Sequoia Union High School District 2010 API Scores.
October 1, 2010
Sequoia, Carlmont Post Gains.
Last week I posted the 2010 API scores for the San Carlos School District, and a very insightful discussion ensued about the value and emphasis being placed on API scores, and whether a single score tells the whole story about the relative quality of a school. Well, get you debating shoes on, because below is the list of the 2010 API scores for the local high schools in the Sequoia Union High School District. The two schools that serve San Carlos, Sequoia High School and Carlmont High School, both posted gains from the prior year. Sequoia had the most significant jump at 35 points, or about 4.7%. Carlmont increased by 8 points, or about 1% from 2009.
Sequoia High School, which serves a much larger percentage of San Carlos neighborhoods than Carlmont, has seen a surge in enrollment in the past few years. This year, the student body has swelled to about 1,933 students — an increase of 5.5% from just last year. It wasn't too long ago that the enrollment was closer to 1,500. Great things are happening at Sequoia, and they're now drawing new students from all over the Peninsula, not just San Carlos.
Despite the fact that San Carlos no longer has its own high school, the residents of San Carlos still have not one, but two great options for high school. We need to get past that outdated mindset that the great San Carlos education experience ends at the 8th grade.
So without further ado, here are the latest scores:
| SEQUOIA UNION HIGH | 780 | 770 | D | 10 | ||||
| High Schools | ||||||||
| Carlmont High | 835 | 827 | A | 8 | Yes | No | No | |
| Menlo-Atherton High | 784 | 771 | 5 | 13 | Yes | No | No | |
| Sequoia High | 775 | 740 | 5 | 35 | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Summit Preparatory Charter High | 828 | 826 | A | 2 | Yes | No | No | |
| Woodside High | 747 | 750 | 5 | -3 | No | No | No | |
| Small Schools | ||||||||
| Aspire East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy | 791* | 674* | 6 | 117 | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| ASAM Schools | ||||||||
| Redwood High | 575* | 785* | D | -210 | N/A |
Posted in:
Kudos to both Sequoia and Carlmont and congratulations to parents for having an open mind about sending their kids to public high school. My kids attended Carlmont; one is in med school and took full advantage of Carlmont’s awesome math/science program and the other is at Stanford. With the transfer option shut down, you’ll see a student body at Sequoia that will defy stereotypes. Of course, you’ll still get San Carlos parents who think St. Francis in Mt.View (17k/year) is the only viable option
Amen to that. Both options are as great as they are different. We’re lucky to have such a diverse choice for public high school!
It’s definetly the mindset that has parents thinking that their only option are private high schools. Like Joanne, both of my daughters entered an accelerated BS/MD health sciences program at Stanford from a Sequoia district high school. Friends always wondered aloud why we sent these academically gifted girls to a local public school. They both got admission to Menlo, Castilleja, etc but chose to stay in the public school. Believe me, their friends an other parents had a hard time understanding. The eldest was enlightened by her exposure to diverse economic and ethnic backgrounds while in public school and will intern in the same community.
The notion that Sequoia doesn’t provide a quality education is just plain poppycock. When you’re in college, no one cares where you went to high school. It’s all about whether you can handle the coursework. When you’re working, no one cares where you went to college. It’s whether you can do the job.
Education is what you make of it.