If renting or buying, it pays to be attentive to school scores and if you are a parent this knowledge may help with your child’s education. www.mccormacks.com
School scores, countless studies have shown, correlate closely to family and neighborhood income. High income … high scores, middle … middling scores, low … low scores.
This correlation frequently gets mangled to mean that the rich buy their children a good education and that if you don’t have money, your children may receive an inferior education. www.mccormacks.com
Money certainly helps. It purchases books, tutors, trips to Renaissance cities, SAT prepping and more. Good old money!
But if you don’t have money or if you have little, you can still secure your children a good education. As a first step, you should understand the scores and what they imply. www.mccormacks.com
Even if you don’t have children, the scores can help. You want to buy a condo close to your job in a safe neighborhood. Take a look at the rankings of the schools. A school that scores low may indicate that the neighborhood has many dropouts who may be tempted into mischief. You might skip this neighborhood or look within it for a complex that has gates and guards.
Attendance Zones
Almost all schools have clearly delineated attendance zones. The exceptions, which we will mention later, are important. www.mccormacks.com
For most people, the local school, through its children, contains a representative sample of the residents. The scores, in a rough way, suggest the social composition and educational energy of the neighborhood.
School Profiles
Here are scores from California high schools that represent the makeup at public schools in general. www.mccormacks.com
School A. Located in an upper-middle to rich town. Overall scores in the 95th percentile, the top 5 percent in the state. Math SAT, low 600s. Statewide, only about 35 schools annually break the 600 math mark. Note that 4 percent of the school is scoring below the 25th percentile, and 10 percent between the 25th and 50th percentile. Nature bestows its gifts randomly. Academic or rich parents don’t always produce academic children.
School B. Located in a middle to upper-middle town. Scores in the 70th and 80th percentile, top 25 percent of state. Math SAT, 540s. www.mccormacks.com
School C. Middle income, scores about 50th- percentile. Math SAT 520s. About 28 percent of the students are scoring above the 75th percentile.
School D. Low middle, scores about the 30th percentile. Math SAT about 500 to 510. About 13 percent of the school is scoring above the 75th percentile. www.mccormacks.com
School E. Low scoring, scores in the 10th to 20th percentile. Math SAT 370s-400s. About 4 percent above the 75th percentile.
As the charts show, every school has students scoring across the spectrum. The difference is the proportion. The high scoring … many students placing in the top percentiles, the low … few. The rest in between. www.mccormacks.com
These differences correspond to college attendance. As one rough measure, admission rates to the University of California, which takes the top 12 percent of high-school grads in the state.
The affluent high school will advance 20 to 30 percent of its seniors to a UC. www.mccormacks.com
The middle and upper middle, 7 to 12 percent, the low, about 5 percent, the lowest, 3 percent.
All schools will graduate students into California State Universities, which accept the top third of state students, and to community colleges. The top schools will send many students to private universities, the others, a few. www.mccormacks.com
See detailed local scores in School Scores and How Public Schools Work.
