PETALUMA CALIFORNIA - PETALUMA Homes and Real Estate For Sale

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When parents of school-age children search for a home in Petaluma, they are naturally interested in our schools. Sometimes they ask their Realtor, 'Which are the best schools?' Some homebuyers arrive prepared to limit their search to certain neighborhoods, because they already know where the 'best' schools are. Of course parents want the best educational opportunities for their children. Too often, though, judgments about quality of education are based upon the schools' rankings by test scores. Everyone is interested in test scores, and they are very available, but they fall far short of telling the whole story.

Educators know there is a close correlation between socio-economic level and school test scores. If you are simply ranking schools or districts by comparing scores, you may as well be researching average household incomes, because the results will be about the same. A school's Academic Performance Index (API) ranking is not a predictor of how much or how well your child will learn in that school.

Since California has adopted a strictly standards-based approach to education, you can expect that all of our local public schools will be delivering the same content and aiming at the same competencies to be measured by the same criteria. How then should you evaluate a school? I suggest that you contact the principal and arrange a visit. Our local educators are happy to have parents witness first-hand what goes on in the classroom. I can learn far more by visiting a school, talking with students, teachers, and administrators, than I can ever know by looking at API rankings.

Most of us can recognize a good learning environment, where energetic, charismatic teachers engage and encourage their students. You'll find many such teachers and their involved, responsive students in relatively low-scoring schools. And in all of Petaluma's schools, you'll find students who thrive in their learning environment and excel in their studies.

Not all learning is academic, and we should not discount the value of experience with people of varied racial, social, and economic backgrounds, and even different academic abilities. My best friend in high school had a GPA of 1.2 and never did receive a diploma from our high school, but I learned more from him than he ever did from me. I believe I'm a better person for having known him. Had there been Stanford 9 exam scores back then, I suppose my friend would have been somewhat of a drag on my school's ranking, but he didn't hurt my education at all. Actually, he was an important part of it.

If you could afford to send your child to a school where he or she would be surrounded only by Rockefellers and Kennedys, would that guarantee a superior education for your son or daughter? The school's test scores would probably be through the roof, but that shouldn't be what matters most. Look a little closer. Maybe the 'best' school is right down the street, in a very modest-looking neighborhood.