6 Of The Top Schools in San Diego Are Located In Carmel Valley. List Of The Top Schools In The San Diego Area. Which Schools Made The Grade

The scores used to calculate the ranking the schools in the San Diego area, are based on their API score , this is a number that ranges from 200 to 1,000 and it is derived from the performance of public school students in grades 2 to 11 that take the California standards Tests. API Scores are the categorized by sub-group, this relates to their, ethnicity, race, origin and special conditions such as: English learners, Economically disadvantaged and or students with special needs.

The Standard tests target score was at 800 points and anything over 900 points is considered very succesful. According to an article from Del Mar Times newspaper ""Forty-six percent of all California schools are now at or above the overall statewide target API of 800, up four percentage points from the year before," according to a press release issued Sept. 13 by the California Department of Education. "This includes 51 percent of elementary schools, 40 percent of middle schools and 25 percent of high schools." In this article you can also see the breakdown of how the different groups scored in their API in each area , to view this article go to  http://www.delmartimes.net/news/274493-local-elementary-schools-dominate-api-list
This year's API scores yielded an interesting situation, having 6 of the 10 Top schools concentrated in one single School District. Six of the Top ten schools are within the boundaries of the Del Mar School  Union District, this district encompasses those schools that serve the 92014 and part of the 92130 zip codes, which belong respectively to Del Mar and Carmel Valley areas.

The Del Mar Union School District  (DMUSD) has a total of 8 Elementary schools, out of which, 5 of them have scores of 950 or higher, 2 have a score of 948 and one has a score of 924 being this the lowest score in the district, As a whole the  DMUSD has a score of  961, up 2 point from the previous years scores. This despite some inner political problems that the district has been facing. James Paebody the Districts Superintendent  acknowledged that the Del Mar Union School District has experienced challenging issues and turmoil in the past few years but said the focus never wavered from student learning and achievement.

Within the 92130 zip code of Carmel Valley there are homes that are zoned  within the boundaries of the Poway School District and there are 3 schools that belong to the Solana Beach School District, two of them serving grades k to fifth and Solana Pacific which serves fifth and sixth grade students. This school district also includes Solana Santa Fe in Fairbanks Ranch which  is a K-6 school, and the two  more schools in  Solana Beach proper, Solana Vista serving grades K-3 and Skyline with grades 4-6.

Within San Diego this are the Top 13 Elementary Schools according to their API.

Schools in the spots 1,2 and 4 all belong to the San Diego Unified School District yet they are all within the 92037 zip code that belongs to La Jolla.

For more information you can check out the 2009-2010 Accountability Progress report at http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2010/2010SchSummary.aspx?allcds=37103716069355

When a family is looking for a home it is very important to take the school boundaries into account, not all districts will accept transfers from other districts easily, some may not even be able to accept intra district transfers within the same school district depending on policies and amount of students attending each particular school so, if schools are an important factor to you in the purchase of your home, be sure to look at boundaries and speak to the particular school district you are interested in before you go ahead and buy a home.