2011-12 API scores out

[Rhett]

Hot off the press:

http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/Acnt2012/2011Base_Co.aspx?cYear=&cSelect=37,SAN,DIEGO

I’m curious how Doyle Elementary (our daughter’s school if we had chosen that route) pulled this off:

Base Year Score
2005 883
2006 884
2007 878
2008 884
2009 878
2010 912
2011 932

[UCGal]

Just to clarify – these are for the school year prior to this, right?

2011 would be the 2010/2011 year?

So we have another year to wait to find out how well the schools are ranked for the year that just ended?

I’ve been pretty public that I pulled my son from a high API school to a lower one – and had his education step up significantly because of the specific program (seminar) that he was in. My younger son is making the move this year.

API scores are not the end all/be all. But they do help property values. 🙂

[sdrealtor]

I think its kinda cool that San Elijo Hills Elementary is right there with all the Carmel Valley schools (except Sage and Ocean Air which are 20 pts higher than the rest).

[ocrenter]

How did the school lose 50 students in 3 years? Essentially 1/8 of the student body disappeared within 3 years? We’re they busing kids in before, now they are not any more?

API is just another way to look at demographics. Somehow within the last 3 years the demographics changed. Either a bunch of apartments are now asigned to another school, or they stopped busing in kids, hats my best guess.

[Anonymous]

How do you read the numbers?

My kids’ school got a 912.

Is that a good score, or do I need to move an expensive neighborhood in San Diego County?

[sdrealtor]

In general over 900 is a very good school. Excellent scores are over 925. Over 950 generally puts you in the top tier category (typically Top 10 +/-).

[Coronita]

[quote=harvey]How do you read the numbers?

My kids’ school got a 912.

Is that a good score, or do I need to move an expensive neighborhood in San Diego County?[/quote]

Well, that depends if you feel your kid helped prop up the 912 or if you feel your kid brought the average down 🙂

[Coronita]

[quote=sdrealtor]I think its kinda cool that San Elijo Hills Elementary is right there with all the Carmel Valley schools (except Sage and Ocean Air which are 20 pts higher than the rest).[/quote]

damnit damnit… Now I know definitely know it’s not the schools, but the lack of walls that sells carmel valley..
Lack of walls, man!!!!!

[Rhett]

[quote=ocrenter]How did the school lose 50 students in 3 years? Essentially 1/8 of the student body disappeared within 3 years? We’re they busing kids in before, now they are not any more?

API is just another way to look at demographics. Somehow within the last 3 years the demographics changed. Either a bunch of apartments are now asigned to another school, or they stopped busing in kids, hats my best guess.[/quote]

The boundaries around here have not changed in a decade. Doyle’s predominant demographic is children of UCSD graduate students, post doctorates, and staff renting in the area. I.e. kids from educated families with little money (thus a high qualification for reduced price lunches).

At some point in time, I discovered a way to obtain spreadsheets of very detailed enrollment statistics for any school in San Diego Unified. Doyle’s reduction in students was almost entirely due to accepting fewer choice (transfer) students. In Doyle’s defense, they were simply too damned big – over 900 students at their peak. Many grade schools in San Diego Unified are not even half that size.

[Essbee]

Interesting. I’m pretty happy to have just bought in South 4S Ranch with the following:

Stone Ranch Elementary 963 10 / 7

Also, Del Norte now has the top scores in PUSD.
(Admittedly, this is all splitting hairs and my kids will not be in HS for 12 more years or so…)
And yes, I realize that schools in La Jolla and Carmel Valley are a bit higher. 🙂

I’m a bit confused by the whole “statewide rank” and “similar schools rank.”
I guess the first compares you to all schools, and the second compares you to schools with a similar demographic or income.

But here’s where I get confused:

Rancho Santa Fe Elementary School District:
R. Roger Rowe Elemntary: 951 10 / 10

I am really interested that it has a 10 in similar schools with a score of 951, while my local school has a 7 in similar schools with a score of 963.

Does this imply that the demographics of 4S are in a higher category by some measurement (surely not income!) than the demographics or RSF?

Or, if it is income-based, does it mean that the kids of top income earners statewide (RSF and similar areas) actually have a lower average score than the kids of upper middle class professional types who live in 4S?

[Essbee]

Interesting also how Pacific Rim Elementary in Carlsbad gets a 975, which I think puts it at somewhere about #5 countywide.

My grandfather lives very near Pacific Rim in a very large community of townhouses(Poinsettia/Batiquitos area). Demographically, that townhouse area seems very middle class and there are also several apartment complexes nearby.

I’m surprised that the score is so high. Granted, there are also lots of $million+ homes especially south of Poinsettia, so I wonder if they also feed into Pacific Rim Elementary. What makes this school so successful?

[ocrenter]

[quote=Rhett][quote=ocrenter]How did the school lose 50 students in 3 years? Essentially 1/8 of the student body disappeared within 3 years? We’re they busing kids in before, now they are not any more?

API is just another way to look at demographics. Somehow within the last 3 years the demographics changed. Either a bunch of apartments are now asigned to another school, or they stopped busing in kids, hats my best guess.[/quote]

The boundaries around here have not changed in a decade. Doyle’s predominant demographic is children of UCSD graduate students, post doctorates, and staff renting in the area. I.e. kids from educated families with little money (thus a high qualification for reduced price lunches).

At some point in time, I discovered a way to obtain spreadsheets of very detailed enrollment statistics for any school in San Diego Unified. Doyle’s reduction in students was almost entirely due to accepting fewer choice (transfer) students. In Doyle’s defense, they were simply too damned big – over 900 students at their peak. Many grade schools in San Diego Unified are not even half that size.[/quote]

so we do have a very good explanation of why the API rose.

once again, API changed only due to demographic change (in this case removal of transfer students).

[an]

[quote=ocrenter]so we do have a very good explanation of why the API rose.

once again, API changed only due to demographic change (in this case removal of transfer students).[/quote]
I totally agree, API has a lot more to do with demographic than how well a school educate the kids. I personally think, as long as the school is ranked 8+ (in HS), it should have enough students in AP level classes to keep the classes full and all the AP classes to be available. It’s only when you drop to the lower API schools, where you might not have enough AP level students to keep all AP classes full. Which would have a higher chance of AP class being canceled due to low interest.

Based on my own experiences and seeing my cousins who just graduated HS this year, students taking AP classes tend to hang out with each other. So, even if you go to a school with API score of a 1, you’ll see the valedictorians and AP students hang out with each others. So, I’d only use API score to gauge the availability of AP classes and the amount of students that are capable of taking those AP classes. I wouldn’t read too much more into it.

[teacherSD]

[quote=AN]

Based on my own experiences and seeing my cousins who just graduated HS this year, students taking AP classes tend to hang out with each other.[/quote]

As an AP teacher I can assure you this is correct for most students, not just your cousins. Oftentimes AP kids will play the same sports together and tend to date other AP kids.

When my own kids are old enough for high school I’ll want them to be in AP classes just so they’ll hopefully have a better peer group.

[poorgradstudent]

[quote=AN]I totally agree, API has a lot more to do with demographic than how well a school educate the kids. I personally think, as long as the school is ranked 8+ (in HS), it should have enough students in AP level classes to keep the classes full and all the AP classes to be available. It’s only when you drop to the lower API schools, where you might not have enough AP level students to keep all AP classes full. Which would have a higher chance of AP class being canceled due to low interest.[/quote]
Yep.

I find the fact API scores are 3 digits to be tremendously misleading. The difference between a 904 and a 954 is not tremendous. A good student will thrive at either of those hypothetical schools, and a screw-up will still screw-up. The only value that is truly interesting is the “Similar Schools Rank”. Carlsbad schools, for example, tend to have high API scores, but much lower Similar Schools scores; they aren’t doing as much with the material they’re being given compared to a lot of similar schools. Fallbrook has the opposite effect; a lot of its schools overperform relative to similar schools.

Poway District, despite having a sterling reputation, is actually quite mediocre compared to other similar schools. RB High and Westview High in particular have high API scores, but are relatively weak compared to similar schools. If you just look at API you might say “Those are good schools”, but there’s actually a decent chance if you took your student out of there and put them elsewhere they’d actually do better.

[Author]

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