Which Neighborhoods Have the Best Schools?

Detailed School Profiles Are Available Online

If you're a family with school-age children, start your home search by exploring which neighborhoods have schools that reflect your educational goals.

Use these online resources to evaluate and compare schools.

Education Data Partnership. The "Ed-Data" Web site has a tool to perform detailed comparisons of schools on criteria including standardized test performance, demographics, teacher-pupil ratios, teacher credentials, and language and math proficiency.

To view and compare school profiles, follow these steps:

1. Go to the "Ed-Data" Web site.
2. Search for a school using one of the four search methods.
3. Choose an appropriate school from the results and click on the "scales" icon to compare this school to other, similar schools.
4. Complete the "Schools like this…" form by selecting the desired items. NOTE: The most important values are "schools in" and "of type" to compare to schools with comparable grade levels in the same vicinity.

Santa Cruz County Office of Education. The SCCOoE Web site has detailed information on many educational programs offered through Santa Cruz County schools. It also has a list of schools, including links to school Web sites that have additional information such as curricula, calendars, and staff contact information.

Which schools will your children attend?

If you're considering a particular neighborhood and you'd like to find out which schools your children would be enrolled in, contact the appropriate district office below:

• Bonny Doon Union Elementary School District
• Happy Valley School District
• Live Oak School District
• San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District
• Santa Cruz City Schools District
• Scotts Valley Unified School District
• Soquel Union Elementary School District
• Pajaro Valley Unified School District
• Private, Charter, Independent and Religious Schools

How are schools evaluated?

California schools are required to participate in various standardized tests designed to help parents, school administrators, and policymakers evaluate each school"s performance.

Academic Performance Indicator (API). The API measures the academic performance and growth of schools. It is a numeric index that ranges from 200 to 1000; 800 is the current target for all California schools.

• Read More About the API

STAR. The California Department of Education administers a Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program, which evaluates public school performance in English-language arts, mathematics, science, and history-social science.

• Read More About STAR

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