How does the new TEA Accountability Rating System affect real estate prices? (Austin: 2013, house)

[squatt3r]

looking into the new rating system almost all are rated "Met Standard" with some schools having distinctions (Read ELA, Math, Progressive).

will this have an effect into the housing prices soon?

[gpurcell]

2013 Accountability Reports

Using this the rankings of some of the perceived top elementary schools are:

1) Hill (All three distinction awards)
2) Lee/Casis/Highland Park (Two distinction awards)
3) Kiker/Doss/Bryker Woods (One distinction award)
4) Mills/Clayton (No distinction awards)

Couple of thoughts. First, the campus comparison group the school is assigned to has a large effect on the rankings. Basically this means that schools like Mills and Clayton cannot ride their demographics to top status. Second, attendence rate plays a HUGE role in this new system. Expect schools to start really emphasizing this in the near future.

[squatt3r]

how do we correlate the existing ratings from greatschools.org? take it with a grain of salt? currently deciding if we'll build on belterra or bridges of bear creek or sweetwater/west cypress hills

[austinnerd]

All ratings should be taken with a grain of salt, at least relative to any notions of the quality of education. Remember, they are "accountability ratings", not "academic ratings".

Back to the original question though, it does have an effect, though the extent of that effect differs. Honestly, I would build my home in the location that I thought was best. The only consideration I would make for the local schools would be to avoid a school that is known to be "bad", but anything else would not factor in. But that's just me, if I'm spending a bunch of money to get a house built, _I_ want to enjoy it and where it's at. Whether locating it in a particular school area would actually affect the price enough to justify making concessions would be a roll of the dice. After all, just because it rates one way today doesn't mean it will be the same 5 years from now (just look at the fact that the rating itself has changed).

[riaelise]

I would take all of them with a grain of salt, personally! Though I must say that there are many PFLUGERVILLE schools that received at least one distinction. Way to go P-ville!!

[Acuda]

Originally Posted by riaelise

I would take all of them with a grain of salt, personally! Though I must say that there are many PFLUGERVILLE schools that received at least one distinction. Way to go P-ville!!

Yep. In fact, the only PISD elementary schools that were awarded all three distinctions were Spring Hill and Northwest. However, they did not have the best scores among the campuses.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by gpurcell

2013 Accountability Reports

Using this the rankings of some of the perceived top elementary schools are:

1) Hill (All three distinction awards)
2) Lee/Casis/Highland Park (Two distinction awards)
3) Kiker/Doss/Bryker Woods (One distinction award)
4) Mills/Clayton (No distinction awards)

Couple of thoughts. First, the campus comparison group the school is assigned to has a large effect on the rankings. Basically this means that schools like Mills and Clayton cannot ride their demographics to top status. Second, attendence rate plays a HUGE role in this new system. Expect schools to start really emphasizing this in the near future.

Baldwin (One distinction award). Just because it is new, it hasn't gotten the same buzz. And the most interesting thing is that my kids' alma mater, Oak Hill, got all three. Maybe perceptions will change.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by squatt3r

looking into the new rating system almost all are rated "Met Standard" with some schools having distinctions (Read ELA, Math, Progressive).

will this have an effect into the housing prices soon?

The perceived quality of schools most definitely affects housing demand, which affects prices. To the degree that the new rating system is used by consumers to research schools, it could affect demand.

That said, the new system is a useless joke. None of us (who know anything) in the housing industry will be using it when talking to clients. Once again, the education industry makes everything about the teachers instead of the students. Essentially, the new system doesn't measure schools against a static measure, but against "peer group" schools with silly metrics. Sort of like a complicated curve.

The entire thing is meant to obfuscate the poor performance of bad schools and dilute the high performance of good schools, all so more teachers and principles and administrators can feel better about themselves and their schools.

When a new buyer coming into Austin wants to research and find out where the good schools are, the old system, flawed as it was too, at least measured apples to apples, and you knew that "Recognized" or "Exemplary" were better performing than "Acceptable" or "Unacceptable".

The new system makes it almost impossible for a new resident to see a simple ranking of schools. Perhaps the third party systems like Greatschools.com will pick up the slack.

Steve

[gpurcell]

It's not a useless joke for the purpose it is intended--comparing schools against similarly situated schools.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by gpurcell

It's not a useless joke for the purpose it is intended--comparing schools against similarly situated schools.

What good does it do, and for whom, to know how a particular school is measured against "similarly situated" schools. Wouldn't it be better to know how it stands up measured against the desired outcomes?

Steve