Any info on GreatSchools.org score drop

I see quite a few school scores dropped at GreatSchools.org. It is all for Cupertino school & Fremont schools. It looks like it got ding on Equity & support for Low Income students. I am believer that those scores are not source of truth but they are good reference point for me and future buyers would use.

3 Likes

Yes, I have noticed today drop in many schools

I will look at this report.
https://www.caschooldashboard.org/#/Details/01611766104723/3/Status

1 Like

Looks like many of CUSD schools score dropped from 10 to 9 due to Academic progress (8/10).

According to website, Academic progress is based on 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 test score.
I guess this is ridiculous assessment given that “% of proficient” remains at over 90%.
I suspect that CA ED department failed to maintain the same level of test difficulty between 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.

Even Faria school got 9 rating . they claim that it is A+ school.

This has happened for all school ratings on GreatSchools.org, not just for CA. GS was critized for many years that their ratings only reflected test scores and hence they adjusted to include other factors.

I believe this rating change will have an affect on home buying patterns since most buyers rely on these ratings to form an opinion (right or wrong) about schools and hence neighborhood desirability! Do you guys discern any changes in relative neighborhood desirability buying patterns based on these rating changes

I don’t think this has anything to do with CA ED since GreatSchools.org ratings have changed for schools all over the country.

In the past, the overall GreatSchools Rating in most states was based on test scores. In some states*, the GreatSchools Rating was also based on student progress (or “growth”) and college readiness data (SAT/ACT participation and/or performance and/or graduation rates). Our school profiles now include important information in addition to test scores — factors that make a big difference in how children experience school, such as how much a school helps students improve academically, how well a school supports students from different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic groups, and whether or not some groups of students are disproportionately affected by the school’s discipline and attendance policies. Many of these important themes now have their own rating, and these themed ratings are incorporated into the school’s overall GreatSchools Summary Rating.

1 Like

Ok. So it’s not my imagination!

to be clear, a lot of schools also boosted about 2-3 years ago. I think Selby Lane hit a 6. I was really surprised.

Faria is rated 6th out of 5,650 public elementary schools in CA by schoolddigger

What I would like to know from Greatschools.org is the measurement used to quantify these parameters.

1 Like

That bit honestly seems like a load of BS anyway. So if kids of a certain ethnicity get detention more often, then the school loses points? It just seems like a measure of how PC a school is and how much it caves vs holding kids to a set standard.

1 Like

There’s a new test for all kids, and when that happens, which is understandable, the kids get their scores lowered. The test is then a reflection of the new standards to put in place.

It rattles the entire school system. For instance, I was so mad at my daughter’s score, 57% on this new literature test. When I asked her teacher, she said that she was the high score in 32 kids. :scream:

She is 93% percentile on Math.
She is in second grade, with scores for a 3rd grader. Her school aims at the kids scoring, or their knowledge or classes being a grade above the one they attend.

So much on making the kids robots. That reflects on the lives of so many I see around. They are like a petulant, narcissist, no emotion type of person who sees you as an object and not a human being. He or she thinks that for being a xxxxxxxx or working for Facebook or the likes s/he is supposed to run over you if you don’t move when they are coming your way.

I don’t have the interest nor inclination to dig thru how GreatSchools comes up with final scores. And they’ll obviously always have critics no matter how to come up with those scores.

However, what matters from an RE investment POV is not what we personally feel about these scores, but the fact that these scores are indeed used by many home buyers as an important data point in determining the desirability of neighborhoods.

So, given this change in ratings, do you guys discern any changes in relative neighborhood desirability in SFBA?

1 Like

I guess I was wrong on this.

I looked at our neighborhood school and realized that the rating went down from 10 to 9 simply because the school doesn’t have enough low-income students!
They apply flat score 8/10 for equity adjustment factor(35% weight) if the school doesn’t have enough low-income students.
Then, that brings down score from 10 to 8 no matter what test score is.

Weight of equity adjustment factor for high school is 16% as oppose to 35% of middle/elementary school. As a result, all CUSD(elementary/middle) schools rating have gone down to 9/10 while many FUHSD(high school only) schools remain as 10.

This is truly ridiculous.

GreatSchools Summary Rating
GreatSchools is a national nonprofit organization. Our new Summary Rating provides a multi-measured reflection of school quality based on the ratings components you see here. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings.
Rating components Weight Rating/flag
Test Scores 57% 10/10
Equity adjustment factor 35% 8/10
Schools that do not have a large enough population of disadvantaged students to calculate an Equity Rating (homogeneous schools) are given the average Equity Rating for schools with the same Test Score Rating. This estimate, called the Equity adjustment factor, allows for the Summary Ratings of schools with and without Equity Ratings to be more easily comparable.
Academic Progress 9% 9/10
Last updated: Nov 09, 2017

4 Likes

[quote=“Jane, post:14, topic:3802, full:true”]

Definitely.

I predict that Greatschools will be given the boot from these RE websites if they are gonna muck with the criteria like that. They public yet? Maybe wuqijun and manch can short them… :slight_smile:

They are a non-profit. I believe, in CA they gained attention from RE websites because API scores were discontinued. Schooldigger may benefit if enough people don’t like the change in rating criteria. Or, RE websites / Realtors may decide the quality of data doesn’t matter as long as there’s ‘some’ data to convince home buyers.

What is going on with scores? The closest elementary used to be a 9. Now it’s a 6. It gets 4/10 for equity overview which drags the score way down vs 9/10 on test scores. Apparently, the 10% of Hispanics students show lower progress so that tanks the rating for the whole school? Their progress is 35% vs 61% for all students. Does anyone pay attention to great schools anymore?

The test scores are 10 for white, 10 for 2+ races, 5 for Hispanic, and 8 for Asian. I must live in the only place white kids beat Asians in test scores, lol.

2 Likes

Yes, people pay attention, but you’re right that you have to know what the scores mean, and they’ve changed :frowning:

Welcome to the United States of AMediocrity.

2 Likes

PS: It’s possible that the Asian families are sending their kids to private schools. I wouldn’t be surprised if white families are more likely to be pro-public schooling and Asian families more likely to put kids in private if the privates will do better.

1 Like