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In the Redmond School District I don't see much demographic difference between 2013-14 and 2017-18. The % on the free lunch program looks to be decreasing. What is increasing?
Oh I wouldn't like that. I was thinking of a private school there. I can't remember the name right now. but it seems it isn't what I'm looking for. thanks for the heads up. really appreciate that.
In the Redmond School District I don't see much demographic difference between 2013-14 and 2017-18. The % on the free lunch program looks to be decreasing. What is increasing?
Well, OK. I should have perhaps been more precise. I pulled the data off the niche school ratings site and it isn't as detailed or multi-year as the data on the school district site. As for what is increasing. I was mainly thinking of the Hispanic population which is by far the fastest growing subpopulation in Oregon: https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-n...tion_is_g.html and is also younger and poorer than the general population. I assumed that would be the case for Redmond as well. It certainly is for Madras. But I don't actually have multi-year ethnic data at my fingertips for Redmond schools. My 'impression' is that the population growth in places like Redmond is split. You have wealthier white retirees moving in who tend not to have kids. And you have younger families moving in which tend to be more Hispanic and poorer. Affluent white families with kids moving into Oregon tend to move to places like like the affluent suburbs around Portland and places like Bend, Eugene, and Corvallis. That is most certainly what is happening along the Oregon Coast where you have wealthier retirees moving in without kids and then poorer service sector workers with families moving in. So the school age population tends to be significantly poorer and more Hispanic than the overall population in towns like Newport.
In any event, I've been in education for almost 2 decades teaching in both WA and TX and I've been around school data for a long time. Here's why all this matters for parents looking at schools.
In recent years due to a variety of Federal laws, schools in each state are being evaluated by a wide variety of metrics. Each state is different because each state has different tests and data collection procedures, so you can't directly use data to compare schools in OR, WA, CA or TX for example. The standardized tests are different and have different pass points and so forth. But they all pretty much do the same thing. They look at basic competency in core areas like math and english at different grade levels and aggregated across different socio-economic and ethnic categories. They also look at things like absentee rates and dropout rates.
These school ratings have become overly important as everyone from the news media to parents to real estate agents look at small variations in school rankings between communities. One reason, for example, why Lake Oswego has higher housing prices than say Tigard is because it has higher rated schools. That's not the only reason of course, but one of the reasons why people would pay a premium to buy in Lake Oswego compared to other surrounding communities with lower rated schools.
You can be absolutely certain that school administrators are ACUTELY aware of these school ratings and are doing everything they can to raise them to the extent possible. Sometimes their performance pay and whether or not they are retained or get bonuses hinges on school accountability ratings. This is also why most teachers hate this stuff. Because they generate a huge incentive in struggling districts to teach to the test. The fact of the matter is that affluent districts almost always have higher ratings simply because they have fewer kids who fall through the cracks. Poorer families tend to be more transient (moving from place to place) and have higher absentee rates. Immigrant families have language difficulties. Compared to more affluent communities where schools tend to have the same cohort of kids with supportive involved parents from K-12.
I'm just making up these numbers for the sake of example. But say a school has a passing rate of 80% for math and English literacy which gives it a B rating and wants to raise its passing rates to 90% to get an A rating and lots of acolades for the administrators. The easiest way to do that is to look at your population of students who are on the bubble (just under the passing line) and figure out what you need to do to get them over the bar. This will tend to be poorer kids who are more transient and have more attendance issues. And it will tend to be immigrant kids with language issues. So as a school administrator you have to dump funds into things like increased ESL programs and language tutors. Additional counselors and aids to work with "at-risk" kids with attendance problems and such. Perhaps programs like after-school tutorin and homework clubs to help "at-risk" kids. And also small group remedial classes to work with kids who failed the first round of tests so they are more likely to pass the next round and raise the school's ratings. There are some kids at every school who you simply aren't going to ever reach. You have your kids who spend the entire school year in juvenile lockup and then are released and return to class a week before the standardized tests and spend the test day penciling in swastikas and satanic symbols on their bubble sheet and don't even bother to open the test booklet. And you have kids who show up the week before from Guatemala with no English at all and have no clue of how to even begin an English language test that they cannot even begin to read. Yes, I have had both those exact kids in my class taking standardized tests that affect school accountability ratings.
School funds are a finite resource, especially in Oregon which has been struggling with school funding for decades. So the more money you pour into remedial programs and special programs to help the kids on the "bubble", the less you have for advanced programs or quirky electives. So expensive classes like say AP Chemistry or advanced computer coding can face the chopping block because all the kids in those fancy elective classes tend to already have 100% passing rates on the standardized tests and you don't gain anything in terms of school ratings by pouring a lot of resources into the kids at the top. An administrator who cares about his school ratings will find much bigger bang for the buck by using scarce funds for another small-group remedial English or math class for English language learners than for a small group elite science elective.
In a perfect world, all the students in schools across the state would have the same opportunities and classes. But we don't live in that world. We live in a world where schools with lower performing populations are incentivized to concentrate their resources on raising their passing rates and schools that already have high passing rates are incentivized to pour their resources into high end electives for college-bound wealthier kids because that is what their parents are demanding.
So yes, for a parent moving into the state from elsewhere and who can pick where to live, these things matter. Districts that are already higher performing are going to have more incentive and more resources to devote to the kids at the top end. Districts that are more average (or below average) are going to be facing powerful incentives to devote as many resources as possible to the kids on the bubble at the expense of kids at the top. That is the vicious reality in which we live today. And the rich schools get richer and the poor schools get poorer as a result.
How much this actually has anything to do with Redmond schools? I really don't know. Perhaps very little, perhaps a lot. But someone moving all the way across the country mainly to find higher rated and higher performing schools needs to be aware of the forces that affect these sorts of things.
[quote=texasdiver;55488782]
In any event, I've been in education for almost 2 decades teaching in both WA and TX and I've been around school data for a long time. Here's why all this matters for parents looking at schools.
Just curious. I have seen in my research that TX has very very good schools. Would you agree?
SO...Bend is officially out. The private school I saw in Redmond, OR is called Central Christian School. It is in the 97756 zip code. I found these new construction homes https://www.zillow.com/community/27-...84896485_zpid/.
I found no townhomes.
I am noticing all the street views are pretty cloudy and I realized I had forgotten to find out more about the weather. Is Redmond's weather cloudy most of the year like Portland? is it different if you go more inland? being that there really isn't anything inland that interested me, it doesn't matter anyway. just curiosity.
There are 2 private schools in Newberg...CS Lewis Academy and Veritas School. But I didn't like the street views around these areas.
In any event, I've been in education for almost 2 decades teaching in both WA and TX and I've been around school data for a long time. Here's why all this matters for parents looking at schools.
Just curious. I have seen in my research that TX has very very good schools. Would you agree?
SO...Bend is officially out. The private school I saw in Redmond, OR is called Central Christian School. It is in the 97756 zip code. I found these new construction homes https://www.zillow.com/community/27-...84896485_zpid/.
I found no townhomes.
I am noticing all the street views are pretty cloudy and I realized I had forgotten to find out more about the weather. Is Redmond's weather cloudy most of the year like Portland? is it different if you go more inland? being that there really isn't anything inland that interested me, it doesn't matter anyway. just curiosity.
There are 2 private schools in Newberg...CS Lewis Academy and Veritas School. But I didn't like the street views around these areas.
Schools in the wealthy white suburbs of Texas are exceptionally good and have resources beyond what most Oregon schools could imagine. Because there is a TON of money in Texas and schools are mostly funded by local property taxes. Texas also doesn't have the supermajority requirements to pass school bonds so it is MUCH MUCH easier for communities in TX to pass school bond measures compared to either OR or WA. So you see a lot of extravagent stuff like $60 million HS football stadiums:
And Olympic size HS nadatoriums
And full size indoor football practice facilities. This is the one from the school where I used to teach.
And a lot of the school facilities themselves like science labs and music rooms are just as nice, just not as easy to show in pictures. Basically the rich suburbs in Texas are a LOT LOT richer than the rich suburbs in Oregon and the schools reflect that.
On the other hand, poor and minority schools and schools in declining rural areas can be among the worst you'll find anywhere. Especially small rural towns in east Texas that are predominantly black.
Bottom line though, Texas does have a MUCH MUCH higher graduation rate of 90% compared to oregon at 76% or Washington at 79%, even among the minority populations. And it has a LOT more minority populations than Oregon or Washington so they are doing some things right. https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/tables/ACGR_...cs_2016-17.asp
As for the weather in Redmond. According to the weather stats, Redmond gets about 10 inches of rain per year compared to about 37 inches in Portland and most cities west of the Cascades so it is a lot drier and has more of a semi-arid desert type feel. As for how many gray days? I have no idea. Mostly always sunny when I pass through but the people who live there or Bend would have a better idea. I would imagine the overcast gray skies would mostly be a winter thing though.
Honestly if you just want to move someplace with a low cost of living, nice houses, good schools and good medical care you could do worse than Texas. Your money would go a LOT farther in TX. For example, right in the middle of your price range you could buy a brand new house in Katy TX which is a fast growing suburb west of Houston. I have friends there (doctors) who have their kids in the local schools and could afford to live anywyere. Something like this: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...86641711_zpid/ which would be in a nice neighborhood with all kinds of amenities like community pools, trails, playgrounds and very good well funded schools. It will be a lot more Republican place than most of where you are looking. But most people in places like Katy are transplants from places like CA so pretty neutral politically for the most part. You can find similar suburbs around Dallas like for example. Here is Rockwall which is along a lake east of Dallas. We also have friends (also doctors) who live here and like it. Good schools: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...60208751_zpid/
Last edited by texasdiver; 06-22-2019 at 03:23 PM..
The Redmond School District multi year data is in the links posted above. Comparing Redmond to Madras is like comparing apples to oranges. They are both cities in Central Oregon but they are unique and located in different counties.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monaisa
Is Redmond's weather cloudy most of the year like Portland?
..........
I am noticing all the street views are pretty cloudy and I realized I had forgotten to find out more about the weather. Is Redmond's weather cloudy most of the year like Portland? ...........
We moved here from Colorado and Redmond gets nearly as many sunny days. This is an aerial shot of NW Redmond looking towards the Smith Rock SP that I took with a camera on a kite recently.
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