All Bay Area School Districts by 2010 API Score

[Mr. Fantastic]

Originally Posted by jade408

Excel High is a special case; it is a different sort of charter school: Oakland: EXCEL High School (http://www.msdf.org/success_stories/Archive/Oakland_EXCEL_High_School.aspx - broken link)

Progress there should be measured in improvements, not absolute performance since it is starting out (intentionally) with the most disadvantages students. It is hard to succeed in high school with out a proper foundations in the years leading up to high school.

Can you name one school district in the state without a budget deficit?

Oakland has been making progress during tough times, and should be applauded.

EXCEL High School shows that there is a big variance in the quality of schools within Oakland. I'd rather have a school district with lots of very good schools all around, than a school district with a few great schools, but lots of crappy schools all around.

That being said I think the progress Oakland has made is a positive thing.
But let's not paint Oakland like it's a rockstar school district. OUSD still graduates less people than the U.S average as a whole, and even less than Iraqi schools, which I found stunning. OUSD has a long way to go before people consider the school district competent.

[BayDude]

I wish they made those improvements when I was in high school only 6 years ago.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by Mr. Fantastic

EXCEL High School shows that there is a big variance in the quality of schools within Oakland. I'd rather have a school district with lots of very good schools all around, than a school district with a few great schools, but lots of crappy schools all around.

EXCEL High isn't a regular high school. It's targeting the most disadvantaged students in the district. Just like you say "charter schools don't count" in the school ratings, this school should be excluded as well, since it is a charter school for disadvantaged students.

Sadly, I am not shocked that some "third world" countries have higher graduations rates than we do in the US. Some areas of the country are essentially third world. And they way we treat our urban school districts is atrocious.

[Mr. Fantastic]

Originally Posted by jade408

Just like you say "charter schools don't count" in the school ratings, this school should be excluded as well, since it is a charter school for disadvantaged students.

If you exclude charter schools, Oakland's dropout rate is above 50%. That makes it worse than many third world countries.

[baybook]

Hi Jade. Please` don't feed the trolls.

Originally Posted by jade408

EXCEL High isn't a regular high school. It's targeting the most disadvantaged students in the district. Just like you say "charter schools don't count" in the school ratings, this school should be excluded as well, since it is a charter school for disadvantaged students.

Sadly, I am not shocked that some "third world" countries have higher graduations rates than we do in the US. Some areas of the country are essentially third world. And they way we treat our urban school districts is atrocious.

[batransplant]

My daughter will be attending this elementary school in 21/2 years.

Reed Union(Marin) 953...+14 points

It is ranked #6 best elementary school district in the bay area. :-)

I love this area, not only is it gorgeous, amazing scenery and views, super close to SF, and clean air, the schools are also top rated.

[Taboo2]

It is funny, Marin County currently has few left over hippies but far too many yuppies. I worked with so many snobs who came from back east or socal and landed in Marin, it is nothing like it used to be. They latched onto Marin but then they whine about the lack of public transit. WAH.

There are many nice schools throughout the Bay Area, I really wonder why some districts perform so poorly. It cannot ALL be the parents. Bad parents are not congregating in Oakland and Hayward. So what is their problem?

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by Taboo2

It is funny, Marin County currently has few left over hippies but far too many yuppies. I worked with so many snobs who came from back east or socal and landed in Marin, it is nothing like it used to be. They latched onto Marin but then they whine about the lack of public transit. WAH.

There are many nice schools throughout the Bay Area, I really wonder why some districts perform so poorly. It cannot ALL be the parents. Bad parents are not congregating in Oakland and Hayward. So what is their problem?

I think it's a percentage thing. If say, 90% of the kids in the school have attentive parents that value education..have high expectations then the school's performance will show this.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of good teachers out there, but if they're working in a school where say, only 70% of children come from this type of environment, then the school's performance will not show this. The 30% of poorer performing students will drag the test scores down...sometimes WAY down. Of course it's not to dismiss that there are some crappy teachers out there too (I think everyone that's ever attended school knows this!)

I used to live next door to a retired Superintendent of schools when I lived up in Sac. I had been concerned that there wasn't enough space for my kid at the higher performing neighborhood school. She told me that if your child comes from a family that has expectations and is eager to succeed, then it doesn't matter- success isn't measured by school indexes..it's the individual is what counts. She's seen children from some of the lowest performing schools become valedictorians, etc. in college. The children that have done well for themselves were destined to do so.

Still...no parent is eager to send their kids to a "lower performing school" because of fear that your child will not learn anything! It's difficult as a parent to completely trust her theory that kids will be fine if they attend a crap school!

I agree with you about Marin...certainly has changed into snootyville over the years. Extremely materialistic and show offy feel to the place. Hippies are all still concentrated in Bolinas and it's good that they try to keep all the yups out by keeping it low key. I do love Pt. Reyes and the coastal drives though- stunning!

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by clongirl

I used to live next door to a retired Superintendent of schools when I lived up in Sac. I had been concerned that there wasn't enough space for my kid at the higher performing neighborhood school. She told me that if your child comes from a family that has expectations and is eager to succeed, then it doesn't matter- success isn't measured by school indexes..it's the individual is what counts. She's seen children from some of the lowest performing schools become valedictorians, etc. in college. The children that have done well for themselves were destined to do so.

There is some truth to this... I know parents that have strategically placed their child in a Oakland Public School because they had a better shot of getting into the top Universities just by being the top at their High School.

There are guidelines giving top students and edge from all Public Schools.

I work with Doctors, Administrators and RN's that graduated from Oakland High Schools and not all of them went to Skyline... one graduated from Castlemont 20 years ago...

In every case it was the Parental figure that factored into their success... both parents, a single parent and even a Grandparent.

[Mr. Fantastic]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

In every case it was the Parental figure that factored into their success... both parents, a single parent and even a Grandparent.

Hey, someone gets it.