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Investing in the Right Bay Area School District

Picture of School Sign Buy low, sell high. A lot of people ignore this truism and they believe they have good reason for doing so. Sometimes several good reasons. After all, it's not the same as the stock market: most people don't love their money. Sure, they want the best for it, but mostly because of the things more of it buys. What does it buy? It depends on the person. Maybe freedom, or time, or an easier life, or the future, often in a college education of their children.

No, stocks don't come with locations, or school districts, or uses, except for those jokes about dot-com stocks and toilet paper back at the turn of the century. But whether my clients are investing in real estate for love or money, I consider providing a solid understanding of the strategies behind choosing a school district an essential part of their property search.

When buying a home in Silicon Valley, you're secondarily investing in the school district where you buy your real estate. Plus, you can tell a lot about the property you're looking at by how easy the listing agent makes it to find the schools for that location. But how you choose a school district — or said more generally, how you choose the right location for your home search — depends on your answer. Are you buying a home for love or money?

May.22.2007 [ Filed under: Schools ] 2 Comments »

Silicon Valley Distinguished Schools and Area Home Values

Image of California Distinguished Schools

The California Department of Education (CDE) just released the recipients of its California Distinguished Schools award, which honors the "exemplary and inspiring" schools across the state.

Typically only 5% of schools are awarded with the California Distinguished School title, which schools are allowed to use for four years — and in 2007, there were 21 Silicon Valley schools (11 from San Mateo County and 10 from Santa Clara County) that received the honor.

Elementary and secondary schools are evaluated in alternating years and, this year, it was time for the middle and high schools to go under the microscope.

As frequent readers here know, I'm a big advocate of not only looking at real estate in established educational powerhouses, but also finding up-and-coming schools. After all, schools power real estate demand — even if you don't have kids — and people looking for the "next big thing" in terms of appreciation need to look beyond what's already been priced into the market.

There were some big winners this year in Silicon Valley and this article kicks off a week of market analysis homing in on key cities in these school districts. Here's a whirlwind tour.

Apr.22.2007 [ Filed under: Schools, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, San Mateo ] Comment Here »

Silicon Valley School System Bang-for-the-Buck

The California Department of Education (CDE) has released the updated 2006 Academic Performance Index (API) scores for California schools, including data for San Mateo County and Santa Clara County. The API is a statewide benchmark based on standardized achievement tests which is primarily used to rank schools relative to one another and relative to schools with similar demographics. Here's an example of what the statistics look like.

Image of California Academic Performance Index Sample

We'll take a look at how school rankings and Silicon Valley real estate prices are related, but first let's look at how to read the information.

Number of Students. In the first column, you'll find the number of students whose results were included from that school. It's pretty close to the total number of students, less any excluded students. The rules for excluding students are listed in the API Base Documentation Information Guide found on the CDE API page. Surprisingly, the number of students has little to do with how well the school did in its API scores (almost, see epilogue).

Base API, Statewide Rank, Similar Schools Rank. The Base API score is like an SAT score except it's from 200 to 1000. Higher is better. To make comparing schools easier, the CDE provides a statewide rank from 1 to 10 (ten is best) and a similar schools rank that rates schools (again from 1 to 10, ten being best) that have similar demographics and characteristics. Apples-to-apples in a way.

Growth Target, API Target. The growth target is the number of points California wants the school to improve in the next year. That added with the current base API score equals the API target. The CDE doesn't set a target for schools above the current statewide performance target of 800.

Silicon Valley School District Scores

I've assembled information from the CDE site and the Palo Alto Daily News to provide a table of school district API averages for Silicon Valley and Bay Area elementary and middle schools.

Image of Silicon Valley API Scores for Campbell, Cupertino, Foster City, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sunnyvale

Mar.31.2007 [ Filed under: Schools, Home Buyers, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, San Mateo, Foster City, Market Updates ] 3 Comments »

Finding the Right Silicon Valley Public School

Choosing the right school for your children is such an important decision that it may help determine where you decide to live. It's not a simple choice, but with the right resources, you can be confident in your decision.

California Public School