Do you live in Santa Ana? If you have kids then you need to know that you don’t have to put them in our local schools. That said there are some fine schools in Santa Ana. But are they the best ones for your kids?
Parents are allowed to indicate a preference for the school which their child will attend, irrespective of the child’s place of residence within the district. And surrounding school districts have to honor this parental preference if their schools have sufficient capacity without displacing other currently enrolled students, according to California Education Code Section 35160.5(b).
So what school districts are the best ones in our area?
NerdWallet conducted a study in 2015 of the public school districts in California. To find the best schools in Southern California, they weighed a district’s affordability, standardized test scores, college readiness and student-to-teacher ratio. They also analyzed 153 unified and secondary school districts in Southern California. Here are how our local public school districts rated:
- The Irvine Unified School District was rated #2 in the entire State of California, with a student to teacher ratio of 24.87, a graduation rate of 95.5% and 85.07% of their students going on to Higher Education.
- The Tustin Unified School District was rated #58 in the entire State of California with a student to teacher ratio of 27.97, a graduation rate of 96.8% and 76.83% of their students going on to Higher Education.
- The Orange Unified School District was rated #62 in the entire State of California, with a student to teacher ratio of 24.29, a graduation rate of 93.9% and 76.10% of their students going on to Higher Education.
- The Garden Grove Unified School District was rated #74 in the entire State of California, with a student to teacher ratio of 25.26, a graduation rate of 89.20% and 69.87% of their students going on to Higher Education.
- The Anaheim Union High School District was rated #80 in the entire State of California, with a student to teacher ratio of 24.57, a graduation rate of 84.30% and 73.41% of their students going on to Higher Education.
What about the Santa Ana Unified School District? Well it was rated the #119 school district in California with a student to teacher ratio of 23.40, a graduation rate of 85.90% and 66.07% of their students going on to Higher Education.
But let’s dig a bit deeper. The State of California’s Department of Education provides a website where you can compare school districts. I had to go back to the year 2012-2013, and here is what I found:
- Math Proficiency – Only 53.2% of the students in Santa Ana are math proficient. In Tustin 73.5% of the students are math proficient. In Irvine 86.7% of the students are math proficient. Even Garden Grove has better results than Santa Ana with 69.4% of their students proficient in math.
- Santa Ana also has the lowest results in proficiency in Language Arts with only 42.9% of their students labeled proficient. Irvine has the highest Language Arts proficiency rating with 85.5% and for comparison’s sake Tustin has a 71.2% Language Arts proficiency rating.
- The SAUSD is # 1 in one category. The Dropout rate. Overall 9.6% of Santa Ana students eventually drop out of school. Only 1.8% of the students in Tustin drop out.
- Santa Ana also has the lowest graduation rate at 85.9% as compared to Tustin’s 96.8% graduation rate.
- Hang on – the SAUSD is also #1 in another category – English learners. 45.7% of Santa Ana’s students are English Learners. Only 21.4% of the students in Tustin are English learners.
- The SAUSD also has the lowest number of schools that are making their API targets at 25%. Irvine has the best rating in that category with 81.8% of their schools making the state’s API targets.
When you consider all the facts it is very clear that Santa Ana students can get a better education outcome in the surrounding school districts. That said Santa Ana does have a few good options such as the dwindling Fundamental schools and the charter schools.
My older sons both graduated from Godinez Fundamental High School. My oldsest son went on to graduate from UCLA with two degrees last year. My daughter graduated from Santa Ana High School then completed her education at FIDM, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. She now lives in New York and she is the top denim designer for the Gap. My youngest son started out in Santa Ana and is now enrolled at a STEM school in Tustin. He has applied for two high schools in Tustin but if he cannot get into one of those we have also applied for the lottery at Godinez High School. Because I work in Irvine I also have the option to put him at an Irvine High School.
Where you send your kids to school matters. Given the date we have available it is clear that our better option just might be to transfer our kids to the surrounding school districts, particularly Tustin and Irvine.
When you are making your decision don’t forget to look at the school boards in the local school districts. You will find that the SAUSD has an extremely liberal school board – and the results speak for themselves. We now have a few new board members, that include a school counselor and a college professor. We can but hope that they will find a way to improve the SAUSD.
While the schools we place our kids in matter we also have to do our jobs as parents. My wife and I are fortunate to have good careers and college degrees. Santa Ana is the poorest city in Orange County. I recognize that many of our local families are struggling just to survive. I wish them the best. Getting our kids a good education is so important. It really is the only way we can move up the socio-economic ladder.
I hope you and your readers listen to this piece from Fresh Air. There are always ways to get a leg up for your kid by having them educated outside of their community. Though, I think it’s actually really important for folks with good careers and college degrees to think about keeping their kids in local schools. It allows you to share your opportunities with kids who really need them.
http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/01/16/509325266/how-the-systemic-segregation-of-schools-is-maintained-by-individual-choices
I don’t think it is a good idea to send your kids to local schools if there is a chance the bad seeds will send them in the wrong direction.
Realmente es una pena que compares a Santa Ana con una ciudad como Irvine y Tustin donde la mayoria de la Poblacion es simple y sencillamente Americana , que SAUSD tiene la mayor cantidad de Alumnos que son aprendices en Ingles eso es Logico pues somos una ciudad mayormente Hispana o Latina con un 95 % de habitantes Latinos, Claro que van a ser aprendices en Ingles , Nosotros en SAUSD NO Necesitamos mandar a nuestros hijos a Escuelas charters que lo que hacen es solo tomar el dinero que cada niño trae ensima para veneficios propios de las personas que manejan este tipo de escuelas que son una verdadera Verguenza , para que estes mejor informado deja te menciono que SAUSD esta implementando programas que no tienen nada que pedirle a las charters, y te invito a que te acerques y veas de cerca lo que estamos haciendo tambien los Padres aqui en el Distrito de Santa Ana pero te tengo una noticia Nuestros Estudiantes tambien son INTELIGENTES y CAPACES y tambien como en cualquiera de las otras Ciudades que mensionaste Ellos tambien son Aceptados en Universidades de Prestigio como a las que van los niños de otros Distritos , Tenemos un Liderazgo Fuerte de Padres que cada dia trabajamos con el Distrito de serca para Beneficio de nuestros Alumnos ! Y si somos la Ciudad mas Joven no solo de California si no tambien del Pais y aqui lo que tenemos es Fortaleza de salir adelante y mi pregunta para ti es es comun en los otros Distritos que Los Seniors se graduen con un Sello Internacional de doble lenguaje ? aun que no lo creas esto es parte de lo buieno de ser Latinos y de hablar 2 o 3 Ideomas al mismo tiempo !!!
Si visitas a cualquier escuela en Tustin vas a ver que se encuentran bastantes estudiantes Latinos – incluso de muchos que viven en Santa Ana.
Y la comunidad de Irvine tambien incluye bastante gente de otros paises.
Las escuelas en Santa Ana nos estan fallando. Para que mandar a nuestros hijos a escuelas que no funcionan bien?
Las escuelas funcionan… los que no funcionan somos nosotros al tratar de pensar que moviéndonos a otras escuelas y etiquetado a nuestros hijos seremos o serán más exitosos. Siempre fui a escuelas de vecindario, con un GPA más alto que muchos nacidos aquí y ahora mi hijo, con necesidades especiales está progresando enormemente gracias al apoyo de sus maestros y el trabajo en equipo. Soy voluntaria en la escuela de mis hijos y abogó por que adoptemos a nuestras escuelas y las apoyemos a beneficio de nuestros hijos y el resto de los estudiantes. Jamás he creido en colegios particulares porque sé que todos tenemos las mismas oportunidades. Solo que muchas veces nos hacemos los desentendidos. Pero mi pregunta sería: Que estás haciendo para ayudar a las escuelas de Santa Ana y a sus estudiantes? Porqué solo veo una comparación muy desproporcionada y mal informada ya que hay muchos factores que afectan los resultados como la densidad, la etnicidad, nivel socioeconómico y cultural.
Yo se que hay alumnos en Tustin e Irvine que son aprendices en Inglés y eso es lógico que haya pues estamos en California , lo que No es Lógico es que Compares SAUSD con esos Distritos que es realmente una minoría sus aprendices en Inglés como Padres, Maestros y Empleados de SAUSD estamos trabajando muy fuerte para que cada día la vida de nuestros Alumnos sea mucho mejor ! Pero bueno es tu sola percepción acerca de esto así que te exhortó a que lleves a tus hijos a otro Distrito a tus escuelas Charters !! Cuando realmente quieras que se haga un cambio solo tienes que empezar a cambiar las cosas desde ti mismo , y créeme huir a otro lado No es la Solución, te invito a que trabajes y te involucres en las Escuelas de SAUSD en lugar de ponerte solo a Criticar mi pregunta para ti es , que es lo que tu haces para Nuestra Comunidad???, en que estas involucrad@ ?
You don’t suppose that there is a connection between academic performance and “SAUSD is also #1 in another category – English learners. 45.7% of Santa Ana’s students are English Learners.” do you?
Teachers have little control over how many of the students are English Learners.
I was once an English learner too. English learners can succeed. But they need parents to help them and teachers who believe in them.
If “teachers have little control” over the educational outcomes of nearly half of their students, then the system is broken.
De verdad que eres como los clásicos que pasaron el charco y se les olvido de donde venían, si fuiste aprendiz de Ingles no entiendo entonces tus comentarios, que ahí si te puedo decir que fuera están de lugar, que pena me das !! , lo peor que un ser humano puede olvidar es exactamente su esencia , Los Padres estamos involucrados y si gustas ir y ver reuniones cada mes donde se juntan más de 100 padres en el Distrito y si de maestros hablas deja te comento que lo mismo se involucran para el beneficio de los niños !!! Te vuelvo a decir las escuelas charters no tienen la abilidad de poder manejar Niños Especiales son tan limitados que por eso no los aceptan por que esas escuelas no están preparadas y como los niños no van alcanzar los lineamientos impuestos por esas escuelas los sacan de las charters , estos verdaderos retos que enfrenta el Departamento de Educación Especial junto con sus Maestros y las familias Especiales cada dia claro no lo puedes comprender !! pero de verdad si no tienes nada de verdad Positivo que Opinar mantenerte callado seria muy bueno , Infórmate antes de que des tu Opinión !!!
One of my sons went through special education and what saved him was that the district finally put him in a charter school. The public schools were of no help.
English learners aren’t the problem in our city. The problem is parents who allow their kids to become gangbangers.
Pero no puedes generalizar !!! No entiendo si creciste y vives aquí no ataques los actos a has algo por cambiar el problema es muy cómodo solo estar sentado escribiendo en contra de las personas o cosas que pasa. Aquí en Santa Ana , te invito aun que tu hijo este en un Chárter que te acerques a las juntas de Special Educial son educativas y te ayudarán te propongo algo Ataquemás el problema en las casas Positivamente de nuestra comunidad empezando con los Padres !! Hagamos juntos la diferencia , Yo lo estoy haciendo ya desde hace 9 años , poco a poco Impactados Positivamente a nuestra comunidad !
We have an 8th grader and she got accepted to Middle College HS and got an invitation to audition at OCSA. We’re going with Middle College HS.