With virtually every politician from Bush to Davis to Riordan claiming education as their top priority, the importance of public school test scores has taken center stage. And that’s presenting both opportunities and headaches for L.A.-area Realtors and homeowners.
The California Department of Education is publicly releasing its Academic Performance Index, in which schools are ranked on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. And those scores are being widely disseminated on the Internet, in local newspapers and elsewhere.
Realtors are then using those scores to tout their listings near high-ranking schools. Many Realtors are linking their own Web sites to the Department of Education’s site, where the latest scores are posted. As a result, many homeowners in such areas are enjoying enhanced property values, while the homes near low-scoring schools are being somewhat stigmatized, which sometimes detracts from their value.
Mary Rodriguez, schools chairwoman for the Los Feliz Improvement Association, said many parents she knows are highly interested in school rankings.
“Too much emphasis is being placed on these scores,” Rodriguez said.
Her neighborhood middle school, Thomas Starr King, is not highly ranked. About half of the children are learning English as a second language, making the state’s standardized tests more difficult.
“Of course, our scores are going to be lower. I doesn’t mean it’s not a good school,” Rodriguez said.
Maybe so, but that isn’t stopping Realtors from touting high-scoring schools to help them sell nearby homes.
Eager buyers
As a real estate agent in the Woodland Hills area, Joyce Riskas is constantly being asked about school test scores, which are particularly high in that area.
In fact, it’s been nearly impossible for home seekers to buy near El Camino Real High School, which has won the National Academic Decathlon in recent years.
“If a home became available in that neighborhood, it sold immediately,” Riskas said. “We couldn’t find homes for people in that area because the demand was so great.”
But Riskas said real estate agents have to be cautious about touting test scores. She shies away from handing out rankings to clients. Instead, she directs them to the Internet and encourages clients to do research themselves.
“I wouldn’t want to say one school is better than another,” Riskas said.
Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors, said the organization advises agents to be careful when making representations about test scores.
Wendy Furth, president of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors, said her Web site is linked to the Department of Education site. She is convinced that the scores have an impact on sales and the price that people are willing to pay for a home.
“I don’t think there is anything more important to a buyer than the quality of education and how safe a community is,” Furth said.
Critic’s views
Bob Shaffer, public education director for a Cambridge, Mass. anti-testing nonprofit called the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, is an outspoken critic of the entire California standardized testing system.
“You could get high test scores simply by drilling students on a narrow range of subjects you know are going to be on the test,” Shaffer said. “Our schools are becoming coaching factories.”
Shaffer’s organization opposes all testing systems that offer bonuses for teachers and administrators where test scores improve.
“The incentive is to boost your scores by hook or by crook,” Shaffer said.
In the end, home values rise in neighborhoods with high test scores and fall in neighborhoods with low test scores.
“It’s a never-ending, reinforcing pattern in which you find higher-income communities posting higher test scores. These communities spiral up. The low-income communities spiral down,” Shaffer said. “The rich get richer and the poor get fewer resources.”
“Test scores are important to a certain degree,” Rodriguez said. “But it’s not as important as parents getting involved and making sure their children do well.”
