Local School API scores released

Hello all. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I have been dealing with clients, who have children, and the topic of schooling almost always works it's way in. So I was glad to see the coverage that the news sources have given.

Now, the local schools scored in the top end of the state grading scale. Some were at the "9" level, which is considered nearly perfect and the majority received the "10" or perfect score. It was of interesting note that when compared to other "similar" schools, which they describe as student's ethnicity, socioeconomic status, average class size and number of credentialed teachers, to name some of the criteria, many of the same "perfect" or "nearly perfect" school received some of the lowest rating. I guess that makes them the "worst" of the "best"!

To give an example, I will compare the Laguna Beach High score with the Dana Hills High score. Dana Hills High was rated as a "10" in both the overall and comparative rankings and it's score was 825. Whereas, Laguna Beach High was rated as a "nearly perfect 9" in the overall, but a worst possible "1" rating in the comparative. Laguna Beach High's score was 811. If I were to look at the score comparison of 825 to 811, I wouldn't think that there was that much of a gap between those two schools. But that's just me. If you would like to get more information on a particular school, please go to API School Level Reports.

So, maybe it isn't a bad thing to be "nearly perfect" with a ranking of "9" and the worst of the best!!! If it is only about a 1.5% increase in test scores to be the "Best of the Best", it seems to me not only that much too worry about, but also, a extra few minutes of studying to reach the top!!!

Good luck out there students and keep up the good work!!! Thanks for reading and if you see me wandering around Laguna in my little grey Subaru, please say hi! Cole

Award Winning Laguna Beach Teacher

As I read the article about Steve Sogo, a Chemistry teacher at Laguna Beach High School, I think back to my days of schooling and wonder what fun it would have been to learn from experience the way he is teaching.

He was awarded one of the six 2008 Amgen Awards for Science Teaching Excellence that were given in California. Additionally only a couple dozen nationally will win this award. He earned the award by wondering away from the normal teaching curriculum to teach an Advanced Chemical Research class. The rare course allows students to conduct true scientific research! I did always dislike having my head in a book.

To think of all the fun I could've had accidentally blowing up the Chem Lab!!! I'm glad to say that it sounds like he has students that are better at chemistry than I was and we are lucky to have a teacher who thinks outside the box to create learning possibilities!!!

I would make a toast...to Steve Sogo...well done and I hope that when a child of mine is old enough to be there, they will have someone like you to keep them from blowing up the Chem Lab!

Thanks for reading and keep being safe and having fun this weekend. If you see me wandering around Laguna in my little grey Subaru, please say hi. Cole