First Day of School, and What Actually Makes These Schools So Good
Today is the first day of school, and it always brings back memories of helping my kids pick out their first-day outfits, watching them beam with excitement over which teacher they'd get, which friends would be in their class.
This year it got me thinking about something bigger. We were lucky to raise our kids in a community where the schools are excellent, and I started reflecting on what actually contributes to that excellence. It's never just one thing.
Here is a quick look at how the Tri-Valley districts, part of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, stack up:
Tri-Valley school district comparison table: Pleasanton, San Ramon Valley, Dublin, and Livermore math and reading proficiency rankings
California proficiency averages are 34 percent in math and 47 percent in reading, for reference. Within Pleasanton Unified, Amador Valley High ranks 103rd and Foothill High ranks 76th out of more than 2,300 California high schools, putting both in the top 5 percent statewide, with graduation rates of 95.6 percent and 96.9 percent respectively.
None of these numbers tell the whole story, though. Confidence, teamwork, resilience, knowing how to show up for people, those things do not show up on a report card, but they are just as much a part of a great education.
I still remember Friday night football games at Amador Valley High School, when it felt like half of Pleasanton showed up. Parents, students, neighbors, all packed into the stands cheering. It was and still is the place to be on a Friday night, and it said everything about this community. Nobody was there because a test score told them to be. They were there for the Pigskin Roast, for Homecoming, for the feeling of being part of something. That is what gets woven into the fabric of daily life here.
And, a huge piece of what makes these numbers possible is parental support.
Families volunteer in the classroom, show up for school events, donate their time and their money. It takes a village, and that village is not just the teaching staff, though they matter enormously too. It's the parent who signs up to chaperone the field trip. The neighbor who donates supplies. The community that shows up, year after year, whether it is a Tuesday morning book fair or a Friday night under the lights.
That's part of what makes the Tri-Valley special to me, not just as a mom, but as someone who helps families find their next home here. Great schools do not happen by accident. They happen because a community decides, together, that its kids matter.
To everyone dropping a kiddo off today, whether it is a first day or a fifteenth first day, I hope it's a good one.
Sources: Niche.com (district test score data, sourced from California Department of Education), PublicSchoolReview.com, SchoolDigger.com, Patch.com (citing Niche district report cards), U.S. News Education
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