The universe is a very big place. When you asked if there is “some other” measure, you did NOT limit FROM WHERE the “other measure(s)” might come. Consequently, in my desire and concurrence to advance your stated wish to establish some basis for “a more productive discussion on this topic,” and because there was no ‘WHERE there,’ I felt at liberty to import “some other measure” from some other state.

You’re being “not quite sure” that my imported definition of “high performing” schools is what people on this thread are referring to suggests you think you have a pretty good hunch what they are referring to, which I would hazard to guess from your comments is “education levels and parent income.” My response, complementing the imported definition and desire to kick off a “productive discussion,” establishes a speculative link between six of the nine high performing school measures or traits identified AND high parent education (but not always income) levels that make for high performing students that make for high performing schools.

I am most intrigued by your assertion that “many schools in Oakland” would be considered high performing, or at least approaching that level (of having most of those nine traits), including many schools that have been referred to as “sub standard” on this blog.”

To be clear those school traits or measures are: (1) Clear and Shared Focus; (2) High Standards and Expectations; (3) Effective School Leadership; (4) High Levels of Collaboration and Communication; (5) Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Aligned with Standards; (6) Frequent Monitoring of Teaching and Learning; (7) Focused Professional Development; (8) Supportive Learning Environment; (9) High Levels of Community and Parent Involvement.

Your perception that “many schools in Oakland” have “most” of these traits suggests an impressive overview of schools district wide. Would you therefore agree or disagree that “high levels of parent involvement” are more restricted to schools with high or significantly increasing overall test scores? Or is this trait (#9) one of “most of the traits” you refer to as being characteristic of “many” Oakland schools?

Although I’m loath to show my naiveté, I must ask you Peter, How many Oakland schools “have most of these traits?” If you could provide a list instead of a number it could be a real asset to a productive discussion. In fact, if you could advise which traits apply to which Oakland schools it would be extremely productive! I’m sure of it.

I didn’t say, or intend to imply that “our school” is our neighborhood school. I wish my family could afford to live in that neighborhood, but we’re in the flatlands with everyone else at the school.

Why no neighborhood families? Good question, and I can’t answer for those families, since I’m not one of them. All I know is that it’s been the same population coming up from the flatlands since my younger son was a kindergartener and we pulled him out of that awful, horrible, no-good, flatland, neighborhood school.

He’s a 5th grader now, so it’s been like this for at least six years.

One such measure, referenced below, identifies nine characteristics of a high performing school. They are: (1) Clear and Shared Focus; (2) High Standards and Expectations; (3) Effective School Leadership; (4) High Levels of Collaboration and Communication; (5) Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Aligned with Standards; (6) Frequent Monitoring of Teaching and Learning; (7) Focused Professional Development; (8) Supportive Learning Environment; (9) High Levels of Community and Parent Involvement.

See:
http://www.k12.wa.us/SchoolImprovement/Involvement.aspxfor some clarifications on 1-9]

It is OUSD teacher Deckin’s observation that, “The home life is the biggest determiner of academic success. All schools do is moderate that effect (very) slightly.”

Perhaps the strength, weakness, or absence of SOME of these measurement categories for high performing schools (#’s 1,2,4,6,8, & 9) should also be considered in the context of a student’s ‘home life?’ Do parental academic and behavioral expectations reflect: a clear and shared focus; high standards and expectations; frequent monitoring of, and involvement in, their child’s school program; and a supportive home learning environment?

Perhaps well educated, but not always high income, parents who’ve acquired these characteristics in the attainment of their educations are better able to communicate and pass them along to their children.
Is it surprising that those with higher incomes typically have higher levels of education complemented by the “high performing school” characteristics identified above? When these characteristics are modeled and nurtured in a student’s home life isn’t that student considerably more likely to become one of the high performing students that make high performing schools a reality?

Follow-up quiz: What came first, the high performing school or the high performing student? Answer: The influence of high performing parents. “All schools do is moderate [their] effect (very) slightly.”

Anyway Peter, here’s the “other measure (and definition) that is being used to determine high performing” schools you inquired about.

Let the “productive discussion” continue!

I think there is much more potential for long-term understanding and community building if a second grader and her family in the ‘hills’ gets to know a second grader and her family living in the ‘flats.’ When we think of the growing crime that plagues our streets today, how many of us think about how we could have perhaps made a difference for those children when they were young before each turned to a life of crime. I expect that, if given the choice, anyone in the community would rather influence a child as a second-grader than confront him as a gang member in the streets ten years later. This is one way we can each make a difference in our community.

All parents have the best interest of their own child in mind. No parent wants a child to be a low-performer or a criminal. And as cited earlier, a major factor of a child’s performance, especially at the elementary school level, is the influence parents have. Some parents recognize this and are confident that they can supplement their child’s needs in the elementary school years. Some parents recognize this, and their only alternative is to send their child to a neighborhood school. What type of society are we creating when we educate our children in communities of have-nots and have-lots? We each have to make choices about what we do to preserve our children’s best interest – personally, I think I’d rather give up my short-term interest in a neighborhood school (high-performing or not) for the longer term interest of improving the greater community than see my child face even greater societal challenges in the future.

So, instead of focusing on who deserves a seat in a specific school, my question for parents, school board members and others pondering this issue, is – do you have the long-term interest of the community at heart and, if you do, what is in the best interest of the entire Oakland community?

However, the correlation with parental blah-blah-blah isn’t absolute. My younger son is attending an elementary school with medium-high scores, but over 60% of the students are Title I, “eligible for free or reduced lunchs, disadvantaged, English learners.” It was one of the few schools in OUSD to receive a state Title I Academic Excellence Award last month.

If we’re trying to identify which parental characteristics lead to success, in my experience it’s *involvement*. Ours is a “hills school” with almost no neighborhood kids – nearly all are coming from the “flatlands”. We have the success we do because the parents are making an effort to get their children out of their poor-performing (i.e. low test scores) neighborhood schools, and once they get to the “good school” the parents do much more than drop them off in the morning and pick them up at the end of the day.

At the end of the day, I like our elementary school more than the ones that have the top scores in the district. We have less to work with, but nearly every family rolls up their sleeves, so to speak, and pitches in wherever they can. The staff knows they’re valued and appreciated, and that support helps them do their jobs better. The kids know that educational success is important to *everyone* around them, and they’re motivated to do well.