From the JoeBurnsBlog: Marin County Schools and Real Estate Options

Marin Schools and Real Estate Options

If you are considering a real estate purchase in Marin County the chances are pretty good that the quality of schools in our county is driving your decision.  Though Marin offers many great unique lifestyle options, public schools is what causes purse strings to open.  This eco-conscious, high-income per capita, houseboatin' county prides itself on parent interaction in schools and the test scores derived from their efforts. 

Test scores are not the end all to the success of our schools.  I, as an example, was able to take test quite effectively in my scholastic career, however 20 some years later and I struggle through a simple blog post.  For those that do subscribe to the testing results of the State's  Academic Performance Index or the No Child Left Behind Act Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

The API scores is public information interesting if not valuable.  The problem I found is that it is difficult to find a compilation of the API scores for a given area.  As a service to my clients and friends, I went through the system and compiled the last 5 yrs test scores for every public school in Marin County.  With this report you can see that Hall Middle School in Larkspur is a 6-8 grade school of 495 tested enrollment and scored 919 on the 09 Growth, compared to 924 in 2008 Base.  In 2005, Hall earned a 901. I also included the Similar School Rank which is a 1-10 ranking of schools with similar demographic characteristics.  The remarkable thing about this report is how many schools in Marin fall above the 900 pt mark. Some standout and some need more work, but the report confirms that you can't beat Marin for public school options.

Due to the challenges of adding an Excel spreadsheet to a blog, my report is not available here. I would be happy to email the spreadsheet to anyone interested.  Send me a request to JoeBurnsMail@gmail.com .