WellSchooled

Vol. 1 | Spring 2021

WellSchooled Introducing

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO K-12 EDUCATION

Northwest San Gabriel Valley

THE TEST OF TIME

PRIVATE&CHARTER

SCHOOL DIRECTORY for the Northwest SGV

ALL THAT GLITTERS and OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS BLINDSIDED BY The SilverLining REFORM of 2020

SAN GABRIEL VALLEY PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS

RANKED ON UC COLLEGE ADMISSIONS PERFORMANCE

Dedicated to opportunity and excellence in K-12 education

Welcome

WellSchooled

to WellSchooled’s inaugural issue, The Essential Guide to K-12 Education.

In this issue, we focus on public schools and how to tell which high schools in the Northwest San Gabriel Valley are delivering an educational experience that sets its students up for success.

Our two-part feature article, The Test of Time, challenges age-old assumptions and exposes surprising revelations about “top ranked” public schools.

Our recurring column, Getting It Right, is an opportunity to highlight an exceptional school program so you know where to find excellence and value in K-12 education within our community. In this issue, we spotlight The Math Academy, a ground-breaking middle and high school program offered through Pasadena Unified School District.

Theresa Patzakis Editorial Advisor

Elizabeth Slocum Graphic Designer

Carrie Voris

We enhance our reader experience with interactive, curated media galleries labeled “Learn More.” And while we draw primarily from the Northwest San Gabriel Valley education community, the lessons are universal. Even more, readers will also become better prepared to serve in school leadership positions and advocate for what really counts when it comes to K-12 education.

WellSchooled Inc. 950 Huntington Drive San Marino, CA 91108

With the ever-expanding schooling options time continues to bring, WellSchooled promises to offer even more value to parents looking to do the best for their child. Get ready to change how you think about schools and your own child’s education!

Copyright © 2021 All rights reserved

Theresa Patzakis Founder & Editor

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Editor-In-Chief

WellSchooled

www.wellschooled.com

Photo left: Frank Noack On the cover: View of the snow-dusted San Gabriel Mountains from the Valentine Elementary School playground.

Photo: Dean M. Collins

Opportunity Knocks

In this Issue

page

page

7

The Silver Lining of 2020

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page

page

17

The Test of Time

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A school district’s enduring success with statewide testing delivers a hollow victory for its students

All that Glitters

Good To

24 Part Two WellSchooled

KNOW

Blindsided by Reform TUTORIAL PODCAST

LearnMORE

page

page

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39 RANKINGS

Getting It Right

The Math Academy Brings World Class Mathematics Instruction to Pasadena Unified

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Rose Bowl

Northwest San page Gabriel Valley School Directory

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45

South Pasadena

How 15 San Gabriel Valley TIP schools performed in 2020

What’s the

Correlation?

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Good To

KNOW

page

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Altadena

Pasadena

California ADVICE Dashboard

page

College Acceptance page WellSchooled & Matriculation TUTORIAL Reports

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Part One

page

San Gabriel Valley High Schools ranked by UC Admissions

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When it Comes to Choosing a School, it’s the C’s that Count!

ADVICE

RANKINGS

La Canada ˜

Choosing Well

More data, rankings and other stuff you may want to Duarte know

PODCAST

LearnMORE

San Marino

Sierra Madre

Arcadia

Monrovia

The Forest, Weeds & Trees

ADVICE 605

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About

WellSchooled

WellSchooled exists to deliver high-value content that connects families with the best K-12 educational opportunities and resources in the Northwest San Gabriel Valley. Our editorial, voice-forward style reflects our passion for education, our unique insights, and our expansive knowledge of K-12 opportunities in the Northwest San Gabriel Valley and beyond.

Above all else, WellSchooled reflects our unwavering commitment to families and to building a community-wide knowledge base that will translate into more opportunity and excellence for all.

We hope you’ll join us on this journey.

Artwork by Elyse Whittaker-Paek 6

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OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS The Silver Lining of 2020 Biking to school on the first day of on-campus learning Oct. 2020.

Photo by Dean M. Collins

F

riday, March 13, 2020 — Schools throughout LA County began closing campuses as the world grappled with the reality of a global pandemic.

Class would now be held “virtually,” and we struggled to understand exactly what that meant. At the time, the whole thing just seemed surreal.

Fortunately, school leadership at the schools my kids were attending did know what it meant and, more importantly, what

to do. In a proverbial show of “I got this,” my daughter’s principal was on it with schoolwide communications and a game plan in place that same afternoon. Remarkably, the school was up and running on Google Classroom the following Monday. The speed and efficacy of the feat, pulled off over a single weekend, remains a pure marvel.

To be sure, the transition to the new virtual reality wasn’t nearly as smooth-

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going at other schools. And even under the best circumstances, online learning has been an unwelcome challenge for many. If there ever was a year of the lemon in K-12 education, it would have to be 2020-21.

Once it became obvious the new normal would be sticking around for a while, the pandemic became a novel opportunity to pack up the car, the kids, and the laptops and head out to where some serious distance-learning and tele-commuting could take place.

We also packed up the kids and the car, but our pursuit was with a different goal in mind.

We took up residence in South Orange County where the Capistrano Unified School District’s elementary schools were set to open in early October for on-campus learning under a county health department-issued waiver.

For us, COVID presented another kind of health emergency. Heading off the emotional toll of the lockdown outweighed the health risks of the virus. Socio-emotional learning was needed alongside academics. Capistrano Unified, along with other Orange County School districts, saw it the same way.

Of course, there is more to consider when selecting a school than merely whether its doors are open. There’s the curriculum, the classroom experience, the school’s culture, just for starters (see Choosing Well, page 11).

Our soon-to-be neighborhood school, a newly branded Spanish dual language immersion and marine biology magnet, seemed to hit all the marks. My daughter would be able to tap into a strong Spanish

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language program at her grade level along with more art, music, and computer instruction than she had encountered at her previous schools, not to mention a marine biology science program that capitalized on the nearby resources. I was sold.

My daughter’s checklist was a little different. First and foremost, she could live out her dream of riding her bike to school. On top of that, the school’s expansive playground perched on top of a hill was replete with sweeping ocean breezes, a view of the harbor, and seemingly countless tetherball courts beckoning for post-pandemic play.

She was also sold.

What we didn’t factor into our decision making was the Great Schools rating — a measly 5 out of 10 for this particular school.

Of course, as the feature article explains, this score is based on statewide standardized testing, testing that more often serves as a bellwether for a socio-economically challenged population. The score can hardly be said to reflect the caliber of the curriculum, the quality of the teaching, or the overall educational experience we are experiencing firsthand.

For our family, our experience with Capistrano Unified has been the silver lining of the 2020-21 school year. For all parents, it is the expanded K-12 schooling options that have put parents in the driver’s seat more than ever before.

With a vaccine now in play, our schools are beginning to reopen their doors, and as they do, they will have more to prove to parents than ever before. Pre-pandemic, families already had options: public or private, charter or magnet, secular or non-secular.

But now, the pandemic has popularized more options like homeschooling, learning pods, independent study, numerous iterations of online distance learning, and yes, even boarding school.

These alternatives, once dismissed by parents as too unfamiliar or unconventional, have become mainstream, go-to strategies in the time of COVID. Indeed, the schooling paradigm and parent mind-set have forever shifted.

To be sure, the once idyllic one-size-fitsall neighborhood “school of residence” is quickly becoming a thing of the past. The school choice era has entered its Glory Days. Themed charters, alternative learning schools, magnets, and the ever-expanding array of online, independent study, ADVICE and home schooling variations, not to mention the full complement of private day and boarding school options, allow custom K-12 paths crafted to elevate every type of learner. Knowing the options and how to WellSchooled access them isTUTORIAL the challenge for 2021-22 ADVICE and beyond.

INGS

E

SOUTHWESTERN ACADEMY

Co-Ed, Boarding and Day School Catering to Grades 6-12, PG College Prep & ESL Courses Available Goodby ToWASC Accredited KNOW Diverse Student Body from All Over the World

PODCAST

Good To

Learn MORE KNOW In this podcast, Superintendent of Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD), Kristin Vital, shares how its elePODCAST mentary schools and other campuses are pulling off on-campus learning. The 6-minute interview begins at 9 min 48 seconds into the podcast.

ADVICE For more on CUSD and other

school re-openings, check out: https://edsource.org/2020/a-look-atorange-county-as-first-in-a-wave-ofschool-reopenings-in-california/641701

TIP

2800 Monterey Road San Marino, California

ADVICE 8800 East Ranch Campus Road Rimrock, Arizona

TIP

www.SouthwesternAcademy.edu (626)799-5010 ext. 5 What’s the

Correlation?

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education + community

PRENATAL PARENT & ME TODDLER MUSIC YOGA MESSY PLAY/ART a modern, inclusive space for expecting parents and young families to learn, ÀQG VXSSRUW DQG EH UHDO www.FamilyRoomCenter.com

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C WELL hoosing

When it comes to evaluating schools, it’s the C’s that count!

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t’s Spring. In the TK-12 realm, it’s the time of year when public schools run placement lotteries, private schools deliver admission decisions, and parents ponder their options for the fall. Whether you are contemplating an offer for fall or would like to bank some knowledge for the next go around, here is what to carefully consider when choosing a school.

The Seven C’s to Choosing Well

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Curriculum

Let’s start with the centerpiece of a good education - the curriculum. The state of California sets the instructional minutes and the standards for core curriculum, so a curriculum that offers your student plenty of enrichment is what can really distinguish your child’s educational experience.

In the early years, popular enrichment options include choir, orchestra, art, coding, robotics, foreign language, and at faithbased schools, religion. But if you’ve toured a few schools, you may have noticed a disparity in offerings among schools, in both the public and private arena.

Some schools gain extra classroom time through a strategic master schedule, use of zero period, or by keeping P.E. time to the state-mandated minimum. And some schools just run a longer school day.

Pay attention to not only what enrichment opportunities a school is offering, but to how much instructional time is devoted to these activities and where that additional instructional time is coming from.

In middle school, vertical alignment of the curriculum becomes important. A school that allows your child to pack in a year or two of high school level foreign language or accelerate to a higher-level math course

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clears the deck for more rigor and electives in high school. This is important from a college admissions standpoint.

In high school, it’s all about a course of study that allows students to develop their interests, nurture their passions, and distinguish themselves as a college applicant.

CTE pathways, embedded academies and conservatories, along with dual enrollment, honors, and advanced placement coursework are key to these objectives.

Access to desired courses can be limited by a school’s poorly designed master schedule or because of overly restrictive pre-requisite requirements. Drill down on what coursework is offered, and whether electives and opportunities are available to more than just a small number of students.

Classroom Experience

The classroom is where the rubber meets the road, so finding the right learning environment for your student is an essential aspect of school selection. The traditional classroom has given way to an abundance of new instructional models that benefit different types of learners, such as project-based learning, experiential learning, inquiry-based learning, adaptive learning, differentiated instruction, a flipped classroom, and more.

Culture A school’s culture is reflected in its core values, traditions, and interactions with students and their families. Culture is key to a school’s success and to positive student outcomes. It is more than words in a mission statement. It is an ethos that is engrained in the mindset of faculty and staff and practiced both inside and outside the classroom.

Fortunately, area public, charter, and private schools offer an array of instructional models that can meet many different learning styles, preferences and needs.

What works well for one student may not work for another, and so knowing how your child learns best is the driver here.

A school’s homework expectations and grading practices are also important factors to consider. While standards based grading (also known as mastery based learning) is the norm in elementary schools, it can also be found in more progressive middle and high schools. Standards based grading typically allows for test corrections, ungraded homework, and overall more flexibility for the student as opposed to traditional grading practices.

And still, it may simply come down to the right teacher fit. To this end, ask what factors the school considers when matching up teachers and students and whether your input will be considered.

Minimally, a school’s culture should set high expectations for students, staff, and faculty alike, embrace parents as important partners in the educational setting, and reflect unwavering commitment to diversity and equity.

Counseling

A skilled counseling staff goes a long way toward helping students realize their potential. For starters, counselors and school psychologists can help identify learning differences, the need for extra social-emotional supports, and help guide a student’s academic trajectory. Counseling staff also plays a key role in putting in place IEPs (individualized education plans) and 504 plans. For many students, these interventions are critical to their academic success and social-emotional well-being.

In high school, college advisement and course selection take center stage. Be sure to investigate how much help and expertise your student can count on in these areas WellSchooled 13

Character Development

areas.

Not to be overlooked, character development is indeed an essential component of K-12 education. In recent years, it has also become increasingly important to college admissions officers. So much so, that a growing number of universities and colleges nationwide have joined the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s “Making Caring Common Project,” formally integrating character assessment into their college admissions process.

For K-12 schools, character development often coalesces with a school’s culture, and so you will find a variety of focus areas.

For some schools, it might be environmental stewardship and global citizenship, at others, community service and social responsibility. Other schools may focus on students’ intrinsic qualities, such as

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leadership, compassion and empathy, resilience and grit, or commitment to equity and justice.

Whatever the focus, the gains are only realized when the framework is threaded throughout the school’s endeavors and reinforced with meaningful actions. Be sure to understand how the school you’re considering goes about this important aspect of your child’s development.

Cost

Everything has a price, and your child’s education is no different, regardless of whether public or private school is in play. To be sure, comparing school costs is not as easy as just comparing the tuition. The comprehensiveness of public, charter, and private educational programs vary markedly.

Public school parents should carefully consider how much they will have to supplement their child’s education with extracurricular enrichment activities, extra tutoring, and college

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counseling, as well as what they will be expected to contribute toward extended class trips, field trips, and other student enrichment experiences.

Private school tuition can vary considerably in price as well as in what the tuition covers.

Consider what perks, services, and supports the tuition covers, whether it’s smaller class sizes, learning support, robust college counRANKINGS seling support, or more enrichment electives and activities. In light of what your student may be getting, private school tuition can be good bang for the buck.

Co-curriculars

WellSchooled TUTORIAL

What would the K-12 years be like without Learn school plays, Friday night football, year-MORE book, speech and debate tournaments, and the full complement of athletics, student clubs, dances, and affinity groups?

Co-curriculars are where students practice leadership, teamwork, and social skills, while RANKINGS building self-esteem and a sense of belonging. They are also what your student will look back on as the defining moments and memories of their iconic childhood and high school years.

Some schools do better than others in facilitating engagement and fostering a climate of support for these student-driven endeavors. Investigate how school plays are cast and how athletic teams are chosen and the caliber of staff responsible for overseeing these endeavors.

WellSchooled TUTORIAL

PODCAS

LearnMORE For more about character in college admissions:

ADVIC

https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/resources-for-colleges/character-assessment-college-admission-guide-overview ADVICE

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https://www.insidehighered.com/admisGood To sions/views/2019/11/04/character-diffiKNOW cult-define-important-admissions-opinion For more about the role of co-curricular activities: https://idreamcareer.com/blog/imPODCAST portance-of-co-curricular-activities-for-students/

What’s th

Correlati

ADVICE

TIP Missed out on this application round? Some schools have a rolling admissions policy and will consider your child’s application throughout the year. And even when a rolling admissions policy the isn’t in place, What’s it’s not Correlation? uncommon for a school to consider applications after the fact.

It never hurts to ask!

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W

ho knew that standardized tests reveal more about a school’s population than about the quality of instruction happening inside the classroom? Or that highly ranked

high schools often underperform when it comes to college admissions performance?

Or that the school that promises the biggest boost to posthigh school success may be the local public school after all. When it comes to evaluating schools, this issue is devoted to guiding you to the ones that are performing for real. The ones that are lifting all learners, are committed to opportunity and excellence, and are unequivocally adding value to what your student already brings to the table. We will challenge assumptions and change the way you look at schools.

THE GUIDE

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THE TEST OF TIME A school district’s enduring success with statewide testing delivers a hollow victory for its students

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By: Theresa Patzakis

n this two-part series, we set out to debunk the myths surrounding the “high performing” high school and impart some important lessons along the way.

Part One, “All that Glitters,” reveals how families are easily lured to what they believe to be a top-performing school or school district, when the reality may be anything but. A school’s impressive performance on statewide standardized testing is typically the bait.

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Families don’t realize it is what they and their student are bringing to the table that mostly accounts for high scores on these statewide tests. It is the student who is high-performing, not necessarily the school.

Indeed, a school may or may not be adding anything to the equation. When it doesn’t, the student pays the price with a lackluster educational experience, disappointing college admissions performance, and untold frustrations, stress, and expense along the way.

Part two, “Blindsided

by Reform,” reveals more about the consequences students and their families suffer when school leadership fails to deliver on its end. To be sure, the proof is in the pudding, and so we turn to one very quantitative measure of success for the college-bound high school student: college admissions performance.

The Test of Time calls out test-centered school districts like San Marino Unified that have cloaked themselves in a culture of capitulation and comity. This effectively silences important stakeholder voices, thwarts progress, and ultimately hurts students.

Using historical admissions data from the University of California, we can plot a high school’s weakening college admissions performance against the corresponding failure

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San Marino High School, San Marino, CA

of school administrators to act in the wake of education reform, and, at the same time, observe the payoff innovation and strategic action yields for other high schools.

To be sure, many variables affect college admissions performance, and, in the real world, it is impossible to control for all variables.

A high school’s weak curriculum might be buoyed by a particularly strong college counseling program or students’ scholastic endeavors beyond the school’s offerings.

On the flipside, a high school’s strong curriculum can be undermined by scheduling and access challenges, inadequate counseling services, or a school culture that works against student achievement.

Student demographics also widely impact college admissions and the choices students make in their post-secondary school pursuits. And institutional goals for student enrollment, not to mention a pandemic, will change the contours of the college admission landscape from year to year.

So while the data we use is far from perfect, it is offered for what it is meant to reveal: the fallacy of the “high-performing” high school or school district. That school and district-wide standardized testing, the measure parents and school leadership rely on to evidence success and desirability, have no reliable correlation to college admissions success. That parents and school leadership often focus on the wrong thing.

The Test of Time calls out test-centered school districts like San Marino Unified that have cloaked themselves in a culture of capitulation and comity. This effectively silences important stakeholder voices, thwarts progress, and ultimately hurts students.

The Test of Time liberates these voices, validates their concern, and brings into the light problems that will be better and more quickly resolved through an informed, community-wide acknowledgment of their existence.

About this Guide I thought you might want to know.

WellSchooled magazine is the embodiment of untold hours of research, hard work, and contributions by a tight-knit cadre of like-minded parents and professionals driven by passion and heart.

To serve our community and the greater good, we have made most of our content free of charge to the public. You also have the opportunity to purchase WellSchooled and unlock access to even more information, a signature tutorial, and the underbelly of our relentless evidenced-based inquiry.

Most importantly, your support will go a long way in validating our efforts and supporting our ultimate goal – to improve the educational journeys and life trajectories of our kids while improving schools and educational opportunities in our community.

Thank you for your support.

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All That Glitters PART ONE

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accidentally discovered the obvious nearly four years ago. Peeved over my daughter’s heavy homework load, I mined other school district websites to compare homework policies. I couldn’t help but notice that students at other high schools had higher GPAs, more impressive curriculums to engage them, access to more honors classes, better arts programs, more enrichment opportunities, and more … well, you name it. Just about everything

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at these other schools seemed more and better.

This was extremely odd. My daughter attended a school district boasting the highest test scores in the State of California. It was “the number one school district,” according to all the powers that be.

To be sure, every year this crowning achievement was proudly touted on an

oversized lawn sign staked at the busiest intersection in town, right across from City Hall. It was perfectly reasonable for parents like me to assume this meant our schools were actually delivering the world-class education our school leadership claimed they were, and giving our kids a leg up in college admissions too.

To no surprise, the data showed that college admissions had become more competitive over the years. But still, why were some historically high-performing schools able to hold their ground while others were not?

And why had some once low-performing school districts begun to soar while others failed to take off? The beauty of the data is that it refutes the go-to excuses parents often hear from school officials seeking to protect their narrative.

But seeing for myself this fairly glaring disparity with other school districts, I wondered whether the lower SMUSD Aces Test Again: GPAs and meager No 1 in State Evaluations course and enrichment offerings were taking a toll on our students’ college admissions performance.

The data, I have found, supports this simple truth: students from high schools with access to a higher caliber curriculum and more enrichment opportunities With Google’s help, I perform better in college stumbled across the admissions, period. And mother lode of adhere is the more intermissions data on esting part: it does not the University of matter whether the California’s website. Fig. 1. From a local community paper, The student is attending a And there it was, for all Outlook, heralding SMUSD’s 2018 perforprivate or public school, mance on state-wide standardized testing. to see, but seemingly a school with high stanno one but me looking dardized test scores — data on virtually every high school in or low ones, a magnet, or a charter. It is the world with students applying to the the strength of the school’s curriculum and University of California system … how student access to it that counts most. many students from a given high school had applied, how many were accepted, This happened to be so true, in my rehow many enrolled, their race, their GPA – search, that high schools posting among the campus by campus, year to year. highest standardized test scores struggled and often failed to meet the UC admissions My background in economics, research, rate benchmark for California residents at and public policy kicked in, and soon I was nearly all selective and highly selective UC calculating the comparative historic adcampuses (Berkeley, UCLA, Irvine, San missions rates of various high schools and Diego, Santa Barbara, and Davis). San charting our own San Marino High School’s Marino High illustrates this phenomenon unique and spectacular decline. all too well.

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Combined UCLA and Berkeley Acceptances 1994-2020

Fig. 2. Showing the combined UC Berkeley and UCLA acceptance trend for three high schools over time. San Marino High suffers a dramatic decline. South Pasadena holds steady. Pasadena slowly trends upward.

BEYOND THE GLITTER Through extensive research, observation, and firsthand experience, I have come to understand the keen price students and families pay for complacent school leadership and how they are so easily misled. To be sure, a school may appear to shine bright.

Endowed with an array of lofty-sounding awards and distinctions, impressive statewide test scores, a healthy brigade of PTA and schools foundation enthusiasts, and a seemingly irrefutable reputation for educational excellence, who would think, or even dare, to pull back the curtain?

The burden borne by our students attending a school that isn’t delivering is just too high for us not to become involved. Our kids’ mental health, college admissions performance, and hundreds of thousands of

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dollars in out-of-state or private college tuition costs are at stake. When schools fail to do their part, it shifts an unwieldy burden of achievement onto students in a climate that already has them at a breaking point. Students at these schools work much harder for less.

These revelations come at a time when the stakes couldn’t be higher. College admissions has become fiercely competitive.

Students with 4.0 GPAs and perfect SAT scores are infamously being passed over by what used to be “safety” and “match” schools. The going is all the more tough for the mainstream applicant without a “hook.”

WHY THIS MATTERS Students pony up their childhood, dreams, and well-being in exchange for an

über-stressful pursuit of stellar grades and high test scores, scrambling to package themselves up into what they hope to be: a desirable college candidate. But, as it turns out, students with near-perfect GPAs and test scores are a dime a dozen in today’s college admissions world and are hardpressed to distinguish themselves among a sea of similarly endowed candidates.

Compounding the disappointment will be the even greater tuition costs when merit aid and desired public university acceptances fail to come through. What parents and students have learned all too late is that, in the end, it was what was beyond their control that was their undoing: the course of study at the K-12 schools they attended.

The lesson here is that parents need to look past the glossy brochures, the outdated reputations, and the awards that decorate the marquees. What lies beneath is a school that simply either does or does not add value beyond what your student and your family already bring to the table.

This discerning lens also needs to illuminate whether a particular school is a good fit for

your child — in terms of the curriculum, the school’s culture, the classroom experience, and the like. When it is, your child will thrive as a student and human being, and success — whatever that may mean for your child — will be more readily at hand.

The burden borne by our students attending a school that isn’t delivering is just too high for us not to become involved. Our kids’ mental health, college admissions performance, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in out-of-state or private college tuition costs are at stake. . . . When schools fail to do their part, it shifts an even greater burden of achievement onto students in a climate that already has them at a breaking point. Students at Well these schools work Schooled much harder for less. TUTORIAL

AD

LearnMORE For a discussion about the role of socio-economics in standardized testing: https://econofact.org/income-differences-in-education-the-gap-within-the-gap http://www.ascd.org/publications/researchbrief/v3n06/toc.aspx Regarding the future of standardized testing in college admissions: https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/future-of-standardized-testing-sat-act/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-ending-essay-subject-tests/2021/01/19/acRANKINGS 82cdd8-574a-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html For a more on holistic college admissions: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-are-holistic-admissions-788426#:~:text=%22Holistic%22%20 can%20be%20defined%20as,one’s%20GPA%20or%20SAT%20scores https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/applying-as-a-freshman/how-applications-are-reviewed.html WellSchooled 23

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an Marino, California. I’ve spent most of my life making the most of what this alluring Los Angeles suburb is known for: a convenient 15-minute commute to downtown, a housing stock showcasing the work of iconic early twentieth century architects, the world-renowned Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, and the prestigious California Institute of Technology hugging its city limits.

San Marino is also known for its public schools. Ask just about any local and they’ll tell you, San Marino’s public schools reign supreme. How do they know? The statewide testing says so. San Marino students score higher than the rest, and that means the schools are better, right? Not even.

PART TWO

BLINDSIDED byREFORM 24 WellSchooled

If there is one thing San Marino Unified does excel at, it’s touting the district’s standardized test scores. It’s the go-to strategy to convince parents that they are doing things right. This keeps the donations flowing, boosts student enrollment and the precious state dollars tied to student attendance (the Average Daily Attendance, or “ADA”), and fuels property values. With so much at stake, it’s no wonder school district leadership goes all-in on hyping the district’s test scores.

But this phenomenon is not unique to San Marino. District administrators everywhere know parents rely on test scores that also feed Niche, US News and World Report, Great Schools, and similar ranking systems when making decisions about where to live and enroll their child in school. Rankings have been a powerful driver in the behavior of educational institutions.

Unfortunately, these poorly designed quality of the teaching, the level of student ranking systems have incentivized poor polengagement, or ultimately how prepared a icymaking in schools and schooling decistudent is to seize upon post-high school sions among famopportunities ilies. Districts with once handed their District administrators everyhigh test scores diploma. where know parents rely on test scores and rankings that feed Niche, US News, Great attract families; What the SBAC districts with less strongly and indisSchools, and other ranking systems impressive results putably correlates when making decisions about where to lose out on both to is community students and the live and enroll their child in school… demographics. In state and federal wealthier comUnfortunately, these poorly designed dollars those stumunities, families ranking systems have incentivized poor dents would have more ably support brought. policy-making in schools and schooling student achievement, whether by decisions among families.

But, as it happens, providing a safe these test scores home environment on the Smarter Balanced Assessment conducive to studying, helping their child Consortium (SBAC), alternatively known with homework, hiring tutors, volunteeras the California Assessment of Student ing at the school, or fostering an achievePerformance and Progress (CAASPP), ment-centric, college-going household speak nothing to the caliber of the educaculture. Kids in demographically poorer tion taking place inside classrooms. Rather, communities often lack these advantages. the SBAC is a standardized test that assessTheir headspace is more often occupied es 3rd through 8th graders and 11th graders with worries that disproportionately plague in math and English. The SBAC does not the underprivileged: family unemployment measure the caliber of the curriculum, the and financial strain, homelessness, hunger, domestic violence, and the list goes on.

With these burdens, acing the test is hardly a priority.

TIME TO ACT Responding to these concerns and in keeping with the nationwide movement to improve college and career readiness among high school graduates, Governor Jerry Brown in 2012 signed legislation Photo by Agê Barros on Unsplash WellSchooled 25

Understanding the College/Career Readiness Measure: Prepared The College/Career Indicator includes measures on how well local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools are preparing students for likely success after graduation. Graduates classified as Prepared on this state measure must meet at least one of the criteria in the Prepared level.

1

Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments Score of Level 3 “Standard Met” or higher on both English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics

2

Advanced Placement (AP) Exams Score of 3 or higher on two AP exams

3

International Baccalaureate (IB) Exams Score of 4 or higher on two IB exams

4

College Credit Courses Two semesters, three quarters, or three trimesters of college coursework with a grade of C- or better in academic/Career Technical Education subjects where college credits are awarded

7

Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathway Pathway completion with a grade of C- or better in the capstone course plus one of the Additional Criteria below: • Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments: Level 3 or higher in ELA and at least a Level 2 in mathematics, or Level 3 or higher in mathematics and at least a Level 2 in ELA • One semester/two quarters/two-trimesters of College Credit Courses with a grade of C- or better in academic/CTE subjects where college credits are awarded for each course

5

State Seal of Biliteracy (SSB) SSB awarded and score of Level 3 or higher in ELA on the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments

6

Leadership/Military Sccience Two years of Leadership/ Military Science, score of Level 3 or higher in ELA or math, and Level 2 “Standard Nearly Met” or higher in other subject area

8

University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) a–g requirements Complete a–g course requirements with a grade of C- or better plus one of the Additional Criteria below: • Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments: Level 3 or higher in ELA and at least a Level 2 in mathematics, or Level 3 or higher in mathematics and at least a Level 2 in ELA • One semester/two quarters/two-trimesters of College Credit Courses with a grade of C- or better in academic/CTE subjects where college credits are awarded for each course • Score of 3 on one AP exam or score of 4 on one IB exam • Completion of CTE Pathway

Fig. 3 The current California College and Career Readiness Indicators against which high schools October 2019 demonstrate the readiness of their student populations. SBAC, now only 1 of 7 measures, has been increasingly minimized over the years. Source: California Department of Education

For more information, please visit the California Accountability Model & School Dashboard web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/cm/index.asp.

abolishing the CAASPP’s precursor — the Academic Performance Index (API) — as the measure for high school performance. From this point forward, standardized testing would be just one of a handful of new performance measures assessing how well a high school is preparing its students for college and career.

Faced with this new mandate, states clamored to devise new assessment measures systems that would hold high schools accountable for meeting the new heightened college and career readiness standards. In California, our department of education, along with the University of California and Cal State systems and leading education policy institutes and think tanks, collaborated in vetting the prospects for supplemental performance indicators that

26 WellSchooled

would eventually make up the for college and career readiness component of the “California Dashboard.”

From 2012 through the dashboard announcement in 2017, education circles were abuzz with the Dashboard’s leading contenders: Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathway completion, A through G course completion, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) course completion, bi-literacy diploma seals, dual college enrollment.

In preparation for the inevitable, school districts began fortifying their AP and honors programs, introduced International Baccalaureate programs, initiated and expanded CTE pathways, aligned graduation requirements with A-G

course completion requirements, initiated and added more dual language immersion programs, and introduced dual college enrollment at their campuses.

another. It is equally valid to demonstrate college and career readiness through any one of the eight measures.

Meanwhile, some school districts did none of these things. Perhaps complacent or just simply clueless, San Marino Unified chose to double down on its track record of impressive test results and continued to focus the narrative on the district’s standardized testing performance. This lured the community into a false sense of pride in educational excellence.

That said, how a student becomes collegeand career-ready does matter to colleges and, therefore, to the college-bound student. Unlike the SBAC, a CTE pathway completion is reflected on a student’s transcript. And so is AP and IB coursework, Leadership/Military coursework, A-G course completion, and the Seal of Biliteracy. In fact, the only factor not reflected on a high school transcript is a student’s score on the SBAC.

NEW MEASURES, NEW ERA

From a college admissions standpoint, this is important. High schools encouraging sustained participation in honors coursework, CTE pathways, foreign language programs, and the like are also helping students build a transcript that will resonate with college admissions officers.

In 2017, the much-anticipated “Dashboard” was unveiled along with the five college and career readiness measures upon which high schools would now be evaluated. The importance of the SBAC was dramatically minimized to be only one of the five measures that would make up the original College and Career Readiness Indicator panel.

By 2020, the SBAC had been diluted even more by what now stands as eight different college and career readiness measures. This means high schools can offer seven different ways students at their schools can become college-and career-ready. Students are no longer limited to performing well on the SBAC. Students can complete a CTE pathway, take Advancement Placement courses and pass the corresponding exams, and so on.

The state does not value one measure over

When schools and parents focus on SBAC scores and the ranking systems they fuel, both miss the mark. School districts touting their students’ performance on the SBAC as evidence of “educational excellence” can lose their footing in the classroom, turning out an inferior curriculum and a sub-par educational experience overall. This triggers a host of drawbacks for students and their families.

CONSEQUENCES For starters, students with access to a more limited educational program are at a disadvantage in college admissions. They must work harder to distinguish themselves within the applicant pool. They also miss WellSchooled 27

Often, we see school districts focus on the total number of admitted students and not the rate of admission. This confuses the issue and misleads the public. out on opportunities to study and/or dive deeper into what they are passionate about, which carries untold benefits for the mental health and well being of the student.

Merit aid and scholarships will also be harder to come by for the mediocre student, resulting in a higher overall cost of college for these students and their families.

The toll this takes on a student’s trajectory is often more than just in terms of academic opportunity. Blunting a student’s potential and the opportunity to succeed crushes dreams along with self-esteem and spirit.

On the flip side, school districts with less impressive SBAC scores also lose out, even when their educational program may be far superior. Families spooked by the lower scores opt for private schools or settle down in other school districts. This penalizes districts that are indeed innovating and offering superior programming but also serving a disadvantaged population that historically weighs down test scores.

28 WellSchooled

Ultimately, it is college admissions officers who provide the most powerful feedback on how well a high school is cultivating “college- and career-ready” students.

Thankfully, the University of California provides a helpful window and makes analysis possible through its webpage, “UC Admissions by Source School,” a treasure trove of admissions data and statistics across its eight campuses.

By examining the University of California admissions data, we can see for ourselves how well students from ten of the Northwest San Gabriel Valley high schools performed at the most selective UC campuses: Los Angeles, Berkeley, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine, and Davis.

APPLES TO APPLES But first, we need to talk about apples.

When making comparisons, we often hear the phrase “apples to apples.” We get that it is unreasonable to compare the juiciness of an apple to that of an orange, but it’s fair to compare two different apples.

In the education realm, researchers often identify student “cohorts” when making comparisons among the student population. These cohorts might be socioeconomically disadvantaged students, English learners, special needs students, and so on.

For our purposes, we compared how well the pools of UC applicants from different San Gabriel Valley area high schools (our “cohorts”) performed in the admissions process. We were curious whether students at a particular high school were more desirable applicants because of the high school they attended, as evidenced by the rate of admission at University of California campuses for that high school.

For instance, if 15 out of 100 applicants from High School A were accepted at UCLA (a 15% admission rate) while 30 out of 90 applicants were accepted to UCLA from High School B (a 30% admission rate), we can see that UCLA favored the applicants from High School B over High School A. This could be a one-off, but if it happens year after year, it may be because there is High School B is cultivating applicants that are more attractive to college admissions officers.

Often, we see school districts focus on the total number of admitted students and not the rate of admission. This confuses the issue and misleads the public. Why? Let’s talk about apples again.

Suppose there are two apple farms. Plentiful Farms has plenty of established trees that

produce a lot of apples. Plentiful Farms doesn’t have to put much effort into its orchards to bear a big crop, and so it sticks to the basics.

At harvest time, Plentiful brings to market 12,000 bushels of apples. About 25% (3,000 bushels) of their apples sell to elite buyers purchasing for gourmet markets.

The rest of the apples are too bland, lack luster, or otherwise just lack appeal to the elite market.

Across the river, Heirloom Farms has a small number of established fruit-bearing trees and a lot of saplings. To bring the saplings along, Heirloom fortifies the soil and invests in more innovative farming techniques, which also benefits the more established fruit-bearing trees.

Still, because Heirloom only has a limited number of established trees, at least for now, they are only able to bring 2,000 bushels of apples to market. But, the choosy elite buyers purchase a larger percentage of Heirloom’s apples. They are juicier, more flavorful, and possess other attributes the elite market loves. Heirloom sells 75% of its apples (1500 bushels) to the elite buyers.

Heirloom’s investment and attention to its orchard paid off.

When the season is over, Plentiful hires a marketing firm to publicize that it sold twice as many apples to elite buyers than Heirloom. This makes people think that Plentiful Farms are great arboriculturists.

But, now that you know Heirloom Farms is three times more likely to turn out more tasty, sought-after apples than Plentiful, WellSchooled 29

you’d probably rather plant your sapling in Heirloom’s orchard.

Such is the same with schools. It’s not the sheer number of admitted students but the admission rate that offers the most insight into how desirable a “crop” of applicants are from a given high school.

LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD We chose to examine admissions at the University of California (UC) campuses.

With admissions rates that range from 12% to 35% for California residents at its six most selective campuses, the UC system provides insight into admissions performance at selective and highly selective colleges and universities nationwide.

This is because the vast majority of colleges and universities today use a holistic approach to evaluating applicants that mirrors that used by the UC system. While the grades and test scores matter (and test scores increasingly less), so do all the other components of the application in a holistic admissions process: the rigor of study reflected on a transcript, extracurricular activities, leadership and volunteerism, the personal essay, teacher recommendations, and so on.

UC admissions has the added advantage of leveling the playing field among high schools. This is because UC schools, as a matter of policy, do not take into account an applicant’s legacy status or ability to pay the tuition, nor offer early action or early decision opportunities — all of which can

30 WellSchooled

heavily skew college admissions performance in favor of public and private high schools with affluent populations.

UC admissions decisions are more squarely based on the record the student builds at their high school, the record that is reflected in their transcript and within their application materials.

So, when we began comparing the admission rates of applicants from Northwest San Gabriel Valley area public high schools and saw how the numbers were coming together, we knew we were onto something. Schools claiming victory as an institution on the basis of their SBAC performance did not perform well when it came to college admissions.

For instance, San Marino High performed the worst overall in UC admissions among the San Gabriel Valley area schools we examined over the last five years, even though it posted the highest or second-highest SBAC score during these same years. Apples to apples, admissions officers preferred applicants put forward by other high schools.

A DECLINE OVER TIME While it is true that the total number of acceptances of students to the UC system today are just as strong as in 1994 (the first year for which the UC system makes the data available), it is also true that the acceptances of San Marino students have qualitatively migrated to less selective UC campuses.

For instance, as Fig. 4 shows us, in 1994 only 10% of San Marino’s acceptances were at the then-least competitive campus — Riverside

Class of 1994

Allocation of Acceptances at University of California Campuses San Marino High School 1994 v. 2019

Class of 2019

16.7%

10.7%

26.2% 52.1%

37.2%

57.1% Highly Selective UCs Los Angeles + Berkeley

Selective UCs: Irvine, San Diego, Santa Barbara + Davis

Other UCs: Santa Cruz, Riverside, + Merced

Fig. 3 . In 1994, over 80% of UC acceptances offered to San Marino students were allocated among the six most selective campuses (in shades of blue). By 2019, that number had shrunk to 48%, with the largest share of acceptances being concentrated at the least selective campuses. The legend lists the UC campuses in order of selectivity, with Los Angeles being the most selective and Riverside and Merced (opened in 2005) being the least. Source: University of California

— and, quite impressively, over 82% of the acceptances were at the six most selective campuses — UCLA, Berkeley, San Diego, Irvine, Davis and Santa Barbara. By 2019, only 48% of San Marino’s acceptances were at these campuses.

For instance, in comparing San Marino High School to La Cañada High, we see that in 2019, La Cañada students (Fig. 4, in red) were accepted to the more selective campuses in greater numbers, while San Marino High students dominated acceptances at the two least selective campuses.

RANKINGS EXPLAINED To drive the point home, we decided to rank selected San Gabriel Valley high schools according to their SBAC performance and then according to their UC admissions performance. For sure, it would be interesting to see if there is any correlation between the two.

The methodology we used is explained in “The Forest, Weeds, and Trees,” but the CliffsNotes version is, we calculated the admission rate for each high school at the six most selective UC campuses. We did this for the last five years. This 5-year track record created more statistical stability and

WellSchooled 31

2019 Admission Rate at UC Campuses San Marino High School v. La Cañada High School Fig. 4. La Cañada applicants (blue) are favored over San Marino applicants (green) at the more selective UC campuses.

San Marino’s UC acceptances are concentrated at the two least selective campuses, Riverside and Merced.

2019 San Marino High 2019 La Cañada High

Los Angeles

UC CAMPUS

Berkeley San Diego Irvine Davis

Santa Barbara Santa Cruz Riverside Merced

10%

revealed trends. The cumulative percentage by which the school beat the benchmark for California residents resulted in the final ranking. Some high schools (Blair, Marshall Fundamental, John Muir, and Duarte High and various charters and continuation schools) were excluded because the UC system lacked data for those schools at certain UC campuses. (This is likely because not enough students applied from those high schools.)

HOW THEY RANK

32 WellSchooled

20%

30%

Gabrielino High School performed the best overall in UC admissions. It also claimed the number one spot twice in the last four years.

San Gabriel and Temple City high schools took the overall number two and three spots, respectively, and South Pasadena, fourth.

So, given how the SBAC is so widely touted by some schools as an indicator of education excellence, we would expect the schools that performed so well in UC admissions to

garner high SBAC scores. But this was not the case. In fact, the rankings are nearly flipped.

The most intriguing revelation of these rankings is the absence of a positive correlation between a school’s UC admissions performance and its SBAC performance.

In fact, it is a negative correlation. (See page 36.) Indeed, the much-touted standardized testing proves to offer no value when discerning whether a high school is cultivating desirable college applicants.

LESSONS LEARNED

Gabrielino High School, San Gabriel, CA

So, what does this all mean? For one thing, it tells us standardized test scores, the scores that fuel the Great Schools, Niche, and other rankings, is an unreliable indicator for any advantage a school might offer in college admissions.

School leadership that focuses on standardized testing at the expense of curriculum-based college and career measures is doing a disservice to students. An impressive SBAC score might get the district a high rating in Great Schools or Niche, but it won’t get students into college.

School leadership must embrace the full spectrum of the college and career readiness measures and ensure the curriculum is offering students the opportunity to shine across all eight measures.

WellSchooled 33

RANK SBAC/CAASP STANDARDIZED TESTING PERFORMANCE

BY HIGH SCHOOL (2016 -2020) SCORE 2020 2019

5 7 13 17 20 23 27 33 35 40

NO SCORES DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC

RANK HIGH SCHOOL 1 LA CAÑADA SAN MARINO 2 SO. PASADENA 3 ARCADIA 4 5 TEMPLE CITY 6 GABRIELINO SAN GABRIEL 7 ALHAMBRA 8 MONROVIA 9 10 PASADENA

2018

2017

2016

1

2

1

1

2

1

2

2

3 4 6

3 5 4

3 5 4

4 3 6

5

6

7

5

7

7

6

7

8

8

9

8

9

9

8

9

10

10

10

10

Fig.5. SBAC rankings for 2016 through 2020 for selected San Gabriel Valley high schools. The SBAC, formerly known as STAR testing, is only 1 of 8 measures by which the state evaluates student college and career readiness.

34

PODCAST

LearnMORE ADVICE

KINGS

TIP UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ADMISSIONS PERFORMANCE

BY HIGH SCHOOL (2016 - 2020) RANK HIGH SCHOOL 1 GABRIELINO SAN GABRIEL 2 TEMPLE CITY 3 SO. PASADENA 4 T5 ALHAMBRA T5 LA CAÑADA MONROVIA T5 ARCADIA 8 PASADENA 9 10 SAN MARINO

SCORE

2020 2019

16

2

7

21

4

6

25

7

27

2018 2017 2016

What’s the

1 1 Correlation?

5

4

3

4

3

8

5

2

1

8

9

6

3

28

9

1

1

10

7

28

8

4

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10

2

6

2

8

29

6

5

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30

5

10

1

8

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40

2

9

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9

10

Fig. 6. UC Admissions rankings for 2016 through 2020 at the 6 most selective UC campuses: Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara. C See appendix for further explanation of methodology. Source: University of California

35

TIP

What’s the

Correlation?

WHAT CORRELATES MORE TO TEST SCORES?

DEMOGRAPHICS OR COLLEGE ADMISSION PERFORMANCE?

Fig. 7. This chart reveals a positive correlation between SBAC scores and the demographics of student populations at selective UC campuses.

Additionally there is a negative correlation between the SBAC and how well a high school’s student population might perform in UC Admissions.

Sources: California Department of Education and University of California

HIGH SCHOOL

SBAC RANK

MOST AFFLUENT POPULATION RANK

UC ADMISSIONS RANK

La Canada

1

1

5

San Marino

2

2

10

So. Pasadena

3

3

4

Arcadia

4

4

8

Temple City

5

5

3

Gabrielino

6

7

1

San Gabriel

7

10

2

Alhambra

8

8

5

Monrovia

9

6

5

Pasadena

10

9

9

0.9

-0.09

CORRELATION WITH SBAC

36 WellSchooled

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We welcome members and non-members to join us for weekly dining, special experiences, and more.

Visit universityclubpasadena.com to learn more about the Club and all it has to offer to you and your family, such as:

Private Event Space

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WellSchooled 37

Train your Brain, Change your Life.

­

38 WellSchooled

Comparing High School Performance Against 2020 College & Career Readiness

ADVIC

The State of California considers students college and career ready if they fulfill any one of eight measures. In “The Test of Time” we discovered the pitfalls of standardized testing as a measure of a school’s overall success as an educational institution.

Since 2017, the indicators have been expanded to include eight different measures of college and career readiness.

Students can be prepared according to more than one measure, and even all of them.

The more opportunity schools provide for students to demonstrate college and career readiness, the better. This will make for a more rewarding high school experience and better position students for posthigh school success.

We have created chart comparing how fifteen of our public high schools in the Northwest San Gabriel Valley performed on each of the eight measures in 2020 according to the California Dashboard.

Keep in mind that the results are a snapshot in time. The dashboard doesn’t reflect school efforts underway to RANKINGS implement opportunities like expanded dual enrollment, new CTE pathways, or other offerings that haven’t come to fruition in time to be captured in the recent reporting period.

A school’s robust expansion of its dual enrollment program this year, for instance, won’t be reflected on the dashboard for another year or two, after students have had the chance to engage in the coursework,

and student participation is WellSchooled reportedTUTORIAL to and published by the State.

PO

LearnMORE For more about California’s Dashboard and College and Career Readiness:

A

https://ed100.org/blog/college-and-career-dashboard

https://edsource.org/2020/ californias-misleading-k12-dashboard-could-leadto-closure-of-the-wrongschools/641567

To run a search on a a school or school district: https://www6.cde.ca.gov/ californiamodel/default

For an understanding on the California Dashboard’s recent history: https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ ne/yr17/yr17rel20.asp

WellSchooled 39

Wh

Corr

Compare 15 Northwest San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools on Eight College and Career Readiness Factors (2020)

Career Technical Education Pathway Completion 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

73.5

11

7.6

14.7

u Ca ir ña M da ar sh M all on ro Pa via sa Sa den n Ga a b Sa riel n M a So rin ut o h Te Pa m s pl * eC ity

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10.6 15.6 di

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Percentage of “Prepared” students who meet this specific measure

+ 1 additional modified criteria

Advanced Placement (AP) Exams 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

76.9

73

40.7

55

51.7

45.4 48.2 49.8

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69.5

31.1

25

di

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47.7

42.7

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Percentage of “Prepared” students who meet this specific measure

Score of 3 or higher on 2 exams

The charts on the following pages allow readers to compare high school performance against the 8 college and career readiness indicators. Some data fields may be lacking due to COVID-19 related reporting irregularities by high schools and/ or the California Department of Education.

For further detail about the College and Career Readiness Indicators: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/cm/documents/understandcciprepared.pdf Source: California Department of Education.https://www6.cde.ca.gov/californiamodel/default 40 WellSchooled

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83.9

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100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

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80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

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Percentage of “Prepared” students who meet this specific measure

Percentage of “Prepared” students who meet this specific measure

Compare 15 Northwest San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools on Eight College and Career Readiness Factors (2020)

College Credit Courses (Dual Enrollment) (2 Semesters)

19.6

46.2

26.5

“Standard Met” (Level 3) on Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)

75 78.7 87.5

58.2 42.3 81.4

70.8

53.6 87.9 78.1 80.8

47.1

26.5

WellSchooled 41

Compare 15 Northwest San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools on Eight College and Career Readiness Factors (2020) + 1 additional modified criteria

90.6 89

81.4

86.8

84.3

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87.6 86.6

93.2 93.3 87.7 93

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100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Ar ca

Percentage of “Prepared” students who meet this specific measure

Completion of Univ. of Calif and Cal State A-G Requirements

42 WellSchooled

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Percentage of “Prepared” students who meet this specific measure

Leadership/Military Science (2 Years)

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80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

CS

Bl

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di

Ar ca ai Ar r tsSG V Du a Ga rte br iel in o Jo hn M La ui Ca r ña M da ar sh M all on ro Pa via sa Sa den n Ga a b Sa riel n M a So rin ut o h Te Pa m s pl * eC ity CS

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Percentage of “Prepared” students who meet this specific measure

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Ar ca

Percentage of “Prepared” students who meet this specific measure

Compare 15 Northwest San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools on Eight College and Career Readiness Factors (2020)

International Baccalaureate

Score of 4 or higher on two IB exams

40 19.6

State Seal of Biliteracy (SSB)

and “Standard Met” on ELA Portion of SBAC

73 76.9

53.1 45.4

23.2

11.3

20.5 19.3

26.3 28.2

32.7 26

11.6

19.5

WellSchooled 43

44 WellSchooled

Getting It Right

The Math Academy Brings World Class Mathematics Instruction to Pasadena Unified

As you learn more about K-12 education in the San Gabriel

Valley, you’ll also discover some exceptional, and in some cases unparalleled educational opportunities our community has to offer. The Math Academy is a prime example.

The Math Academy endeavors to prepare students for the top math and science programs in the world. They mean it, and they are.

No where else in the San Gabriel Valley, and perhaps even in the entire country, can you find a math program delivering such an

elite level of instruction to middle and high schoolers. And this is being done in a public school setting, at no cost to its students.

The Math Academy accelerates the learning curve of its mathematically gifted students. Once identified as a candidate for the program (usually at the end of fifth

WellSchooled 45

grade) middle school students tackle algebra, geometry, trigonometry and AP ´and BC Calculus by the time they head off to high school. It sounds like a tall tale, but it’s true. in its Co-founder and Executive Director Now Sandy Roberts sixth year, the

Math Academy is embedded in three Pasadena Unified middle schools: McKinley School, where the program began, Sierra Madre Middle School, and Washington STEAM Magnet Academy.

CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS What makes the Math Academy as refreshing as it is remarkable is the assumptions it challenges. With so many middle school pathways ending at geometry or even Algebra 1, it’s important to know that some students are capable of much more.

The Math Academy has figured out how to provide a curriculum that fosters as much enthusiasm for math as it does for learning the material.

Leveraging eight cognitive strategies, the pedagogy harnesses cutting-edge cognitive science to advance student learning and access high level mathematics without the strain and drain one would expect.

Classroom time includes only 5 to 7 minutes of instruction. The balance of class is spent with the kids up at the whiteboards, practicing what was taught.

At Pasadena High School, Math Academy Pre-pandemic I was able to visit Math students can dive deeper with an array of Academy classrooms at McKinley and applied and theoretical courses that repADVICE witness it all in action. To be sure, it was licate a collegiate undergraduate math a far cry from typical classroom instrucprogram. To further capitalize on the eleGood To in their seat was tion. The only person vated student knowledge base, Pasadena the teacher, and only sort of. Sitting on KNOW High has expanded its top of a student desk in curriculum to include calthe middle of the room, culus-based physics, and the instructor, a PhD computer science courses TUTORIAL in mathematics no less, encompassing software called out math problems development and comto students, who eagerly PODCAST putational modeling. worked out the solutions Listen in to WellSchooled’s on whiteboards spanLearnMORE “Lunch Court” event with ning the classroom walls.

Math Academy co-founder Sandy Roberts.

The level of enthusiasm, student engagement, ADVICE

WellSchooled

46 WellSchooled

and energy in that classroom was exciting to experience.

In this case, elevated rigor does not correlate to a bigger homework load, thanks to an Co-founder Jason Roberts innovative proprietary pedagogy and a sophisticated algorithm that differentiates among learners. Co-founder and Executive Director Sandy Roberts explains, “We don’t crush them with homework. . . . We really do want kids to become well-rounded adults when they grow up. So, it is really important that they go out and do more than just their homework, that they do more than just math.“

We don’t crush them with homework. . . .

We really do want kids to become well-rounded adults when they grow up.

So, it is really important that they go out and do more than just their homework, that they do more than just math.

ADVICE

Sandy Roberts

Co-founderWell and Executive Director Schooled

TUTORIAL

PARENT POWER

POD

The Math Academy is also a lesson in what parents and schools can accomplish together. The brainchild of parents Jason and Sandy Roberts, who volunteered to bring an after-school math enrichment program to their child’s 4th grade class, the Math Academy was elevated to unexpected RANKINGS heights when these efforts were discovered by PUSD’s Superintendent, Brian McDonald.

Check out this video for an inside look at the Math Academy and how it is helping students and attracting families to Pasadena public schools.

What this parent-school partnership has accomplished since then proves what strategic partnerships can yield with the right factors in the equation.

Find out more about the Math Academy at https://www.mathacademy.us/

LearnMORE

AD

T

https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-east/education/2018/12/06/math-academy-working-to-add-students-to-pasadena-publicschools#

Wha

Corre

WellSchooled 47

PEN is a network of more than 2,000 parents who support & send our children to Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) schools.

We can help you…  Get up-to-date information about what’s happening in PUSD  Understand all the unique signature & magnet programs  Find the right PUSD schools for your family  Connect with other parents  Have a voice in the school district

Sign up for a free membership & our newsletter at www.penfamilies.org 48 WellSchooled

SKIP ON OVER TO

The Gazebo Open air dance classes perfect for children of all ages available under our Gazebo studio. All Covid safety and physical distance protocols maintained. Choose from ballet, creative movement, jazz, hip hop and more.

Students enjoy safely dancing with friends, lifting spirits and putting a little extra spring in their step. All children series classes offered both outdoor and virtual.

Pasadena Civic Ballet 253 N VINEDO AVE, PASADENA, CA 91107 | 626.792.0873 www.pcballet.com | @pasadenacivicballet

WellSchooled 49

ADVICE

ADVICE

COLLEGE Good To ACCEPTANCE KNOW MATRICULATION REPORTS Good To

&

KNOW

WellSchooled TUTORIAL

WellSchooled TUTORIAL

PODCAST

LearnMORE

Read between the lines

ADVICE

PODCAST

LearnMORE

RANKINGS

TIP

ADVICE High schools publish college admissions data revealing where their graduating seniors were accepted and ultimately enrolled in college. Parents and students often look to these reports to gain insight into how well a particular high school prepares students for the type of post-high school opportunities of interest. To make the most of these reports and also understand their limitations and shortcomings, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, know the difference between college acceptances and matriculation. It’s a big one!

A college acceptance report will appear more robust and impressive because it lists every institution of higher learning that offered a spot to members of a graduating high school class. It’s common for just one student to be responsible for as many as five, even more, schools listed.

In contrast, a matriculation 50 WellSchooled

What’s the a student report only lists where Correlation? actually enrolled. Matriculation data isTIP a much smaller subset of college acceptance data.

A high school’s focus will also drive different post-secondary pursuits of its students and therefore the profile of these reports. acceptancWhat’sCollege the es and matriculation for an Correlation? arts-focused high school will look different from those for a STEM magnet.

offer more merit or financial.

It’s common for these students to pass up acceptances to elite colleges in favor of a scholarship-based “free ride” at what may be regarded as less prestigious schools.

On the flip side, affluent student populations can afford to take advantage of early action admissions processes which boosts admissions rates at their alma mater.

Acceptance rates will also vary among schools and programs at the same university. For instance, the overall acceptance rate at a university may be one number, but the admit rate to that University’s School of Engineering or School of Music may be higher or lower.

For all of these reasons and more, it’s hard to compare the college admissions performance of two different high schools, and still, there are more incongruences in play.

College pursuits are also driven by the demographics of a student population. Students with less financial resources will apply to more public universities and/or enroll at schools that

Smaller high schools, for instance, offer cumulative reports that capture data over a period of time, usually three to five years. This allows the school to reflect the breadth of opportunities its students seize that would be impossible to capture with just one graduating class.

ADVICE Good To

KNOW

WellSchooled TUTORIAL

COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE & MATRICULATION REPORTS

We’ve selected a handful of matriculation and college admissions reports to illustrate these PODCAST points. Discern the differences and see what insight you glean. Click on a school below to LearnMORE visit the school’s report.

ADVICE

GS

TIP CSARTS - SGV

WESTRIDGE SCHOOL

What’s the

Correlation?

POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL WALDORF HIGH SCHOOL

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Private & Charter Schools are listed in alphabetical order.

59

12

54

La Canada ˜

Click on a school for its website.

Don’t see your school listed?

Email us: hello@wellschooled.com

2.

3.

4.

5.

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9.

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Rose Bowl

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1. All Soul’s Chinese & Spanish Language Immersion School Almansor Academy Alverno Heights Academy Arcadia Christian School Arroyo Pacific Academy Aveson Charter Schools Barnhart School Calvary Road Baptist Academy The Cambria Institute Chandler School Clairbourn School Crestview Preparatory School CSArts - SGV EF Academy Emmaus Lutheran School Excellence in Education Academy Excelsior School Flintridge Preparatory School Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy Foothill Country Days School Foothill Oaks Academy Friends Western School Frostig Center for Educational Therapy Fusion Academy Futures Academy The Gooden School High Point Academy Hillsides Education Center Holy Family Catholic School La Salle High School LILA (Lycée International) Maranatha High School Mayfield Junior School Mayfield Senior School New Horizon School Oak Crest Academy for the Gifted and Talented

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35 49

31

210

134

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Altadena 65

27

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Pasadena

33 32 70 71 34

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41

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Sa Ma

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110 ELEMENTARY (TK-5/6)

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South Pasadena

K-8 K-12

15

4-12

42

1

MIDDLE - HIGH (6/7-12)

Alhambra

HIGH

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Odyssey Charter Schools Opportunities for Learning Pasadena Christian School Pearl Preparatory School Polytechnic School Ramona Convent Secondary School Renaissance Academy Rio Hondo Preparatory School Sahag-Mesrob Armenian Christian School San Gabriel Academy San Gabriel Christian School

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San Gabriel Missi SCALE Academy Sequoyah School Southwestern Ac St. Andrew Catho St. Anthony Scho St. Bede School St. Elizabeth of H St. Francis High S St. John Bosco H St. Mark’s Schoo

PRIVATE & CHARTER SCHOOLS IN THE NORTHWEST SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

7 67

66

30

Sierra Madre

3

43 68

61

36

5 17

26

16

7

8

Monrovia

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21 13

Duarte

4

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an arino

Arcadia

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San 47 Gabriel 48

62

Hungary Parish School School High School ol

605

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ion High School y l cademy olic School ool – San Gabriel

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Temple City 57

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St. Monica Academy St. Philip the Apostle School St. Rita School St. Therese School St. Thomas More Catholic School Saints Felicitas and Perpetua Stratford School Tabernacle of David Christian Academy Villa Esperanza Services Walden School Waldorf School

70. The Waverly School 71. Westridge School for Girls · OUT OF AREA ·

Immaculate Heart High School LA County High School for the Arts Loyola High School

53

THE FOREST, WEEDS & TREES More data, rankings and other stuff you may want to know

“Understanding requires insight.

Insight must be anchored.”

— Brian Greene

54 WellSchooled

W

ell, here it is, for all you data junkies and skeptics — the backup, the data dump, the weeds. The data is organized in the same order of the articles in which they appear.

May you see the forest through the trees!

WellSchooled 55

DATA FOREST page

20 Part One | All that Glitters It began with this early graph (updated to include recent years).

56 WellSchooled

DATA FOREST

For Figure 2, this graph includes the back up calculations. Note that here we capture different information than in the charts and graphs that follow. This graph illustrates trends in the number of acceptances, not the admission rate of each school. This is instructive because the student enrollment remained fairly stable at each of these schools, yet the number of students accepted to the two most selective UC campuses trended differently among these schools. The number (whether fewer, more or the same) reveals the high school’s performance against itself and whether it is responding to college admissions and other education trends and innovating to position its students for post-high school success.

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DATA FOREST page

Part Two | Blindsided by Reform

24

This section includes the calculations for Northwest San Gabriel area high schools for years 2016 - 2020. The top row is the admission rate for California residents, our “benchmark.”

The green highlight denotes where a school beat the benchmark, red where it didn’t, and where it was met, there is no highlight.

The ranking methodolgy aggregates the point spread of the 6 most selective campuses (UCLA, Berkeley, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine and Davis) based on the admission rate benchmark for California Residents. Santa Cruz, Riverside and Merced are provided for informational purposes. The campus selectiveness is based upon admission rates for California residents at each campus. The percentages are rounded up to the nearest one-hundredth.

“No data” reflects that there was an insufficient applicant pool. When a high school had only one or two missing data fields, a historical average for that high school’s campus-specific performance was used.

Source: www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-source-school

58 WellSchooled

DATA FOREST

2016 University of California Campuses Admission Rates Amongst North San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools ad=admitted, ap=applied, r=rate, dfcr=difference from California residents Data from the Six Most Selective University of California Campuses

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DATA FOREST

2017 University of California Campuses Admission Rates Amongst North San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools ad=admitted, ap=applied, r=rate, dfcr=difference from California residents Data from the Six Most Selective University of California Campuses

60 WellSchooled

DATA FOREST

2018 University of California Campuses Admission Rates Amongst North San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools ad=admitted, ap=applied, r=rate, dfcr=difference from California residents) Data from the Six Most Selective Campuses

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DATA FOREST

2019 University of California Campuses Admission Rates Amongst North San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools ad=admitted, ap=applied, r=rate, dfcr=difference from California residents) Data from the Six Most Selective Campuses

62 WellSchooled

DATA FOREST

2020 University of California Campuses Admission Rates Amongst North San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools ad=admitted, ap=applied, r=rate, dfcr=difference from California residents) Data from the Six Most Selective Campuses

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DATA FOREST

AN EXAMINATION OF A CROSS-SECTION OF HIGH SCHOOLS

The LA Center for Enriched Studies (Los Angeles), Westlake (Westlake Village), Canyon Crest (San Diego), Orange County High School of the Arts (Santa Ana), and Miramonte (Orinda), not only performed well in 2017 when this chart was compiled, but do year after year. Gabrielino emerges as the highest ranking school in the northwestern San Gabriel valley among the schools included in this survey and also retains this status overall from 2016 2019. Green squares denote where the high school beat the benchmark for California residents (top row) and red where it fell below.

64 WellSchooled

DATA FOREST

These data reflect 11th grade test results only.

The order of high schools is ranked from highest combined scores to lowest.

All information was found on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress https://caaspp.cde.ca.gov/sb2018/Search?ps=true&lstTestYear=2018&lstTestType=B&lst Group=3&lstCounty=19&lstDistrict=64881-000&lstSchool=1936822

2019 SBAC Results Among North San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools and School Districts #

High School (Dist.)

Mean Average Score Ela+Math (11)

1

La Cañada (LCUSD)

2705.1+2720.6=5425.7

2

San Marino (SMUSD)

2680.1+2735.7=5415.8

3

South Pasadena (SPUSD)

2690.1+2683.6=5373.7

4

Mark Keppel (Al. USD)

2648.3+2685.7=5334.0

5

Arcadia (Ar. USD)

2643.1+2668.8=5311.9

6

Gabrielino (SGUSD)

2645.6+2656.7=5302.3

7

Temple City (TCUSD)

2641.7+2657.7=5299.4

8

San Gabriel (Al. USD)

2623.7+2643.6=5267.3

9

CSArts-SGV (Charter)

2666.6+2591.6=5258.2

10 Alhambra (Al. USD)

2634.8+2603.2=5238.0

11 Monrovia (MUSD) 12 Marshall (PUSD)

2620.5+2607.1=5227.6 2630.3+2571.8=5202.1

13 Duarte (DUSD)

2595.7+2564.4=5160.1

14 Pasadena (PUSD)

2585.3+2543.7=5129.0

15 John Muir (PUSD)

2539.8+2506.6=5046.4

16 Blair (PUSD)

2536.0+2488.9=5024.9

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DATA FOREST

2018 SBAC Results Among North San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools and School Districts #

66 WellSchooled

High School (Dist.)

Mean Average Score Ela+Math (11)

1

San Marino (SMUSD)

2692.4+2745.9=5438.3

2

La Cañada (LCUSD)

2695.0+2723.8=5418.8

3

Mark Keppel (Al. USD)

2657.3+2692.8=5350.1

4

South Pasadena (SPUSD)

2663.8+2683.9=5347.7

5

Temple City (TCUSD)

2640.1+2657.3=5297.4

6

Arcadia (Ar. USD)

2620.1+2664.0=5284.1

7

Gabrielino (SGUSD)

2631.6+2631.4=5263.0

8

San Gabriel (Al. USD)

2606.0+2626.9=5232.9

9

Marshall (PUSD)

2638.0+2589.1=5227.1

10 Alhambra (Al. USD)

2619.0+2605.4=5224.4

11 Monrovia (MUSD) 12 Duarte (DUSD)

2620.3+2584.1=5204.4 2611.8+2520.7=5132.5

13 Pasadena (PUSD)

2563.7+2554.2=5117.9

14 Blair (PUSD)

2563.6+2525.2=5088.8

15 John Muir (PUSD)

2561.7+2505.3=5067.0

DATA FOREST

2017 SBAC Results Among North San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools and School Districts #

High School (Dist.)

Mean Average Score Ela+Math (11)

1

La Cañada (LCUSD)

2695.1+2724.0=5419.1

2

San Marino (SMUSD)

2692.1+2725.2=5417.3

3

South Pasadena (SPUSD)

2669.6+2683.0=5352.6

4

Mark Keppel (Al. USD)

2660.0+2684.1=5344.1

5

Temple City (TCUSD)

2661.9+2670.0=5331.9

6

Arcadia (Ar. USD)

2653.1+2672.2=5325.3

7

San Gabriel (Al. USD)

2640.3+2644.2=5284.5

8

Gabrielino (SGUSD)

2646.8+2646.7=5239.5

9

Monrovia (MUSD)

2636.5+2593.0=5229.5

10 Alhambra (Al. USD)

2625.7+2603.3=5229.0

11 Marshall (PUSD) 12 Pasadena (PUSD)

2623.9+2566.7=5190.6 2611.3+2562.7=5174.0

13 Duarte (DUSD)

2613.7+2546.2=5159.9

14 John Muir (PUSD)

2574.3+2523.2=5097.5

15 Blair (PUSD)

2541.0+2503.1=5044.1

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DATA FOREST

2016 SBAC Results Among North San Gabriel Valley Public High Schools and School Districts #

68 WellSchooled

High School (Dist.)

Mean Average Score Ela+Math (11)

1

La Cañada (LCUSD)

2709.2+2724.7=5433.9

2

San Marino (SMUSD)

2665.6+2710.5=5376.1

3

Arcadia (Ar. USD)

2654.0+2691.2=5345.2

4

South Pasadena (SPUSD)

2663.9+2680.0=5343.9

5

Gabrielino (SGUSD)

2668.5+2657.3=5325.8

6

Temple City (TCUSD)

2653.1+2667.6=5320.7

7

Mark Keppel (Al. USD)

2642.0+2665.5=5307.5

8

San Gabriel (Al. USD)

2617.5+2622.1=5239.6

9

Alhambra (Al. USD)

2617.7+2600.5=5218.2

10 Monrovia (MUSD)

2628.8+2584.0=5212.8

11 Pasadena (PUSD) 12 Blair (PUSD)

2596.1+2573.8=5169.9 2565.9+2545.6=5111.5

ADVICE

RANKINGS

DATA FOREST TIP

page

36

What’s the

Correlation?

In our sample pool standardized testing (SBAC) results positively and strongly positive correlated (0.8788) (Rounded to the nearest tenth.) to the affluency of the student population, while the correlation to UC admissions performance was negative (-0.086). (Rounded to the nearest hundredth.) SBAC and UC rankings are cumulative averages for 2016-2020. Student population demographics based on 2020 data as reported by the CDE. Source: California Department of Education and University of California.

WellSchooled 69

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With informed advocac we can make a differen experiences of our child thrive. Thank you for important

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k You!

is, it means you have ur endeavor to achieve r students, their parents, schools.

cy and strategic action nce in the educational dren and their ability to r being a part of this t mission.

WellSchooled 71

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