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Old 01-27-2015, 06:14 PM
 
483 posts, read 668,441 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinawina View Post
7 or 8 isn't that hard to tell IMO. If a school with 60% of the kids on reduced or free lunch and fairly large class sizes but has a 7 rating it's a damn good school. Those teachers care and those parents are involved. But if it's 7 in a wealthier school district and a full staff then something might be going on. Still might be okay... but investigating is warranted IMO.

My kids went to a school that was 6 for a couple of years and it actually was a good school. Very solid. Nothing spectacular but certainly nothing horrible either. You really do have to investigate past the ratings.
Sometimes perfectly good schools within a district that seem to have wonky scores are the ones housing the special education students who still have to take the tests.
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Old 01-28-2015, 01:39 PM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grilba View Post
Sometimes perfectly good schools within a district that seem to have wonky scores are the ones housing the special education students who still have to take the tests.
That hasn't affected our local school with close to 50 Special Ed students now, and still rated 10. With over 600 students those 50 don't make enough of a difference to offset the others.
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Old 01-28-2015, 02:24 PM
 
483 posts, read 668,441 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemlock140 View Post
That hasn't affected our local school with close to 50 Special Ed students now, and still rated 10. With over 600 students those 50 don't make enough of a difference to offset the others.
Depends on the special ed. students, and the size of the school. Or maybe your school does not test the special ed students-some of the "10's" don't. This is the same technique some states use with the SAT. They have cartain percentages take the test, and some states (like Maine) make it mandatory so their SAT scores look lower-even though they really aren't. In my state everyone generally gets tested, even if they are making random marks on the paper..
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Old 01-28-2015, 06:02 PM
 
1,019 posts, read 1,039,693 times
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greatschools.org has reformatted its site since the last time I visited it. I used to be able to drill down into the test scores at an individual school, to see which % of each subgroup was proficient. Race, sex, economic status, English Language Learner, etc. I don't see that info anymore although maybe I just haven't come across it yet.

My kids are at a "7" school. It's a decent, safe learning environment. My kids have done well. I was somewhat concerned about it when they first started, as it was only ranked a 6, a few years back. But, by looking the data on the population's subsets, I was somewhat reassured regarding the chances of my own kids doing well. Basically, we met none of the risk factors, as reflected in those scores. White girls in a non-economically disadvantage household, with English as their first language. Overall the % of kids who were proficient may have only been 65%, but for our subgroup, it was something like 95%. Which is depressing in itself, to think about all the kids who are beginning life a little further back from the starting line, but it did calm my nerves regarding my own kids.
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Old 01-28-2015, 10:14 PM
 
Location: Chicago - Logan Square
3,396 posts, read 7,192,256 times
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Other than identifying schools that are abysmal or truly stellar, I've found ratings to basically be worthless. Stats like state test scores, graduation rates, and poverty levels can be somewhat useful, but they are a very general indicator at best. You can have two schools with middling scores, but one may have some great programs, and a good track for kids who are doing well.

Ironically I think property values are the best indicator of quality in comparing similar schools. Parents will actually take the time to visit the schools and do much more research than you will, and ultimately they'll show their choice with their purchase.
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Old 01-29-2015, 12:05 AM
 
Location: Sandpoint, Idaho
3,007 posts, read 6,271,122 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by buenos View Post
What school rating is acceptable?
Different people's opinions differ a lot on this topic.

On real-estate websites like Redfin there is a school rating for nearby schools, ranging from 1-10. 5 is average for the State of California. I am planning to buy a home. My choices: decent house in 5-score district or a noisy condo in a 7-8-score district.

Some people say anything below 7-8 is very bad, others say anything below 9 is bad.
I have a feeling that relying on these ratings might mean something like: If you have a child with low IQ, but you buy a $2M house to get your kid into a "9" school then your kid will have around 7-9 test scores. Meaning that a stupid kid would get ok/good results in a very strong school, while the same stupid kid would get bad grades if he/she was surrounded with similar capability children. What if your kid is not stupid but above average? Would he/she need a high scored school, would a smart kid get low grades in an average school? It's like "my kid is so stupid, he needs special help".
I am an engineer, I graduated from a very strong uni with Msc, would only marry someone intelligent. then I expect my kids to inherit good mental skills too. Would they have any prospects in a "5" score school? By the way I cannot afford to buy a home in a 7-10 school district. In the Silicon Valley today (January 2015) only someone from senior management or a crony or layer/doctor/investor can afford to move into a 7-10 school district.
How bad is a "5" score public school?

In Europe we didn't have these school districts/realestate linkage, at least not for highschool level. Middleschool students had to write an SAT to get into a chosen highschool (then travelled across town every day), they were not assigned to a highschool based on residence like here in the US.
Also in every class there were students ranging from stupid to genius.

what do you think?
If you allow yourself a moment, I am sure you will agree that a single number is utterly meaningless. In fact, while better, an array of numbers can only tell you so much. Missing are the qualitative data as well as abilities to understand what school actually teaches and how that curriculum and school might grow your child.

Sometimes, the schools with fairly low great school ratings have special funding attached and truly angelic teachers. For some kids, these schools are loads better than schools filled with type-A kids and their helicopter parents. In such environs, some kids will wilt.

No need to bring up Europe vs. the US. The US has 50 states and 320 million people and Europe is much the same, though with different nation flags.

Do real due diligence, or your kids will pay the price.

S.
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Old 01-29-2015, 07:24 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,464,273 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinawina View Post
School ratings are not the most solid way to evaluate a school. It's more like a rough estimate.

They are usually based on test scores and that correlates heavily with income.

I agree you need to look at the percentage of kids on free lunch and take that into consideration, since that often impacts scores. Also look at what kinds of programs they offer for kids (anything for gifted students? arts and music? sports? aftercare programs?), level of parent involvement (is there a strong, active PTA?) and read the comments left by parents on various websites. Also ask around, preferably to people who have direct experience with the school.
I agree, this is key, especially as kids move into middle/high school. Test scores are almost directly related to SES, so high scores tell you it's an affluent neighborhood. That said, schools in such neighborhoods tend to offer lost of the above and have involved parents. So, however, do schools in less affluent neighborhoods, so you have to look around.

Quote:
Originally Posted by grilba View Post
Sometimes perfectly good schools within a district that seem to have wonky scores are the ones housing the special education students who still have to take the tests.
Yes, that came up in a discussion on my city board about a particular school. They're an ELL magnet, and their test scores are lower.

For the OP, I'd buy what you want and not worry about the school. Don't worry so much about resale. School rankings change, too. It could be by the time you sell, the neighborhood school is ranked higher (or lower, who knows?).
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Old 02-01-2015, 02:11 PM
 
Location: Florida
2,026 posts, read 2,759,626 times
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Littlebit off-topic:

In one part of the Bay Area where all schools historically had low 4-5 ratings for many years, now in the last 2 weeks rating points of several schools in the region jumped into the 7-9 range. Same time the bidding wars at home sales stared in the area. Maybe something suspicious is happening here? How can ratings of multiple schools jump so much overnight?
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Old 02-02-2015, 10:00 AM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,707 posts, read 79,573,186 times
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This is not really something you cna just look up an number online and say "That school is better" Even the various rating groups use very different criteria. Our local school is rated a+ or top ten in the state in some ratings, it is much lower in others.

If you really want to evaluate a school, you have to start by setting your criteria. What matters to you? Ap programs? Gate programs? diversity? Number of books in the library? number of teachers with advanced degrees? test scores? success of kids who went to that school? atmosphere? excessive competitiveness? bullying? physical facilities? athletics? Do you care how much test scores improved in the last five years? Does it matter to you whether the school has an excellent program for educating kids with autism?

A school may get high marks or marked down for any of these things and others. Thus, the numbers tell you nothing unless you know what they measured and what data the found.

Once you figure out what is important to you, then you can start review various ratings and polls. See which criteria they applied. The overall rating means nothing really, but the data for some of the criteria may be helpful to you.

Then go visit. Walk around if you can. Observe the playground, or even a class if practical. talk to the principal and a couple of teachers.

Go walk aorund the neighborhood. Talk to some parents at the school. What do they think? Just remember you may by chance happen to hit on the one or two negative nellies or rose colored glasses people, so the more you talk to, the better.

Keep in mind it can make a huge difference which teacher your child gets. All schools have excellent and terrible teachers. Unfortunately, you have no say in this and this can matter far more than which school you choose.

Every kid is going to be different. Some kids need a strong atheistic program, other music, others strictly academics. You may find one school ideal for one of your kids and less than ideal for the other(s).
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