I’m a fan of data. I don’t like some of my data, but you can’t make chicken salad without a chicken, you know? Ever since I was a kid, whether it was the back of baseball cards or looking at my father’s stocks, numbers actually meant something to me. They should mean something to others, too.
Case in point. I’m a major Kobe Bryant disliker. The man’s name is synonymous on the playground with an ill-advised shot that has little chance to go in. And, my dislike is seen easily in his lifetime numbers of never shooting–he never shot over 47 percent in any season, never shot over 38 percent from the 3-point line, and never shot over 86 percent from the free throw line. A simple Internet search will give you those numbers. By the way, Wardell Curry shot 50/45/90 last year. You could argue that Curry was on the better team, but Kobe didn’t win five rings by himself. He had good teams, too.
There is data about schools. You can probably punch up some pertinent info about North High, or about the Torrance District, or both. You can do the same for every district. The numbers are always a couple of years old, but they are numbers anyway. It’s the SARC, the School’s Accountability Report Card, and it will give anyone info on numbers of kids, demographics, test scores, and the general information that anyone might want to know about a school. General.
But that data is very controlled, for it is available on any school out there.
There’s so much other data that is not controlled, but understood. My boy’s school is great. Parras Middle School. Perhaps their numbers won’t show it on a SARC, but tomorrow is Open House, and I will be there just to feel the energy of the school. Kids are happy, the teachers seem nice, the zeitgeist of the school is a positive one. Some people give up 2.5% mortgages to move homes, for that’s the only way you can get into Parras–to live in the district. That’s not found in data, but the school will be packed tomorrow night with members of the community.
Think about what’s not there on those reports, what is controlled inside the walls of each school.
Number of fights per year? No comment.
Number of kids at Homecoming Dance? A positive for us; we sold out. Kids also hugely supported the dance show and Les Miserables at the Armstrong.
Number of kids late to school/first period because the parking lot is unforgiving? Ugh, at North.
If you look on the accountability report, any school’s dropout rate is stellar. Controlled.
You can meet A-G requirements with C grades, but what 4-yr does that work for these days?
Number of faculty and staff that have left? And WHY?
How many kids start at commmunity colleges, transfer, then graduate from a 4-yr? No idea.
How many kids graduate early? We have one I know of this year graduating as a junior. Some have already taken the California High School Proficiency Exam and left.
The list could go on and on. As much as I love numbers, and North and Torrance USD have really good ones available for public scrutiny, those are merely the past. Because when our numbers are so good, better than the numbers of Redondo (at least with recent testing), then why are Redondo schools bursting at the seams and home values so high?
I’ll write it again–ask your kids what goes on at school. If you’re lucky, they may even be able to show you the videos that make the social media rounds for all kids to see.