not equal intelligence. Lowell’s student body is economically diverse. Students living in SRO’s and in-laws score high on tests.
It is tiring to take the cheap way out and play the class card when discussing education.
You can supplement education of a child through elementary school without problem. Middle school is where you lose them. Letting a 12 year old drift off the path in 7th-8th grade really sets him/her up for a long fall in high school where all the bad elements tend to converge even in high API schools.
Here’s a fabulous blog http://www.thesfkfiles.blogspot.com/ that covers the ins and outs of the SFUSD lottery and the trials and tribulations of parents attempting to find a school they want. It’s very interactive – like Socketsite actually.