Why arent there more high scoring schools in the IE?

[that1guy]

It's a combination of factors. The biggest factor is lack of residential segregation. This is a good thing. In LA and San Francisco, being older has more residential segregation...poor areas and rich areas. The IE is new and cheap, thus less residential segregation. The IE has a higher median and average income (and a smaller range between the two) as compared to LA (a very wide range). Thus, technically speaking, the IE is more middle class than LA. However, we know that LA is much more segregated than the IE. You don't see poor people in Bel Air, nor rich people in Compton. The IE doesn't have an area like Bel Air or Compton. Even in the poor areas of the IE, they are still better than the poor areas of LA. Even the census data proves that the income of poor IE areas is higher than poor LA regions. Conversely, the rich areas of the IE are nowhere near the rich areas of LA (in terms of average income...same median.)

In San Francisco, the story is a little different. It is MUCH more affluent. San Jose is the nation's largest city with the highest median and average income. San Francisco is also on that list. Poor people are priced out of San Francisco. I know somebody will bring up homeless people. They don't factor into the equation since typically they don't have kids in schools. Very few of them go to school, thus making them statistically irrelevant. Oakland, Richmond, Newark are where the poorer people live. The schools are MUCH worse. Again, due to residential segregation...Oakland hills schools are MUCH better than inner city Oakland. San Jose is nearly all affluent, so there you go.

English speakers is not really an issue...since all areas roughly have the same problem. All these areas have massive amounts of recent immigrants not knowing English. However, in the IE there is no immigrant neighborhood. In these more established cities, there are. Thus, there is a more even distribution in the IE. In LA there is a much more nodal distribution of recent immigrants (East LA as compared to West LA). Again, all areas have roughly the same percentage of non-English speakers.

Tradition also plays a HUGE role. It was not untill very recently that the IE began more urbanized. Growing up in the 80s/90s in Moreno Valley I was on the fringe of the town. Sunnymead Ranch was still mostly a ranch. Up the street is still an orange grove. Growing up, there were recent commuters, ranchers/farmers, millitary, or blue collar workers. Now, there are more opportunities in in white collar proffessions, but still blue collar dominates. This is not a bad thing. Vocational skills are highly needed. I went to college, but realized that I won't use even a tenth of my education. Nobody will care what the parahippocampal region does (wayfinding in the brain...btw). People care more that houses are built, that RVs are manufactured, that my products will go from point A to point B on time. Many high schools in the region realize this and have more vocational programs.

Test scores mean nothing. My high school was ranked as one of the highest schools in the nation (Cajon High School)...HORRIBLE test scores. The reason was because of the IB program. Each person in IB had to write a thesis paper. Mine was "Democracy in Post Colonial Africa: A case study of Kenya and Ivory Coast" In HIGH SCHOOL!!! It was a small program, but every year at least one person goes to the Ivy League. Usually the average is about 3-5 people make it to the Ivy League (or equiv.). So I mean look at the programs, not at the scores.

[MIKEETC]

Very interesting post, that1guy. I've never thought of it that way. Well worth thinking about more...

[Ransomed]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Hi,
Im doing research and came across the test scores for every public school in California, 2008. The API(Academic Performance Index) has very few schools in the Riverside-San Bernardino MSA with a score of 900+,(0-1000 is the possible score)

The Riverside-San Bernardino MSA together have more than 4 Million people, roughly equivalent to the San Francisco-Oakland MSA yet:
Schools scoring 900+

Riverside-San Bernadino: 16
San Francisco-Oakland: 144

If we break it down even further
Riverside County: 6
San Bernardino County: 10

Compared to:
Oakland(Alameda and Contra Costa Counties): 90
San Francisco(Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo Counties):54

Compared to other CA Metros
Los Angeles-Orange County: 185
San Jose: 80
San Diego: 63


Anyone have an explanation?

Demographics. My daughter was placed in an ESL class (American and only speak English by the way) b/c the MAJORITY of the students were ESL learners!!!! If you go on great schools you will see schools with a high Hispanic population have awful scores. Period. Stay away from those areas and you should be fine.

Since then I've changed schools and Rancho Cucamonga has excellent schools (elem, middle & high) with very high API scores. My son's high school was recognized by Newsweek as one of America's best high school's.