Escondido (and North County) School Analysis
Apparently, we have attained Lake Woebegone status, where all children are above average!
Reporting on the latest API scores, the North County Times page one headlines above the fold proclaim, “Most North County students outpacing their peers on test scores.”
That certainly is placing the best face on the actual numbers. When it comes to “ranking,” the experts are on the sports page where statistics are a way of life. I do not recall any headline saying “Padres above average” – because in all sports the criteria is comparison against the best. The Padres, Chargers, whomever, are x number of games behind the best. Being “above average” or even “above .500” is a feel-good aside, and absolutely meaningless.
The average in California education is none too good by every measure, so being “better than average” is a measurement against a highly diminished standard.
In the one page of statistical data of North County schools, the “best” is the Gold Standard set by the Poway Unified School District (PUSD). The PUSD is not the best school district in the state – not even the highest scoring school district in the County – but overall in North County it probably is the best we have. (Actually Del Mar Union and San Dieguito Union High both are perfect on exceeding the announced numerical standard, but they are much
smaller.)
Comparing other school districts against the PUSD is a simple mathematical matter because the State has declared a school API score of 800 as the minimum goal for every school in California. PUSD has 29 regular schools, of which 27 exceed the 800 standard. The Escondido Union High and Elementary districts combined have 25 regular schools, of which only five exceed the 800 standard. Vista’s combined regular schools number 23, of which only two exceed the 800 standard. Oceanside has 24 regular schools, and only five exceed the 800 minimum standard. At the top end of the smaller districts, San Dieguito Union High District has seven regular schools and all seven exceed the 800 standard, while Del Mar Union Elementary has six regular schools and not only do all six exceed 800, but five of them exceed 900! (1,000 is “perfect.”)
At the bottom end of the small school district scale is Valley Center/Pauma Unified and the Ramona City Unified, with seven and eight regular schools respectively. The Ramona district has one school above the 800 mark; Valley Center/Pauma has none.
There is a lot of chaff placed in the statistics as a bow to political correctness, and there are separate scores and rankings “adjusted” for socio-economic and ethnic factors. Again, turning to the sports pages for guidance, sports and business each representing more “real life” experiences than does academia, it is easy to determine that PC scoring is pap. Sports rankings are not scored in baseball by factoring in bad childhood, or English-speaking. Fortune 500 rankings are not adjusted for ethnic hiring.
No one adjusts…just academia.
The pure numbers are there for anyone to see, but, admittedly, most people will only read the headlines – and headlines do not always represent the impact of any article, and in some cases an article does not represent the facts. Journalists are not necessarily experts in education (or anything else), and almost certainly are not experts in reading statistical reviews – particularly statistical reviews encumbered with ethnic and socio-economic garbage.
I urge everyone to read the numbers, and not take the spin assigned by whatever educator happens to be within earshot. There are always people who can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig. Remember that there are good schools in bad districts, and bad schools in good districts.
In the end, your child only attends one school, and there are many criteria by which to select that school. API numbers are only one criteria, but it is a useful shorthand to assess one measurable aspect of the selection analysis.
Reporting on the latest API scores, the North County Times page one headlines above the fold proclaim, “Most North County students outpacing their peers on test scores.”
That certainly is placing the best face on the actual numbers. When it comes to “ranking,” the experts are on the sports page where statistics are a way of life. I do not recall any headline saying “Padres above average” – because in all sports the criteria is comparison against the best. The Padres, Chargers, whomever, are x number of games behind the best. Being “above average” or even “above .500” is a feel-good aside, and absolutely meaningless.
The average in California education is none too good by every measure, so being “better than average” is a measurement against a highly diminished standard.
In the one page of statistical data of North County schools, the “best” is the Gold Standard set by the Poway Unified School District (PUSD). The PUSD is not the best school district in the state – not even the highest scoring school district in the County – but overall in North County it probably is the best we have. (Actually Del Mar Union and San Dieguito Union High both are perfect on exceeding the announced numerical standard, but they are much
smaller.)
Comparing other school districts against the PUSD is a simple mathematical matter because the State has declared a school API score of 800 as the minimum goal for every school in California. PUSD has 29 regular schools, of which 27 exceed the 800 standard. The Escondido Union High and Elementary districts combined have 25 regular schools, of which only five exceed the 800 standard. Vista’s combined regular schools number 23, of which only two exceed the 800 standard. Oceanside has 24 regular schools, and only five exceed the 800 minimum standard. At the top end of the smaller districts, San Dieguito Union High District has seven regular schools and all seven exceed the 800 standard, while Del Mar Union Elementary has six regular schools and not only do all six exceed 800, but five of them exceed 900! (1,000 is “perfect.”)
At the bottom end of the small school district scale is Valley Center/Pauma Unified and the Ramona City Unified, with seven and eight regular schools respectively. The Ramona district has one school above the 800 mark; Valley Center/Pauma has none.
There is a lot of chaff placed in the statistics as a bow to political correctness, and there are separate scores and rankings “adjusted” for socio-economic and ethnic factors. Again, turning to the sports pages for guidance, sports and business each representing more “real life” experiences than does academia, it is easy to determine that PC scoring is pap. Sports rankings are not scored in baseball by factoring in bad childhood, or English-speaking. Fortune 500 rankings are not adjusted for ethnic hiring.
No one adjusts…just academia.
The pure numbers are there for anyone to see, but, admittedly, most people will only read the headlines – and headlines do not always represent the impact of any article, and in some cases an article does not represent the facts. Journalists are not necessarily experts in education (or anything else), and almost certainly are not experts in reading statistical reviews – particularly statistical reviews encumbered with ethnic and socio-economic garbage.
I urge everyone to read the numbers, and not take the spin assigned by whatever educator happens to be within earshot. There are always people who can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig. Remember that there are good schools in bad districts, and bad schools in good districts.
In the end, your child only attends one school, and there are many criteria by which to select that school. API numbers are only one criteria, but it is a useful shorthand to assess one measurable aspect of the selection analysis.
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