San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

It would have helped if I actually typed the site...

http://www.sdcoe.net/boundaries.asp

SD Realtor

thanks SD, very helpful! Any tips on interpreting those school "grade cards" (i think that's what they're called). I look at them and its really hard to tell what's meaningful.
I'd really like to know the percentage of kids who go onto a 4 year college from most of the north county high schools. Is there a way to find this info?

-nicole
new house hunter

nicole,
When you read the reports, you really need to look into the demographic breakdowns. The highest ranked schools tend to have the strongest demographics with fewer lower socio-economic students pulling the averages down. Good kids with involved parents should do well at any of the schools around here. However, if you are very concerned with whom your kids attend school with, look at the demographics.

sdr

Nicole,

This site is a good start.

http://www.greatschools.net/

selfportrait

----- Sour grapes for everyone!

Alot of people have made many posts here about the sites that give really good insights into the rankings of schools and such. That information is super helpful. Many times buyers look at homes first and then ask about which school district those home will fall into. One thing that may be helpful is to figure out which school you want to go to and then base your home search on that.

Anyways I have seen alot of good posts regarding sites that you can go to so that you can compare the qualities of the schools. Hopefully more people will add those to this thread.

SD Realtor

sdr- yeah, it just seems so wrong to look at demographics....i know that that reality is the the % of student who go onto 4 year colleges is a reflection of demographics (unfortunately). I would gladly sacrifice test school averages to send my (potential) kids to a school with more diversity if I knew that the vast majority of kids from that school go on to college. I guess I'm having pipe dreams again....

-nicole
new house hunter

That's a good one, fat, thanks. thanks for the sorry grapes too.

-nicole
new house hunter

sdr is right....slice it any way you want, it all comes down to demographics and % economically disadvantaged. Those two metrics will tell you all you need to know about the schools. Test scores are simply an outcome of those two inputs.

Here is the best website for find the such. Look under "Classroom Profile" for each school. Good luck.

http://www.schoolmatters.com/

http://www.schoolmatters.com/schools.aspx/q/page=sr/txt=san$sp;diego/ust=CA/so=0/sc=3/fltr_nb=High?ctxt=san%20diego%20%20%2CCA

Mira Mesa High scores very well for a blue collar neighborhood. Actually it has higher "math score" than Scripps Ranch High.

If you click on the school name, you will find the percentage of adult with BS. Assuming that the numbers are correct. La Jolla is only at 38% which is similar to Mira Mesa but Westview has about 50% of adults with BS.

ADDED LATER--NEVER MIND, I think these numbers are probably inaccurate. The 38.9% of adults with BS is probably a city wide number and apparently it is used for many areas including La Jolla and Mira Mesa.

I'm always amazed at people who say they "want diversity" but are averse to sending their kids to school with kids who are in a different SES bracket. True diversity is about different cultural, linguistic and personal experiences not just about the way someone looks (ala black, hispanic or asian). The fact is, if someone has a 6 figure income and a very good education and is black, they probably are not very different than their white neighbors. Where's the diversity in this?

Go to the "2006-2007 Accountability Progress Report (APR) for the county of San Diego:

http://tinyurl.com/54ed2q

You'll find a list of all the distrcts and all the schools in those distrcts (may take a few mins to download). Click on a school you are interested in and when that school comes up click on the "demographics"

The best predictor of college is whether parents went to college and this will tell you the percent of parents in that school who graduated from college. It is also interesting to see what percent of parents responded - there are many interesting details that say a lot about the schools.

Read into the information what you want, but when I saw that my neighborhood school only had 22% parent college graduates (plus a few other details) I opted out, and my kids attend a charter school.

Dear stop_the_bubble

Perhaps I was not clear, I am trying to balance the importance of strong college prep with the importance diversity of SES.

I've devoted much of my life to improving my understanding of this very complex issues, it effects me everyday. I assure you that your definitions are not necessary, and furthermore they were someone insulting.

I'll have to assume that I left myself open to it given the simplicity of my word choice, but it still makes my skin crawls when I sense some one is talking down to me.

-nicole
new house hunter

Nicole,

"diversity" imho is overrated. You want diversity, send your kids to UC Berkeley. Then after all said and done, he/she could end up either a great scientist, a great lawyer, a great biz person, a great doctor, or a wannabe hippy, or the unabomber.

Seriously though, I wouldn't be actively seeking "diversity". When it's all said and done, people are people, doesn't really matter what multi-cultures bring to the table imho. If you live here, you speaka american, you live american, you talk american.

We don't speak the queen's english, heck we don't even speak the aussie English. We spell say color instead of colour, flavor instead of flavour. I guess it could be worse, we could suffix everything with "ehh", like our brothers to the north. Yes, I know some of us need to become aware is there is another country to the north of us...We use our measurement system instead of the metric system, of which even the UK has now pretty much abandoned. Heck, some folks don't even know the difference between SAE and metric, and end up stripping bolts by using metric wrenches and SAE applications and vice versus. Rather than think about 1 to 100, we think from 32 to 212, and since most of us suck at math, we can't figure out when we're traveling abroad what (F degrees -32) *5/9 in our heads is with whipping out the graphing calculators and laptops we buy from China to cheat on our calc BC exams. We pioneered the fashion of jeans that look like they've been through a tug-a-war. We've figured out how to land on the moon, but can't figure out how to prevent accidentally delivering nuke heads to Taiwan and not noticing for months, until the Taiwanese ship the delivery back to us. We spends hundreds of dollars on gym membership, but yet spend 15-20 minutes driving around a parking lot trying to find the closest parking space, even in a clear sunny day. We're deep in debt, yet we find the generosity and compasion to help other desolate countries in terms of volunteerism, philantrophy, etc.

And yet despite all the quicks and all the things that make you go WTF, you find that on thing that's different about this country from all the rest. Americans are creative, they're individuals. It's probably why you still see so many nobel prize winners from america, why some of the best athletes are still from america, and despite what some may think, one of the best places to live. It's why you can do chinese one night, italian the next, mexican next, and french the other day ( yes, I'm talking about food, and not relationship conquests). It's why in in this current election year, you have a three way race between a woman, an african american (though he's really not african american), and a senior citizen that refuses to retire. And while folks might not like all the candidates, you have to say it's pretty "diverse" this time around.

That said, I think the only thing you really need to teach your kids about "diversity" is respect. Respect for people being different, respect other people's customs and idiosyncracies (I can't spell. Heck I'm american). And more importantly, respect for our freedoms that occasionally we take for granted.

selfportrait

----- Sour grapes for everyone!

Nicole,

Sorry you took offense. None was intended. I was simply stating that I hear a lot of rhetoric about people wanting to expose their kids to diversity but only focusing on the obvious diverse characteristics in people (e.g. race, ethnicity). Diversity is much much more than race and encompasses cultural values, personal experiences, etc. These experiences and values are more likely to look the same in a college educated family making 6 figures regardless of race.

True diversity embraces socio economic differences, linguistic differences and cultural/exposure differences. So finding the school that is "diverse" with 9xx API scores, 70% of parents who are college graduates and a mix of races is not true diversity.

I hope this clears it up.

Dear stopthebubble
Your point is well taken however I am still unclear if you think that I am looking for a school with children all from the same SES, I am simply looking for information I can use to make the decision. I took offense to the implication that I did not understand the concept of diversity and that I needed a definition from you (perhaps I'm overly sensitive - it wouldn't be the first time).

I understand your point and completely agree with it, I just think it doesn't really relate to my conflict. Perhaps you can help me understand how your point helps me with my conflict which is feeling like I must chose between wanting a strong college prep curriculum AND wanting true diversity.

-nicole
new house hunter

Coolngreen now 699K

Thanks SD- did I tell you we went to look at it? If we could get it at a really good price we'd consider it. It had a ton of upgrades which were great but the master bedroom was really small and without the type of master bath space I like.

Overall however, my husband really loved the home. I guess the master bath isn't such a big deal for him. We're considering putting in an offer, but still think the price is high. We'd get a lot more house for less money if we wait for the Jerrilynn house. We're still undecided, but may very well put an offer in at coolngreen. We loved the neighborhood.

-nicole
new house hunter

FLU- Brilliant commentary, especially about parking spaces.