A couple of weeks ago the California Department of Education updated it’s Academic Performance Index (API) and you can see above how the Foster City Schools fare in the district. Outstanding to say the least. In fact, I think that you could argue that overall,  they’re the best schools in the district. Brewer Island, Foster City and Audobon are uniformly excellent while Bowditch Middle School is tops among that category. Yet another reason why Foster City home values has stayed solid.

District	School	# of students incl. in 2008 API	2008 API (base)	State rank	Similar schools rank
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Brewer Island Elementary	376	939	10	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Foster City Elementary	466	919	10	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Baywood Elementary	312	913	10	8
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Bowditch Middle	927	900	10	5
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Audubon Elementary	335	880	9	2
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Highlands Elementary	241	850	8	1
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Beresford Elementary	149	832	8	10
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Laurel Elementary	220	819	7	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Meadow Heights Elementary	192	811	7	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	North Shoreview Elementary	174	808	7	7
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Borel Middle	916	795	7	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	George Hall Elementary	245	792	6	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Abbott Middle	718	789	7	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Park Elementary	233	782	6	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Sunnybrae Elementary	261	782	6	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	College Park Elementary	189	764	5	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Parkside Elementary	265	752	4	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Albion H. Horrall Elementary	249	748	4	8
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Fiesta Gardens International Elementary	262	744	4	1
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	THE Bayside S.T.E.M. ACADEMY	532	704	4	6

I can’t resist…this makes three posts in the last week about FC schools. It all seems to follow that in the middle of the discussion of local school chaos California released it’s Academic Performance Index (API) and we’re still looking pretty darn good. In fact Brewer Island, Audobon and Bowditch have higher scores than last time this was done and Foster City School remains unchanged. Here’s a link to the last chart:

http://fostercityblog.com/2008/09/better-grades/

While we’re at it, here’s how the SF Chronicle describes these scores:

“California ranks all schools on a 1,000-point scale called the Academic Performance Index (API), which is based on how well schools perform on a variety of tests. A score of 800 is considered excellent. The state also assigns schools a number from 1 to 10, based on how well they do when compared with all schools in the state. For fairness, schools are also compared against those with similar demographics. A school may rank a mere 1 against all schools, but may shine as a 10 when compared only against schools with similar populations of students.”

They’re at it again! The state of California has just released their 2008 Academic Performance Index (API) which bases how a school performs on a variety of tests. A score of 800 is considered excellent. In addition, the federal No Child Left Behind Act ranks schools by a different measure called the Adequate Yearly Progress. A rising percentage of students must score “proficient” or “advanced” on their annual state exam, in addition to other indicators, in order to be considered successful. Both of these reports have been released and, no surprise, Foster City is excellent. In fact, FC’s scores have actually risen since last time…and that was excellent too! It’s interesting to note how many of the San Mateo schools did not meet the AYP criteria, while all of the Foster City schools have. Great stuff!

Here’s the breakout:

County	District	School	API 2008 Growth	API 2007 Base	Met all 2008 AYP criteria?
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Brewer Island Elementary	949	933	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Foster City Elementary	928	919	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Baywood Elementary	919	928	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Bowditch Middle	905	880	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Audubon Elementary	883	861	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Highlands Elementary	853	873	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Meadow Heights Elementary	836	799	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Laurel Elementary	830	834	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Beresford Elementary	830	800	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	North Shoreview Elementary	810	796	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	George Hall Elementary	806	786	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Borel Middle	804	807	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Abbott Middle	795	768	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Park Elementary	791	807	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Sunnybrae Elementary	780	788	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	College Park Elementary	765	748	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Parkside Elementary	761	789	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Albion H. Horrall Elementary	748	730	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Fiesta Gardens International Elementary	745	766	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	THE Bayside S.T.E.M. ACADEMY	704	684	No

Whenever I hear Realtors in the Mid Peninsula talk about property values and the current market sooner or later the subject of schools will enter the conversation and one of the most often repeated mantras is the excellence of the schools in San Carlos, Burlingame and Baywood School in San Mateo. Honestly, it’s rare for me to hear people touting Foster City schools…but they ought to because they’re uniformly excellent. Once again the State of California has released their Academic Performance Index (API) which is based on how well schools perform on a variety of tests. A score of 800 is considered excellent. Here’s how Foster City schools shake out versus the other areas:

Brewer Island (FC)       933

Baywood (SM)              928

Franklin (Bur)              924

Lincoln (Bur)               920

Foster City (FC)          919

Roosevelt (Bur)           910

Washington (Bur)        905

White Oaks (SC)          901

Arundel (SC)               897

Tierra Linda Mid (SC)   895

Bowditch Mid (FC)       880

Brittan Acres (SC)       879

Highlands (SM)           873

Audobon (FC)             861

Hmmm…Somehow I think Foster City not only is holding it’s own, but is in fact thriving when it comes to it’s schools. This is yet another factor in the preservation of value in real estate in this town.  

In September when the California Department of Education released the results of it’s STAR testing program several local schools measured very well on the scale called the Academic Performance Index(API). The API’s are a useful way to measure success in a given school and Foster City did extraordinarily well. I think it’s important to note that there are many other factors that make a good school, such as 1) Administration and Teachers, 2) Parental Involvement, 3) Facilities and 4) School specific programs. It’s amusing to me since many people I run into in Real Estate speak in reverential terms of the San Carlos schools and Baywood School in San Mateo as being the greatest things since sliced bread. Here’s an article that was in the San Mateo Daily Journal today about Baywood School:

DailyJournalArticle

Well, below are the API’s for Foster City Schools in comparison to San Mateo and San Carlos Schools.

Audobon School…857

Brewer Island School…923

Foster City School…912

Baywood School (SM)…930

Beresford School(SM)…792

Fiesta Gardens(SM)…762

George Hall(SM)…740

Highlands(SM)…875

Horrall(SM)…712

Parkside(SM)…780

Sunnybrae(SM)…787

Arundel(SC)…900

Brittan Acres(SC)…882

Heather(SC)…853

White Oaks(SC)…902

How about Middle Schools…Bowditch out performed all of the San Mateo middle schools, did better than Central Middle in San Carlos and was slightly under Terra Linda Middle in San Carlos.