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Did the exact same thing 10 years ago. Couldn't take living in California any more. We moved to Colorado. * My health, both physical and mental has increas

Did the exact same thing 10 years ago. Couldn't take living in California any more. We moved to Colorado. * My health, both physical and mental has increased tremendously. * Our house is far cheaper in mortgage than our apartment was. * Schools are far better than anything in California we could afford * Crime is almost non-existent. Most people don't lock car or house doors. * It is rare I drive more than 8 miles on any day, no more highways for me unless I'm skiing. * The air & water are clean, the tap water tastes better than the bottle water I used to drink.

geebee 9y ago
Can I ask you about one thing, though? Both my kids are in SFUSD schools, and San Francisco actually has a large number of 10/10 rated schools. This is based on test scores, of course, so it doesn't tell the whole story. For instance, take a look at this: http://www.greatschools.org/california/san-francisco/schools/?gradeLevels=e http://www.greatschools.org/california/san-francisco/schools... Do you think that your elementary school in Colorado are vastly better than the top three we see here, Chin (John Yehall) Elementary, Clarendon, or Lafayette? Scroll down a bit. SF has some bad schools, but it's not like these three are isolated one offs. There really are a lot of schools in SF scoring a 9 or 10 here. There is a lottery, but (this is just my experience and impression) it's not shot in the dark level lottery. If you research schools and find some of the ones that fly below the radar rather than just listing the "trophy" schools, and create a balanced list, you have a good chance at a good school. No, not a 100% chance and an excellent school, which you can obtain by leaving SF and moving to a good district where a high rent or mortgage payment locks it in for you (hey, I get it - I'll call it what it is, but I do get it). There are great reasons to leave SF, and the school situation here is hardly perfect. But I disagree with the general notion that public schools in SF are an across the board failure. I'd even disagree that they are a general failure with a few minor bright spots. I'd call the situation mixed, with a lot of good, a lot of bad and a lot of in the middle. You can have a very good experience with SFUSD.
- phkahler 9y ago
  >> San Francisco actually has a large number of 10/10 rated schools. Is that on a national or state scale? I find my district in Michigan making all kinds of claims like that about many of our schools, but it's all compared to others in the state. Nationally we're still above average but nothing to get excited about.
  - pc86 9y ago
    It's almost certainly going to be whatever is the most prestigious or makes the school look the best. They'll obviously use national rankings if they're #9 in the nation. If they're #9 in Mississippi, they are probably not using national rankings.
  - chaostheory 9y ago
    I could be wrong but that's only a system that compares schools in CA with other schools in CA. It's currently being revamped so it may change.
  - geebee 9y ago
    I think it's a California state test. So you could compare to a top school in a wealthy California suburb, but not to a school outside the state. I think. Another thing is range. 10/10 is nice, but as you can see, a bunch of SF schools got it. Kind of how the Math GRE (used to?) top out at about 95%ile (ie., 5% of the people taking the test got an 800/800). So this leaves open the possibility that even the best elementary schools are far behind the other 10/10s in other parts of the state. Kind of doubt it, since Lowell is clearly extremely competitive with top public and private high schools around the country. But I can't make the comparison directly at the elementary school level. That's why I kind of put it as a question... what's your guess? Are the 10/10 elementary schools in SF notably worse than top elementary schools in Colorado? Like I said, I seriously doubt it, but I can't be sure.
- nosequel 9y ago
  Cherry picking the best schools in any state will certainly make the state look good. State vs. State, California is ranked around 40 out of 50 on most lists. In my case, I would've had to move some place I couldn't afford just so my kids could go to a school that was even average.

geebee 9y ago

Can I ask you about one thing, though? Both my kids are in SFUSD schools, and San Francisco actually has a large number of 10/10 rated schools. This is based on test scores, of course, so it doesn't tell the whole story. For instance, take a look at this: http://www.greatschools.org/california/san-francisco/schools/?gradeLevels=e http://www.greatschools.org/california/san-francisco/schools... Do you think that your elementary school in Colorado are vastly better than the top three we see here, Chin (John Yehall) Elementary, Clarendon, or Lafayette? Scroll down a bit. SF has some bad schools, but it's not like these three are isolated one offs. There really are a lot of schools in SF scoring a 9 or 10 here. There is a lottery, but (this is just my experience and impression) it's not shot in the dark level lottery. If you research schools and find some of the ones that fly below the radar rather than just listing the "trophy" schools, and create a balanced list, you have a good chance at a good school. No, not a 100% chance and an excellent school, which you can obtain by leaving SF and moving to a good district where a high rent or mortgage payment locks it in for you (hey, I get it - I'll call it what it is, but I do get it). There are great reasons to leave SF, and the school situation here is hardly perfect. But I disagree with the general notion that public schools in SF are an across the board failure. I'd even disagree that they are a general failure with a few minor bright spots. I'd call the situation mixed, with a lot of good, a lot of bad and a lot of in the middle. You can have a very good experience with SFUSD.

phkahler 9y ago
>> San Francisco actually has a large number of 10/10 rated schools. Is that on a national or state scale? I find my district in Michigan making all kinds of claims like that about many of our schools, but it's all compared to others in the state. Nationally we're still above average but nothing to get excited about.
- pc86 9y ago
  It's almost certainly going to be whatever is the most prestigious or makes the school look the best. They'll obviously use national rankings if they're #9 in the nation. If they're #9 in Mississippi, they are probably not using national rankings.
- chaostheory 9y ago
  I could be wrong but that's only a system that compares schools in CA with other schools in CA. It's currently being revamped so it may change.
- geebee 9y ago
  I think it's a California state test. So you could compare to a top school in a wealthy California suburb, but not to a school outside the state. I think. Another thing is range. 10/10 is nice, but as you can see, a bunch of SF schools got it. Kind of how the Math GRE (used to?) top out at about 95%ile (ie., 5% of the people taking the test got an 800/800). So this leaves open the possibility that even the best elementary schools are far behind the other 10/10s in other parts of the state. Kind of doubt it, since Lowell is clearly extremely competitive with top public and private high schools around the country. But I can't make the comparison directly at the elementary school level. That's why I kind of put it as a question... what's your guess? Are the 10/10 elementary schools in SF notably worse than top elementary schools in Colorado? Like I said, I seriously doubt it, but I can't be sure.
nosequel 9y ago
Cherry picking the best schools in any state will certainly make the state look good. State vs. State, California is ranked around 40 out of 50 on most lists. In my case, I would've had to move some place I couldn't afford just so my kids could go to a school that was even average.