Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog

At the end of October, four of our real estate agents from Rainmaker Properties went on the Mountain View Whisman School District “Get on the bus tour” to learn more about what the local schools offer besides strong API (Academic Performance Index) scores.

Homebuyers, along with real estate agents, tend to put a strong bias on high API scores, especially since good schools can translate into better priced homes. But in cities like Mountain View, where the majority of the school district is either at the state API goal of 800 or above, we can start to consider other factors in the makeup of a school to see if it is the best fit for a child.

Read on to find out what our agents discovered on the tour and some of their insights. At the end we have tables showing all the API scores from elementary to high school in Mountain View, including school ranking and subgroup scores.

Christine Ko on the tour and the Mountain View Education Foundation (MVEF)
Edmund Yue and James Yang on looking past API scores
Kristine Suh, a parent, on deciding which school was right for her children
2010 API scores for Mountain View elementary schools
2010 API scores for Mountain View middle and high schools

Continue Reading »

Nov.08.2010 [ Filed under: Mountain View, Schools, Silicon Valley News ] 6 Comments »

September is the time of the year when the California Department of Education releases its yearly Academic Performance Index (API) scores. Here are the 2009 Growth API Scores for Santa Clara County and San Mateo County. 

We see an overall steady increase in scores compared to last year’s growth API scores.

A few notables in the following Silicon Valley Santa Clara County school districts:

Berryessa Union Elementary School District: Ruskin Elementary School continues to lead the pack and breaks the 900 barrier with a general improvement in most of the schools in the district

Cupertino Union School District: Continues to have a plethora of high achieving schools (Murdock-Portal and William Faria Elementary School and Joaquin Miller Middle School)

Fremont Union High School District: Monta Vista High increase it’s lead over Lynbrook High School from four to nine points.

Los Gatos Union Elementary: Significant increase across the board for most elementary schools

Moreland Elementary School: Leroy Anderson Elementary takes one of the largest increases in scores by an increase of 136 points to 810

Palo Alto Unified: Herbert Hoover and Duveneck Elementary Schools continue to lead the way

Santa Clara Unified: Overall Santa Clara schools had good improvement with notable Rivermark’s Don Callejon as well as Westwood and Briarwood Elementary jumping nearly 40 points.

Sunnyvale School District: Cherry Chase increases 28 points to an impressive while Cumberland drops 26 points to 905

Check out our previous post to find out what’s the difference between Growth and Base API scores and how they are calculated.

Sep.29.2009 [ Filed under: Schools, Silicon Valley News ] Comment Here »

US News and World Report published its list of best high schools and according to the report, the looked at "more than 21,000 public high schools in 48 states" to come up with a list of the top 100.  Three Silicon Valley high schools made the list:

73.  Monta Vista High, Cupertino
74.  Henry M. Gunn High, Palo Alto
80.  Saratoga High, Saratoga

These awards were based on how well-prepared students are for college as measured by Advanced Placement (AP) tests. 

California, as a state, did very well in the rankings, placing #4 out of all rated states — this means that out of all the high schools rated by US News and World Report, California has a higher percentage of silver and gold medal recipients than all but three states, based on the same criteria above. 

Of California’s 1,999 high schools rated, 126 (6.3%) received silver or gold.  The number one state, Massachusetts had 338 high schools rated and 29 (8.6%) silver and gold medalists.

US News’ rating by AP score is different from California’s standardized testing and Academic Performance Index (API), which focuses on California’s own standardized tests.  It’s no surprise that Bay Area high schools Monta Vista, Gunn and Saratoga each have API scores that are some of the best in California, exceeding 900 (out of 1000).

Dec.06.2008 [ Filed under: Schools, Silicon Valley News ] Comment Here »

The California Department of Education has released its 2008 Growth API scores for Santa Clara County and San Mateo County, which measure yearly improvement from the state’s 2007 Base API scores. The API (Academic Performance Index) scores are considered the cornerstone of California’s Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999, and measure the academic performance and growth of the state’s schools according to a range of academic factors.

The Los Altos, Saratoga, Cupertino, and Palo Alto elementary school districts all maintained district API averages above 900, an excellent score (which is par for the course in these districts).

The competitive Cupertino Union schools improved from an already-elite score of 930 to 941, and its border school Stocklmeir Elementary — which students who are living in Sunnyvale can attend — notched up 13 points to 959. To offer some perspective as to the strength of these scores, the average state API for all grades is 742, up from 728 last year.

This year’s score report also reflects improvements at both Cumberland and Cherry Chase, the two top elementary schools in Sunnyvale. Both broke the 900 mark once again, with respective scores of 920 and 909.

Also emerging are up-and-coming schools to watch. Take Ellis Elementary in Sunnyvale, which entered the 21^st century with a score in the mid-700s and now consistently scores in excess of 800. This year, Ellis improved 17 points with a score of 831.

The Campbell Union Elementary District’s Forest Hill is another school on the move. At a 2008 score of 888, Forest Hill is inching closer to breaking the 900 barrier. Up from 879 last year, Forest Hill was a low-800s school in 2000. We’ll continue to keep an eye on these continually improving school systems as they maintain their march up the API ladder.

Sep.08.2008 [ Filed under: Schools ] 1 Comment »

California’s 2007 Base API scores have been released and, looking at the complete list of Santa Clara 2007 Base API scores, congratulations need to go to Los Altos, Saratoga, Cupertino, and Palo Alto elementary school districts for maintaining district API averages above 900.  While this is par for the course in these districts, to put this achievement in perspective, the overall state API for all grades is 728.

There are two other metrics in the report, statewide rank and similar schools rank, both ratings from 1 to 10.  Each number represents a decile, with 10 being the top 10% of all schools in that category.

This metric compares schools that have similar characteristics, based on ethnicity, socioeconomic status, teacher credentials, and (about a dozen) other factors.  So which number matters more: the state or similar schools rank?

By far, the state number.  Let’s look at some of the Cupertino Union figures for examples. 

The third column is the state ranking and the fourth is for similar schools: Blue Hills is 10/8, Collins is 10/7, and DeVargas is 8/2.  Eisenhower and Muir (not shown) are both 10/2 with API scores of 906 and 894 respectively.

The difference in API between 10/8 and 10/7 is only 10 points, but the difference between a 10/2 and 8/2 is about 60 points.  The reason is because schools that are alike tend to have similar performance.  When you group those schools together and rank them, some turn out to be the best of the group and others the lowest-rated of the group.  

So if a 10/10 school is the best of the best, should parents be worried about a 10/2 school like Eisenhower or Muir elementary?  There is room for improvement, but a 10 means the school is in the top 10% of all schools in California.  At that level, I’d be more focused on what programs, classes and activities a school has to offer than beating other quality schools in standardized tests.

May.23.2008 [ Filed under: Schools, Silicon Valley News ] 2 Comments »

A school district’s reputation and test scores are a badge of honor for many Bay Area neighborhoods and their homeowners, so with the impending release of the 2007 Base API scores, it’s important to understand what they mean relative to the previous year’s scores.

The tests and the methodology the California Department of Education (CDE) uses to assess the academic performance of its school districts evolve every year, by what they call the "phase-in of new assessments (indicators) into the API" on page 13 of this 73-page PDF explaining the 2007-2008 performance index.   

In order to maintain an apples-to-apples comparison, the CDE uses two metrics: the base API and the next year’s growth API, both of which use the same tests.  That ties the two scores together for comparison.  So, for example, you can see how well your schools have improved by comparing the 2007 Base API scores (from spring 2007) with the 2008 Growth API scores (from spring this year).  This 2008 Growth API scores will be released in August.

Homeowners and buyers shouldn’t compare 2006 Base API scores directly with 2007 Base API scores to gauge the direction of their school district.  We need to use API growth over a period of time, as in the chart above.  An up-and-coming school district will have positive growth scores over several years, and an elite school district should see relatively little change in that same period. 

The hypothetical chart above taken from the PDF document could represent a good school district that worked its way to elite status between 2003 and 2004, and for their homeowners, it probably represents the culmination of a lot of community effort and participation in their children’s education.

May.21.2008 [ Filed under: Schools ] 1 Comment »

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? 

Continue Reading »

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

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.

Continue Reading »

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

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.

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.

Continue Reading »

Mar.31.2007 [ Filed under: Cupertino, Foster City, Home Buyers, Market Updates, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Mateo, Schools, Sunnyvale ] 9 Comments »

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.

Continue Reading »

Dec.10.2006 [ Filed under: Bay Area Info, Schools ] Comment Here »