This LAist article explores the various data points parents should consider when choosing a school, from standardized test scores and student demographics to suspension rates. It emphasizes that while data can be helpful, there's no single metric to define a great school and parents should analyze all available information to make the best decision for their child.
From standardized test scores to student demographics and suspension rates, there’s a lot to consider when choosing a school. LAist talked to parents, educators and researchers to better understand what different sources of information can tell you about your child’s school or one they might attend.
Find attendance, student demographics, test scores and results from student and family surveys among the information listed about individual schools. The dashboard doesn’t assign schools a single score or rating. Instead, many measures including test scores, graduation rates and attendance are ranked by color from red to blue based on performance from the current year and growth from the prior year. You can also see how a school compares to the state overall.“You can look at all the information and you can analyze all the available data, but you still don't know how it’s going to play out for an individual kid,” said Los Angeles County educator and parent Andrea Schpok. “You gotta make the best choice given the information available.”From standardized test scores to student demographics and suspension rates, there’s a lot to consider when choosing a school. LAist talked to parents, educators and researchers to better understand what different sources of information can tell you about your child’s school or one they might attend. “You can look at all the information and you can analyze all the available data, but you still don't know how it’s going to play out for an individual kid,” said Los Angeles County educator and parent Andrea Schpok. “You gotta make the best choice given the information available.” Though the simple appeal of a single number or star rating offered by some websites is tempting, the experts we interviewed say there is no one metric that defines a great school., an initiative from LAist to help families who are just entering the K-12 school system understand how to make the most of their child's education. All of the advice is from people who have been here before.The website aggregates publicly available data about schools. One prominent feature on each school’s page is a 1-10 rating. These scores also appear on home listings for several real estate websites. The basis of the criticism is that GreatSchools and similar sites rely in part on standardized test scores to calculate school ratings.President Linda Darling-Hammond. “A lot of what they tell you is how well off economically are students in this school, rather than how much is the school contributing to their gains and growth.”There are reams of studies about standardized testing and its place in education. The underlying idea: States create standards for what students should know at each grade level, and then test students for understanding. While its roots start much earlier, the last two decades have seen a lot of political activity around testing:to create academic accountability goals. In California, students in grades three through eight and high school juniors start taking Smarter Balanced AssessmentsPart of the problem is that standardized tests in English language arts and math are one of the few widely administered and tracked metrics. “We've never really invested in collecting data that is just much harder to get at than a simple test,” said Rebecca Jacobsen, who studies education, politics and policy at Michigan State University.How can you figure out what’s a great school without using GreatSchools? The nonprofit also offers schools the opportunity to provide information and a space for parents, educators, and alum to leave reviews. “It's a continual process for us to find the right information to share with each parent,” said GreatSchools CEO Jon Deane. Deane said the information on GreatSchools is meant to help parents start their school choice journey, not be the sole deciding factor.How one parent saw past a school’s 4/10 rating“ really saw firsthand the way that my students performed did not always match what I thought their capability was,” Jacobsen said.“After two minutes in that building, I had no reservations anymore,” Jacobsen said.“She really spoke to the ways that they were meeting different kids academically, socially, emotionally,” Jacobsen said. “The bulletin boards told me a lot. They were really vibrant, but they also showcased a range of work, which I really appreciated to see that everybody was valued.”Many schools maintain their own websites and social media accounts. There is a wide range of quality in individual school websites. At their best, these platforms are a window into the school’s history, curriculum, current programs and events. On the other end of the spectrum, information can be sparse or outdated. Parent groups might maintain their own websites and social media accounts that can give you additional insight into a specific school. LAUSD leaders in 2018 voted to create a new website to present a variety of information about students and school sites. : There are several ways to navigate the website. If you want to search for schools in a specific area or compare multiple schools, use theA collection of data maintained by the California Department of Education available at the state, district, and individual school level intended toreadiness as defined by a series of measures including meeting the requirements for state university admission or completing career and technical education classes.: The dashboard doesn’t assign schools a single score or rating. Many measures are assigned a color from red to blue based on performance from the current year and growth from the prior year. You can also see how a school compares to the state overall. available at the state, county, district, and individual school level. This site includes some information not available through the California School Dashboard and in some cases, parses the data by grade level. School Accountability Report Card Enter your email to follow School Game Plan and learn how to navigate and get involved in your child’s education.defining what’s important to your family“ And if what folks value, there's nothing wrong with starting there,” said Schneider, who directs the Center for Education Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “But, people shouldn't stop there.” For example, when Schneider and his wife, a teacher, started looking for a school for their child, they knew she’d have plenty of academic support at home. “The top priority for us, when looking for a school, was actually that the school was a diverse one, that it served all different kinds of students coming from all different kinds of families,” Schneider said. “We knew that we could give her all kinds of academic advantages at home, but we couldn't give her that — we couldn't just inside our household teach her how to live in a diverse democracy.”"Having a stable set of qualified teachers is very important,” Darling-Hammond said. “for whether kids are being well taught and whether parents are going to be able to connect with experienced teachers who know a lot about how to make things work well.”That data is not listed publicly. Instead you’ll have to ask the principal or other staff about turnover and the experience of educators on staff. School climate data is less universal than other information like demographics or standardized test outcomes. One potential source of information is annual surveys to students and families. “I think these are very high quality data sources that allow us to learn things that we would never learn from a standardized test score,” Schneider said.there are several places to view school climate data. Select “Local Control Accountability Plan” from the dashboard view dropdown menu and “School Safety and Climate” from the metric sub groups to see survey results about whether:Parents feel their child is safe on school grounds and welcome to participate at school The “Parent, Student, and Community Engagement” metric subgroup offers additional survey results from parents. Schools that are part of the Black Student Achievement Plan also collect additional survey data about: “It means that students are learning how to get along with each other, how to solve their own problems, what to do with tough situations… and how to problem solve in good ways,” Darling-Hammond said.There’s no dashboard to track social and emotional learning at individual schools. Investigate a school’s website, and talk to educators, administrators and other parents to understand how this type of instruction is prioritized. In the School Accountability Report Card : Look for the section that says “School Facility Conditions and Planned Improvements” to see self-reported information about the status of restrooms, heating, cooling and ventilation systems and overall maintenance. One caveat, the categories are broad and reflect the conditions of the school at a single point in time. For example, an inspection of the HVAC system in the winter may not reflect the potential for a breakdown in the midst of a heatwave. This can help you better understand medium-to-long term plans for repairing and building school facilities. Touring schools is time-consuming, but researchers, parents and educators all said there’s no better way to evaluate a campus than by visiting in person, preferably while class is in session. “The very best thing that people can do is go to the school and try to watch the way that educators interact with students, the way that students interact with each other, and the way that families are included or not in the life of a school,” Schneider said. “Once you do that, you really get a sense of what kind of place kids are going to school.”“ I look to see if students work is on the walls,” Darling-Hammond said. “Because if it is, it says that this school values what students are doing and that that is the central idea of what's going on there.”Every school is going to handle tours a bit differently. Start at the school’s website and call the front office for more information. How are grades calculated? Is transportation provided? What is interesting for you in school?
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