California's Top Public High Schools based on API Score, 2010 (San Jose: middle school, best)

[bhcompy]

Charter schools are able to admit those they please, though, and you can be assured they do their homework even if the admissions do not require testing.

[jkbatca]

Without actually looking at each and every school in the list, I would venture to guess why these schools are at the top:

1) Area schools are in has high income demographics, so parents give a crap about what education their kids receive
2) School is a "choice" school which requires the parent(s) to actively enroll their kids into that school. This eliminates virtually all of the parents who don't give a crap about their kids and that reflects on the school kid's desire to learn.

In either case, there's some type of underlying bias, it just may not be obvious at first glance. Also, I've seen both of these mechanisms in action first hand.

[rah]

On the flipside, here are the lowest performing high schools (600 or less points) from the Bay Area (I didn't feel like sifting through the data for all of CA), excluding "small schools" of under 100 students:

Alameda County:
Oakland:
600 - Media College Preparatory
585 - College Preparatory and Architecture Academy
556 - Mandela High
556 - East Oakland School of the Arts
554 - LPS College Park
546 - Expression, Excellence, Community, Empow
536 - YES, Youth Empowerment
529 - Business and Information Technology High
516 - Leadership Preparatory High
507 - ARISE High
468 - Robeson School of Visual and Performing Arts
401 - Ralph J. Bunche High

San Francisco city/county:
593 - International Studies Academy
581 - Thurgood Marshall High
555 - Mission High
548 - John O'Connell Alternative High
503 - June Jordan School for Equity

Santa Clara County:
Santa Clara:
584 - Wilson Alternative

San Jose:
595 - Leadership Public Schools - San Jose
572 - MACSA Academica Calmecac

Contra Costa County:
Richmond:
582 - De Anza Senior High
580 - Kennedy High

Santa Cruz County:
Watsonville:
572 - Pajaro Valley High

Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma counties all had zero high schools with under 600 points.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by rah

Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma counties all had zero high schools with under 600 points.

I still don't understand why Marin and San Mateo(probably the 2 most affluent counties in the state) have no high schools that score over 900.

I wonder if private schools are big there? Because I would imagine that most parents in both counties are very educationally minded.

[00molavi]

So not scoring 900 or over, they could be at 899, 898 and so on. Does that make the school any different than the over 900. I like to look at the individual school's score and then see what programs they offer. Some have much more options for students that want to excel in one or another subject. This also segregates them in a good way and they hook up with friends that have similar goals.

[rah]

^yeah, that's a good point, and counties like San Mateo and Marin had a bunch of schools in the 800 range...but i was surprised that two counties that are so affluent didn't have at least one of the top performing schools.

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

I still don't understand why Marin and San Mateo(probably the 2 most affluent counties in the state) have no high schools that score over 900.

I wonder if private schools are big there? Because I would imagine that most parents in both counties are very educationally minded.

I know for a fact that tons of rich kids from Marin go to private school in SF (i ran into a few rich kids from San mateo county doing the same thing actually)...but it's still kinda surprising.

[Jay Shah]

In East Bay Middle School/Junior High, the top school is Williams Hopkins Junior High in Fremont Unified School District, NOT Thronton - please correct.

[Tim F W]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

This was released today:

Here are the California Public High Schools with an API score of 900 or higher by Metropolitan Area, 2009

Fresno Area
University High, Fresno, 915

Los Angeles Area
Gretchen Whitney High, Cerritos, 988
Oxford Academy, Cypress, 983
California Academy of Mathematics and Science, Long Beach, 975
San Marino High, San Marino, 935
Troy High, Fullerton, 925
Santa Clarita Early College High, Santa Clarita, 912
La Canada High, La Canada, 905
University High, Irvine, 903

Sacramento Area
West Campus High, Sacramento, 914

San Diego Area
School for Integrated Academics, Vista, 923
River Valley Charter High, Lakeside, 904

San Francisco Bay Area
Oakland Charter High, Oakland, 955
Lowell High, San Francisco, 949
Mission San Jose High, Fremont, 949
American Indian Public High, Oakland, 946
Monta Vista High, Cupertino, 935
Saratoga High, Saratoga, 933
Miramonte High, Orinda, 928
Pacific Collegiate Center, Santa Cruz, 928
Lynbrook High, San Jose, 925
Campolindo High, Moraga 919
Henry Gunn High, Palo Alto, 915
Dougherty Valley High, San Ramon, 905
Piedmont High, Piedmont, 903
Acalanes High, Lafayette, 902
Palo Alto High, Palo Alto 901


[URL="http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr10/yr10rel52.asp"]http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr10/yr10rel52.asp[/URL]

Interesting observation:
Marin, San Mateo, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura Counties all do not have at least 1 public high school scoring 900+

This is last year's data. Oak Park High in Ventura got 908. check out the official report here:

[URL]http://api.cde.ca.gov/reports/page2.asp?subject=API&level=County&submit1=submit[/URL]

[.highnlite]

No one should bash a particular school unless one has spent a week in that school, that way you find out directly what the schools are up against.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

This was released today:

Here are the California Public High Schools with an API score of 900 or higher by Metropolitan Area, 2009

Fresno Area
University High, Fresno, 915

Los Angeles Area
Gretchen Whitney High, Cerritos, 988
Oxford Academy, Cypress, 983
California Academy of Mathematics and Science, Long Beach, 975
San Marino High, San Marino, 935
Troy High, Fullerton, 925
Santa Clarita Early College High, Santa Clarita, 912
La Canada High, La Canada, 905
University High, Irvine, 903

Sacramento Area
West Campus High, Sacramento, 914

San Diego Area
School for Integrated Academics, Vista, 923
River Valley Charter High, Lakeside, 904

San Francisco Bay Area
Oakland Charter High, Oakland, 955
Lowell High, San Francisco, 949
Mission San Jose High, Fremont, 949
American Indian Public High, Oakland, 946
Monta Vista High, Cupertino, 935
Saratoga High, Saratoga, 933
Miramonte High, Orinda, 928
Pacific Collegiate Center, Santa Cruz, 928
Lynbrook High, San Jose, 925
Campolindo High, Moraga 919
Henry Gunn High, Palo Alto, 915
Dougherty Valley High, San Ramon, 905
Piedmont High, Piedmont, 903
Acalanes High, Lafayette, 902
Palo Alto High, Palo Alto 901


http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr10/yr10rel52.asp

Interesting observation:
Marin, San Mateo, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura Counties all do not have at least 1 public high school scoring 900+

there are so much more to these studies than meet the eyes. Add to this, the schools on the list this year may not even be near the list a year from now and visa versa. I hate it when people base opinions of schools on one or two studies.

How about considering which areas have the most kids in private schools for instance?

Nita