Seeking Public School Rankings
Time and time again, we receive emails from mamas and papas moving to Portland and seeking advice on neighborhoods (would you recommend yours?). To that end, parents moving to Portland wonder about our schools. Which schools are top-ranked and would you try to find a home close to those schools? There are the Oregon School Rankings, which is so daunting to me with the graphs and reams of data. There is also GreatSchools.Net, which ranks Portland public schools based on the 2005-2006 Oregon Statewide Assessment for reading, math, and science.
A friend is considering moving to Portland from Brooklyn writes:
I was wondering if there was a site that ranks schools in a way that is fairly easy to understand.
Mamas, share your wisdom and insight on Portland Public Schools!
I think test scores are a really bad way to judge a school. Even if a school could be accurately evaluated with test scores you would get a misleading picture because some of the data listed in the links is really outdated.
An article in the "In Portland" section of the Oregonian this week reported that almost every single elementary school in Portland is meeting standards under NCLB. I think that is more relevant data than Oregon School Rankings data from 2002-03, if you really want to use test scores to judge a school.
Here's a link to a former Portland teacher's blog about schools. http://www.joesschool.blogs.com/
He often posts info about the problems with the student assessment system and other public education issues.
I think it helps to identify for yourself what you value in public education and what you are looking for in a school. Then visit the schools you are considering and see if they offer those things.
Even from out of town, as a first step, you can call the school and see what kind of reception you get from the office staff. Are they helpful, will they send you school info, can they put you in touch with the PTA.
Talk to a PTA rep or another parent in the school. They could probably give you a much better idea of what your child's experience will be in the school and the quality of the teaching and education programs than a set of test score rankings or socio-economic data.
Posted by: npdx parent | September 08, 2007 at 09:59 AM
I also agree that school rankings can be misleading. On the one hand, they do provide some information, but on the other hand they don't always give the break down of info that is more helpful.
For example, the school I teach at did not meet "Adequate Yearly Progress" in math for last year. But--we didn't meet due to ONE non-passing score from a special education student. Nor did the data given to the public show the increase of 15 percentage points improvement that special ed students acheived in math overall. Pretty awesome! And our math department is filled with amazing and dedicated teachers who all continue to develop professionally and it's a shame that is not reflected in the media. I, by the way, am not a math teacher...
On the state science exam the year before last (last year's was cancelled) there were many ecology items that were based on the premise of a "sasquatch" going to visit his imaginary relatives--that if I remember correctly were referred to using human relative terms like "cousin". Many of my students, especially those not native to the pacific northwest, had NO idea what a sasquatch was. And my students who did know felt unsure about the whole premise of the questions because they believed that "bigfoot" was imaginary. It was crazy. Science teachers were furious, no one thought it was cute or funny. My kids expressed the least amount of confidence in those items than any other. So, while these tests will provide some achievement indicators, they also will give some useless results as well.
I do agree that schools need to be held accountable for progress or a lack thereof. But, I also think that a school visit, asking a lot of questions, and talking with other parents, PTO and non PTO, will give you a much more well rounded picture. Good luck!
Posted by: SuzanneLynn | September 08, 2007 at 02:15 PM
Portland Monthly Magazine comes out with an issue every fall that rates (in detail) all the schools - both private & public - in Portland and all surrounding areas. As a elementary teacher, I truly believe that it is quite accurate. Perhaps contact them and inquire about when the "school" issue will be coming out. If you'd like me to send you mine from last year (I still have it), feel free to email me at: tiffanycd@gmail.com - good luck with your search. Peace.
Posted by: Tiffany | September 08, 2007 at 04:14 PM
can anyone tell me anything about the sunnyside school district- especially the elementary level? thanks!
Posted by: Meliah | September 09, 2007 at 12:33 AM
Sunnyside is pretty far from Portland, so I don't know that you will get a lot of responses from people that are familiar with it. This is farming country. From what I saw on the website, it is 82% hispanic, with most of these children probably being those of migrant farm workers. Sorry, I don't have a very comprehensive understanding of the area. I did some mission work there when I was 19 and the poverty and wealth discrepancy is tremendous.
Posted by: Meg | September 09, 2007 at 10:28 AM
Meliah, are you asking about Sunnyside Environmental School at SE 34th and Salmon (in the Hawthorne/Belmont area) or about the Sunnyside area in outer SE Portland past Clackamas Town Center?
Posted by: Liz | September 10, 2007 at 12:27 AM
I think school ranking are useless for me. Portland Schools even some of the best, don't rank that well on nationally normed tests. I look at the US world Report national high school rankings and the Portland metro ares doesn't pretty poorly.
For our family, ethnic diversity and accessibility issues are paramount. My daughter doesn't learn well in environment where she feels like she is "other" or passively unwelcome. There are many school programs that friends of ours love that have been hellish for her.
I think it's very individual what fits for a family. I heard about a school before I came that sounded like nirvana and was quite the opposite. I'm a fan on going on tours and walking the halls. Checking out the enrichment programs. If an administrator is "too busy" to answer questions, etc. It might help you figure out if a school is right for you.
Posted by: ProtestMama | September 10, 2007 at 02:57 PM
I am an out of town mama who is moving up to Lake Oswego in January. Is anyone familiar or willing to talk to me about the different schools within Lake Oswego? or does anyone know of an active parent within any of these schools. I agree that test scores alone can be so misleading and my experience has been that talking to actually involved parents and teachers to be most helpful in navigating what might work best for our family. I have two elementary age kids, so we will go through elementary, middle school and highschool in Lake Oswego.
My Name is Nilla and My email address is: n3simpson@yahoo.com
Thanks and peace
Posted by: Nilla Simpson | September 11, 2007 at 09:32 AM