Richest and Poorest Elementary Schools, API and CST

I've been looking at the data on academic performance and income level for SFUSD. Am I naive to be shocked that our public elementary schools are so segregated by income level?


Schools with the Lowest Percentage of Economically Disadvantaged Students

	Not Econ Disadvantaged	Economically Disadvantaged
Miraloma	86%	15%
Clarendon	84%	16%
Chinese Immersion	84%	16%
Grattan	81%	19%
SF Pub Montessori	79%	21%
Lilienthal	79%	21%
Creative Arts	73%	27%
Sunset	72%	28%
Peabody	71%	29%
McKinley	71%	29%

Source: CBEDS Information Day data from SNS Student files, published at http://sfusdfood.org/freereduced.html

Schools with the Highest Percentage of Economically Disadvantaged Students

	Not Econ Disadvantaged	Economically Disadvantaged
Chavez	10%	90%
Hillcrest	10%	90%
Redding	10%	91%
Lau	9%	91%
Moscone	9%	91%
Cleveland	9%	91%
Tenderloin	8%	93%
Malcolm X	8%	93%
Harte	5%	95%
Chinese Ed Ctr	3%	97%
Mission Ed Ctr	0%	100%

Source: CBEDS Information Day data from SNS Student files, published at http://sfusdfood.org/freereduced.html

    It's true that at a school where everyone is poor, teachers have to slow down the academic pace because so many students have barriers to learning, like the lack of a quiet place to study at home or parents working long hours who aren't around to help with homework.  But the "richer" schools don't have higher test scores when it's broken down by income level. Miraloma is a great example.  For students who are not economically disadvantaged, Miraloma does no better than SFUSD as a whole on STAR testing. In fact, Miraloma's CST math scores are about 20 points lower than Starr King's and Glen Park's for students who are not economically disadvantaged.  Creative Arts Charter performs significantly below the SFUSD average for students who aren't economically disadvantaged.

    My bottom line: look at CST scores broken down by parent education and income, not API scores, when comparing schools' academic performance.

Here's the complete list of elementary schools from richest to poorest.  

All SFUSD Elementary Schools by % Economically Disadvantaged

	Not Econ Disadvantaged	Economically Disadvantaged
Miraloma	86%	15%
Clarendon	84%	16%
Chinese Immersion	84%	16%
Grattan	81%	19%
SF Pub Montessori	79%	21%
Lilienthal	79%	21%
Creative Arts	73%	27%
Sunset	72%	28%
Peabody	71%	29%
McKinley	71%	29%
Feinstein	71%	29%
Lafayette	70%	30%
Yu	68%	32%
New Traditions	64%	36%
Rooftop	62%	38%
Argonne	62%	38%
West Portal	60%	40%
Jefferson	60%	40%
Alvarado	59%	41%
Alamo	58%	42%
Sherman	58%	42%
Sloat	57%	43%
Milk	55%	45%
King	55%	45%
Key	52%	48%
Sunnyside	51%	49%
Lakeshore	48%	53%
Lawton	46%	54%
Stevenson	46%	54%
Ortega	43%	57%
Yick Wo	43%	57%
Webster	40%	60%
Ulloa	40%	60%
Parks	39%	61%
Fairmount	37%	63%
Sutro	33%	67%
McCoppin	33%	67%
Buena Vista/Mann	32%	68%
S.F. Community	31%	69%
Flynn	29%	71%
Garfield	29%	72%
Revere	25%	75%
Monroe	24%	76%
El Dorado	23%	77%
Guadalupe	22%	78%
Glen Park	22%	78%
Cobb	21%	79%
Carmichael	21%	80%
Longfellow	20%	80%
Taylor	19%	81%
Spring Valley	17%	83%
Sanchez	16%	84%
Drew	15%	85%
Chin	15%	85%
Parker	14%	86%
Sheridan	13%	87%
Marshall	13%	87%
Carver	12%	88%
Bryant	12%	88%
Vis Valley	12%	88%
Serra	11%	89%
Muir	11%	89%
Chavez	10%	90%
Hillcrest	10%	90%
Redding	10%	91%
Lau	9%	91%
Moscone	9%	91%
Cleveland	9%	91%
Tenderloin	8%	93%
Malcolm X	8%	93%
Harte	5%	95%
Chinese Ed Ctr	3%	97%
Mission Ed Ctr	0%	100%
Source: CBEDS Information Day data from SNS Student files, published at http://sfusdfood.org/freereduced.html  How much does family income matter?    The California Department of Education calls students getting free/reduced-price lunch "economically disadvantaged," and uses that as a proxy for income level. Students with free lunch have a household income under 130% of the Federal Poverty Limit, about $30,000 for a family of four. Students with reduced-price lunch have a household income under 185% FPL, about $42,000 for a family of 4.     In SFUSD, 60% of the K-5 enrollment is economically disadvantaged, meaning they get free or reduced-price lunch. 51% get free lunch, and  9% get reduced-price lunch.     Economically disadvantaged elementary school students in SFUSD score, on average, 50 points lower on CST test (STAR testing) in both English and Math.  Just over half the economically disadvantaged elementary school students score at grade level, compared to 80% of the non-economically disadvantaged students.  APIs don't take into account the poverty level or parent income level, so schools with more affluent, higher-educated parents have high APIs. SFUSD STAR test scores, Grades 2-5, 2011-12 CST Test  Not Econ    Disadvantaged  Economically    Disadvantaged English 398 351 Math 433 385 Source: California Department of Education, http://star.cde.ca.gov/ CST scores by grade were averaged for grades 2-5. Percentage of Students Testing at or Above Grade Level, SFUSD Grades 2-5, 2011-12 CST Test  Not Econ    Disadvantaged  Economically    Disadvantaged English 80% 52% Math 82% 63% Source: California Department of Education, http://star.cde.ca.gov/ Your take: useful or not useful?