Parents use test scores to pick out new houses

When Aparna Seethepalli and Sarvesh Jagannivas jumped into the housing market, they met their real estate agent armed with spreadsheets, charts, and one number: 920.

With two young children, the couple only wanted to buy in one of Silicon Valley’s best school districts. So they insisted on seeing houses near schools with scores of 920 or above on the state’s Academic Performance Index.

By Dana Hull

Mercury News

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/education/10045224.htm?1c

The latest API scores, released Thursday, rank California public schools based on how well students score on standardized tests.

Parents, teachers and superintendents always pay close attention to the scores. But the scores are also driving real estate prices for prospective home buyers and sellers, real estate agents and educators say, because they make it possible to compare schools to others within the same school district.

From Fremont to Almaden Valley to Palo Alto, “score shopping” is more important to some than commute times, lot size or granite counter tops.

Critics argue that API only proves how well students take tests, while real learning is influenced by creative teaching, innovative music or arts programs, and classroom culture. High API scores are overwhelmingly associated with socioeconomic status and the education levels of parents, so some educators grumble that API stands for “Affluent Parent Index.” Schools with low scores tend to have high concentrations of students living in poverty or learning English for the first time.

Sarvesh Jagannivas, a marketing director at San Jose’s Agile Software, knows that API doesn’t tell a school’s whole story. But when he and his wife began their house hunt last spring, he crunched API data with gusto.

He talked to friends and colleagues about schools and scores and pored over Web sites such as http://www.great schools.net. He carefully plotted charts and graphs, paying close attention to schools that made gains on API over time and those that showed volatility.

“It became for us literally a number for the school and the community,” said Jagannivas, who attended private schools in his native India but wants a public school experience for his children. “If a school had 850 and they inched upward in a consistent fashion, I knew something good was happening in the school.”

His intense preparation made his wife chuckle.

“My husband is an analytical MBA type of guy — everything has to be graphed and charted out,” she said. “Education is very important to us, and API scores were the best measure for us to say `This is a good school.’ ”

Their Realtor, Malka Nagel, has seen this kind of research before.

“One client came in with a map of various cities and stickers everywhere,” said Nagel. “It was color coded for Most Acceptable, Acceptable, and Least Acceptable schools.”

One Cupertino real estate agent plans to include API scores in an upcoming mailer. Another found clients a townhouse they loved — great neighborhood, right price — but they declined to make an offer because the assigned school had an API of 818, and they wanted 850 or above. The state says that all schools should strive for a score of at least 800.

“Realtors ask questions about API that are as technical as any questions I get from local superintendents,” said Jack O’Connell, a former teacher and the state superintendent of public instruction.

The Fremont Union High School District has five high schools — Cupertino, Fremont, Homestead, Lynbrook and Monta Vista — that are among the best in the state.

But within the district, slight variations in API scores greatly affect real estate prices. Homes within the boundaries of high-scoring Monta Vista and Lynbrook command higher prices than equivalent houses in the Homestead or Cupertino attendance areas, which in turn are higher then Fremont. One agent said that a house that would sell for $780,000 in the Cupertino high school attendance area probably would fetch $1 million in Monta Vista.

“It becomes a situation where the good schools get sought after, and that drives up appreciation,” said Steve Elich, a Coldwell Banker agent in Cupertino. “As the prices go up the people who can afford them tend to be higher educated, so the schools get even better. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Shelby Spain, Fremont Union’s assessment director, warns that API, while important, is not the only measure parents should look at.

“We need to get the message across that API is not the most important factor,” said Spain. “You need to look at the courses that are offered and the culture of the school.”

One of Elich’s clients, David McDonnell, is currently renting in San Francisco with his wife and two children. McDonnell commutes to Redwood Shores in Redwood City for work, and they want to buy in the Cherry Chase neighborhood of Sunnyvale. Elich taught them the ins and outs of API, and 850 is the number they have in mind.

“We look at the home as the largest investment we’ll ever make,” said McDonnell, who is already thinking about preschool for his 20-month-old son and 5-week-old daughter. “I see good schools as an insurance policy against a crash in the market. Even in down markets, if the real estate flatlines, you’ll be able to get a good return on your investment.”

Seethepalli and Jagannivas got lucky. They could afford to buy a house in Saratoga’s “golden triangle,” the area that feeds Saratoga High School. In April, they closed on a house with a beautifully landscaped front yard, three bedrooms, and a plum tree.

It cost more than $1 million, but they feel it is worth it. Their 6-year-old daughter, Ankitha, is in the first grade at Argonaut Elementary, which has an API score of 949 (a slight drop from last year’s score of 952).

“We are quite happy with the school,” said Jagannivas, who likes the emphasis on math and science, the level of parental involvement, and the fact that it feeds Redwood Middle School and Saratoga High School. “So far my hypothesis has come true.”

Contact Dana Hull at [email protected] or (408) 920-2706.