Potential homebuyers use school test scores as a primary tool when deciding where to live, and how much they are willing to pay (they might add a little mustard to their offer price to be in a top school district). It is smart to own in a top-rated school district, even if you don’t have kids – because good test scores help to drive home values.
Here are the elementary schools that scored over 900, and the high schools in rank order:
| School (district in bold) | 2010 Base API |
| Del Mar Union | 961 |
| Ashley Falls | 952 |
| Carmel Del Mar | 943 |
| Del Mar Heights | 965 |
| Del Mar Hills | 923 |
| Ocean Air | 981 |
| Sage Canyon | 973 |
| Sycamore Ridge | 965 |
| Torrey Hills | 955 |
| Solana Beach | 936 |
| Carmel Creek | 947 |
| Skyline | 911 |
| Solana Highlands | 942 |
| Solana Pacific | 963 |
| Solana Santa Fe | 934 |
| Solana Vista | 892 |
| Cardiff | 931 |
| Ada Harris | 926 |
| Cardiff | 944 |
| Encinitas Union | 905 |
| El Camino Creek | 952 |
| Flora Vista | 939 |
| La Costa Heights | 908 |
| Mission Estancia | 937 |
| Olivenhain Pioneer | 944 |
| Carlsbad | 859 |
| Aviara Oaks | 941 |
| Hope | 904 |
| Kelly | 924 |
| Pacific Rim | 971 |
| San Marcos | 854 |
| Carrillo | 924 |
| Discovery | 902 |
| Knob Hill | 905 |
| La Costa Meadows | 907 |
| Paloma | 903 |
| San Elijo | 942 |
(Click here to see the chart for all schools in San Diego County.)
| High School | 2010 Base API | Student pop. |
| Canyon Crest | ||
| Torrey Pines | ||
| Poway | ||
| Rancho Bernardo | ||
| Westview | ||
| San Dieguito | ||
| Mission Hills | ||
| San Marcos | ||
| Mt. Carmel | ||
| La Costa Canyon | ||
| Carlsbad |
San Marcos is quickly becoming a very compelling option to families like us that have little ones getting ready to enter elementary school. All around good scores for elementary and high school. Not to mention you really aren’t that far from the beach (10 mi from San Elijo to Ponto). Well, the kids don’t think it is far, but I do because until they are able to drive I will be shuttling them around for a few years.
How much of a premium do people put on school test scores? Could you see +5% for a 900 vs 800. How much do school scores change. Does a school with a 900+ typically stay that way for 5 years, 10 years, 20 years.
I’ve always been of the opinion that involved parents probably matter more to a child’s education than the school itself, but there’s certainly people with different opinions. If young professionals with young children are buying houses in San Marcos or Santee because that’s what they can afford, the school test scores should follow.
OR – you could just look for a neighborhood with a high concentration of Chinese and scores will be good.
I had a very successful real estate buddy that would only buy where there are Jewish temples around.
Everybody has there ideas. A loving family is #1.
San Marcos, or more specifically SEH, is very different compared to Santee.
SMUSD is benefitting from a large master planned community injecting a large population of upper middle class into the district, on top of areas it took over in east Carlsbad. that increase in number of upper middle class students and the city’s ongoing effort to commercialize areas that use that be base of low income population is really responsible for the improvement in the district’s overall performance.
the same can not be said of Santee, where there is a relatively much smaller developement (skyranch) and not much else to draw upper middle families in. end result is if there are upper middle families in the area, they will likely just go private.
keep in mind too that SMUSD has 2 high schools, both are ranked in the 9 range. vs Santana high that skyranch residents go to, it is an underperforming school amongst numbers of underperforming schools within Grossmont Union.
Looks like there aren’t going to be many single family houses in the future in North County.
http://www.nctimes.com/business/article_6954f905-8211-5e2c-bc74-b6737e72242c.html
Regarding the NC times article:
This may not be a bad thing because not everyone is equipped for the reality that is home ownership. Or, like in our case, I simply don’t want the early years of my children’s lives spent doing yardwork and maintenance.
Housing prices are a product of supply and demand. Goverment Bureaucracy limiting the supply of single family homes is one of the reasons why SFR’s are so expensive. It looks like, at least in NCC, it will continue to be stay that way. SFR’s have always been “the American Dream” and I believe that demand will stay strong–as soon as prices start to recede, pent-up demand seems to move-in. With steady demand and limitied future additional supply, there will continue to be a premium price to be paid for SFR’s in NCC.
Anytime I hear the words “never” “always” and “continue to be” in an opinion, I know it’s a good time to bet on the opposite of what that person is saying. For example:
“It’s always a good time to buy in NCC.” or “Housing prices will never go down.”
I am amazed by the strides San Marcos schools have made in recent years. I wish the trend would rub off on Oceanside so I wouldn’t have to move! However, San Marcos is being forced to make larger cuts to education than other districts in the county (according to the news). I wonder how that will affect SM schools in the future.
“I’ve always been of the opinion that involved parents probably matter more to a child’s education than the school itself”
The biggest predictor of a child’s success in school is the mother’s education level. When you buy in a neighborhood of high performing schools, you are buying in a neighborhood of educated mothers.
Jinx, SMUSD will do fine despite the cuts. time and time again we see the way to “fix” a school or a district is to change the demographics. that’s exactly what they did over the last couple of decades.