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Old 09-16-2013, 11:27 AM
 
3,039 posts, read 3,217,618 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by austin-steve View Post
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
Honestly it's not about "comparing schools", similarly situated or not. Folks should clue in to the fact that it's an administrative measure, not academic. To their credit, the TEA even calls it ACCOUNTABILITY RATING, again ACCOUNTABILITY, NOT "academic" or "performance". Placing so much emphasis on the ratings is like grading students only on how many questions they answered on a test.
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Old 09-16-2013, 12:05 PM
 
Location: SW Austin & Wimberley
6,330 posts, read 17,982,821 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by austinnerd View Post
Honestly it's not about "comparing schools", similarly situated or not. Folks should clue in to the fact that it's an administrative measure, not academic. To their credit, the TEA even calls it ACCOUNTABILITY RATING, again ACCOUNTABILITY, NOT "academic" or "performance". Placing so much emphasis on the ratings is like grading students only on how many questions they answered on a test.
The "Accountability" is based on academic performance. There are 4 "Indexes" that contribute to the rating.

Index 1: "Student Achievement provides an overview of student performance based on satisfactory student achievement across all subjects for all students".

Index 2: "Student Progress focuses on actual student growth independent of overall achievement levels for each race/ethnicity student group, students with disabilities, and English language learners".

Index 3: "Closing Performance Gaps emphasizes advanced academic achievement of economically disadvantaged students and the two lowest performing race/ethnicity student groups".

Index 4: "Postsecondary Readiness emphasizes the importance for students to receive a high school diploma that provides them with the foundation necessary for success in college, the workforce, job training programs, or the military; and the role of elementary and middle schools in preparing students for high school".

You could spend hours reading and trying to understand how it all fits together and works at this site:
2013 Accountability Rating System

I guess it's a good system for those who want to know "of the crappiest schools in Austin, which is the best or the worst so I can send my kid there?" I've yet to have anyone ever ask my that. Buyer just say "we want a neighborhood with good schools" and I say "ok, I know where those neighborhoods are".

Steve
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Old 09-16-2013, 12:27 PM
 
319 posts, read 733,517 times
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A simple answer - TEA rating has a HUGE mathematically correlation to residential real estate pricing.

I will let others debate the TEA system itself...
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Old 09-16-2013, 12:48 PM
 
Location: SW Austin & Wimberley
6,330 posts, read 17,982,821 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by curious1111 View Post
A simple answer - TEA rating has a HUGE mathematically correlation to residential real estate pricing.

I will let others debate the TEA system itself...
Would you say that's true in 78704, 78702? Schools are terrible and prices are high. In Leander, prices are low and schools are good.

There is a correlation, but not all caps "HUGE" as you say. It's overridden by location for closer in neighborhoods. And for commuters willing to drive, an affordable home that attends good schools is very achievable.

For the areas more directly affected, like Circle C, Steiner, etc., it's based on consumer perception of school quality combined with location and other factors. The quality part of the equation will always be there for buyers, but will be less influenced by the new confusing rating system than is was the older simpler one.

That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Steve
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Old 09-16-2013, 01:25 PM
 
1,430 posts, read 2,362,773 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by austin-steve View Post
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

Really? Do you really not see why this would be important?
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Old 09-16-2013, 01:27 PM
 
3,039 posts, read 3,217,618 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by curious1111 View Post
A simple answer - TEA rating has a HUGE mathematically correlation to residential real estate pricing.

I will let others debate the TEA system itself...
I think we've all acknowledged that the TEA rating _can_ have an effect on real estate pricing. Debating the validity of the rating is important specifically for this reason. As the formulae for the rating is tweaked, this can have both positive and negative consequences for any given area at any given time. So the logic of purchasing a home based on the rating of it's local school can be problematic if one does not also factor in other variables (several mentioned by Austin-Steve). So if the TEA ratings start to become more and more disconnected with actual academic performance, there could be stronger correlations between say GreatSchools.com rankings vs the TEA ratings (or even US News or the Children At Risk ratings). Esp. so as parents become more savvy over time.
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Old 09-17-2013, 08:54 AM
 
Location: SW Austin & Wimberley
6,330 posts, read 17,982,821 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gpurcell View Post
Really? Do you really not see why this would be important?
I think it's misleading and inaccurate to use different standards to rank different schools. Schools should be measured against a uniform, static set or metrics, and those metrics should be based on whether students are learning the minimum required material for reading, writing, math and science.

A typical parent doesn't care how much a school has improved over the past year if its current performance is still way below par.

Steve
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Old 09-17-2013, 07:24 PM
 
1,430 posts, read 2,362,773 times
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Even if what your proposed criteria really measures is simply the affluence of the kids who attend the schools? I mean, I know that's useful to you as a real estate agent but it doesn't say anything about how well a school is doing at educating the kids who show up at its door!
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Old 09-17-2013, 08:40 PM
 
Location: SW Austin & Wimberley
6,330 posts, read 17,982,821 times
Reputation: 5531
Quote:
Originally Posted by gpurcell View Post
Even if what your proposed criteria really measures is simply the affluence of the kids who attend the schools? I mean, I know that's useful to you as a real estate agent but it doesn't say anything about how well a school is doing at educating the kids who show up at its door!
On that we can agree. How well kids at a particular school perform on standardized tests and daily work correlates more with their zipcode and family/social life than the quality of teaching.

I think we agree on some core things, but the question asked is about real estate and whether the new ratings affect values. I think the old ratings affected values more than the new ones will. But buyers/consumers wil still figure out how to find the better schools if that's their most important criteria.

Steve
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Old 09-18-2013, 08:40 AM
 
319 posts, read 733,517 times
Reputation: 240
Quote:
Originally Posted by austin-steve View Post
Would you say that's true in 78704, 78702? Schools are terrible and prices are high. In Leander, prices are low and schools are good.

There is a correlation, but not all caps "HUGE" as you say. It's overridden by location for closer in neighborhoods. And for commuters willing to drive, an affordable home that attends good schools is very achievable.

For the areas more directly affected, like Circle C, Steiner, etc., it's based on consumer perception of school quality combined with location and other factors. The quality part of the equation will always be there for buyers, but will be less influenced by the new confusing rating system than is was the older simpler one.

That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Steve
Steve, I thought/think that we are talking about suburbs and public school systems. Of course the downtown area of ANY city is going to have high real estate pricing, and it has nothing to do with schools. Of course there will always be minor exceptions to any rule. But I submit to you that when you get outside the immediate downtown area of any major city in Texas, the TEA ratings strongly drive real estate pricing.
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