School rankings, how accurate are they? (incentive, fees, property tax, HOA)
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San Diego County. I find it fascinating how people are driven out into the suburbs and pay absurdly high HOA/Mello Roos fees on top of already high property taxes so they can get their kids into what are commonly viewed as the best schools which are given rankings from what my understanding are based only on test scores.
A friend who is a teacher was telling me there's a lot of politics involved and sometimes more "prestigious" schools funnel their special ed kids into other schools which bring down said schools rankings, and that a school ranked as a 7 isn't necessarily worse than a 9 or a 10.
I'm curious to hear from people who are more familiar school systems as to how accurate these rankings actually are.
My understanding is that school rankings are a good reflection of the kids test taking skills and may have little correlation to the quality of education any particular child is receiving. They do not always tell the whole picture.
The best way to know about a school is to talk to parents. Even then, you just never know.
For instance, 1.5 years ago we pulled our girls out of their school because we found their teachers to be nearly verbally abusive to certain kids. The head teacher made terrible grammar errors in writing and in speech. Math concepts were not being fully taught (what little math they did). We were horrified. Just found out - that teacher was just named Teacher of the Year. Go figure.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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For the most part the school rankings are a good indication that the area has well-educated parents that care about their children's education, provide motivation and help to them, and are active in the PTSA. It doesn't always tell the whole story, however. We have moved twice in order to get our kids into better schools, and in both cases the decision was not based on reviews, but on visits to the schools, meeting the principal and teachers, even observing a classroom. Before buying a home in another area we have even gone to school board meetings which can be very revealing.
At one point, the school test score rankings were a reasonable indicator. But, that changed about 15-years ago, when the heavy emphasis on test scores for teachers, schools and students alike, made everything else almost irrelevant. Soon, there were so many "A" schools (based on schools teaching only 'the test'), that one had to figure out which of the "A" schools were actually "good schools".
Today, one wonders how the students from these 'test-teaching' schools are doing in mainstream colleges and careers. Does this have something to do with the many college grads, who 'can't' seem to find jobs 'simply because they have a degree'?
My wife was a Principal for many years. Her 'take' is that the "tests" pretty much encompass the core curriculum ... so that 'teaching the test', indirectly becomes teaching the curriculum.' I'm not so sure (?) - It seems like a circular path to education, designed by people who hold the purse-strings, but, lack real-world, hands-on education experience. (My wife doesn't disagree with that).
A friend who is a teacher was telling me there's a lot of politics involved and sometimes more "prestigious" schools funnel their special ed kids into other schools which bring down said schools rankings, and that a school ranked as a 7 isn't necessarily worse than a 9 or a 10.
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I guess that all depends where you live. MY area and School district (in WA) the grades achieved by students in gifted programs go to the school that gave up the student thus ensuring the schools have no motivation to hang on to them and even have an incentive to place them where they can achieve the most...
But school ranking do matter, the higher the ranking the more interfering busy body moms will move to the catchment zone, which of course results in fund raising and lots of free labor to support programs .
A good example is my local public K-5 the parents fund a bunch of programs, provide upgrades and equipment and actually pay for a non staff art teacher... They meet their funding goal the first week of school each year and run a surplus that never dips below 100k....
To me a school with a 7 that has a more mixed demographic is a better school than one with a 9 or 10 that is not mixed. It is much easier to teach kids who have parents that have the means to support their learning. It takes great teachers and schools to take a mixed economic demographic and do well. Teachers that have the skills to figure out how to reach all sorts of students are superior teachers, IMO.
They are accurate as far as test scores. They may or may not reflect the actual quality of the school as a whole, the teaching, the enrichment programs that are available, etc.
I think the 9-10 schools don't just "ship their problems to another school". Our school has resources for intervention which gives special help to the kids falling behind the rest of the class, but not so far behind that they qualify for an IEP or Special Ed. We had to fight hard to keep that resource from being cut, but the help has been incredible.
And as someone else mentioned, a 9-10 ranked school probably is located in an area where there is a lot of parent involvement and emphasis on school - which can provide a better learning environment for the child.
People move all the time to get their kids into better schools.
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