Kindergarten... O My!

My baby is growing up... in fact, he's been a baby, a toddler and is now a preschooler... yet, I still refer to him as my baby. I refuse to let go and don't think it's such a bad thing. How long will he stay "a baby"... probably for a long long time...


This difficulty in letting go doesn't make searching to the RIGHT Kindergarten easy. In fact, it makes it much much harder.

Let me start with some unfortunate statistics:




Please note: 2nd grade was the lowest grade data was available for, which is why I chose to use it in relation to what my child can expect for his Kindergarten classroom.

Pros:

• Data EXISTS for the public schools
• The numbers are improving every year
• Half of our kids are at least "proficient" in Math and English
  

Cons:

• The numbers are improving SLOWLY
• What does "proficient" mean? And is it good enough?
• Half of our kids aren't even meating proficient levels, thus, we are not doing enough for about 50% of the children in our pubic schools!!! That's outragous and once you begin to consider educational budget cuts... it's scary.

District average:

• 20.3 student per class
• 3228 Teachers with Full Credentials
• 73 Teachers Without Full Credentials

TOP API RANKERS -- 2009 (from highest to lowest)

1. Alice Fong Yu Elementary


2. Claredon Alternative Elementary


3. Robert Luis Stevenson Elementary


4. Allamo and Clair Lilenthal Elementaries


5. Lawton Alternative Elementary


6. Ulloa Elemntary


7. West Portal Elementary

NOTE: All of these schools scored 900 or higher (the State goal is 800)

This is just the beginning... and tours don't start until October (call in September), with the exception of Claredon and Alamo, both of which allow you to visit and tour yourself from 9 - 4 P.M. (neither of these schools offer guided tours anymore and children are let out of school at 2:40 P.M. in case you are interested in observing classes in progress).

I will continue to post my findings, but for right now, I've developed a terrible headache... and a little bit of a heartache as well.