Left Behind: Dublin High’s SAT Scores Plummet to New Low, Pleasanton and Danville’s Jump to New Heights
Dublin, CA – SAT scores recently released by the California Department of Education show that most Tri-Valley high schools continue to improve in preparing their students for college. Monte Vista High School in Danville, CA jumped another 15 points to score an impressive average of 1,773 on the SAT in the most recent year. Foothill High School and Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, CA generated the second and third highest average scores with 1,756 and 1,743, respectively.
For the second year in a row, Dublin High School had the lowest SAT score in the Tri-Valley. This year’s score of 1,583 represents a 24 point drop from the prior year. Livermore High School (1,616) and Granada High School (1,634) in Livermore, CA rounded out the bottom three for 2009-2010. Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon, CA registered its first year in the SAT program with a median Tri-Valley score of 1,723.
San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, CA was the most improved school with its whopping 36-point jump in 2009-2010. With a score below 1,600, Dublin High School suffered the largest decrease for the year and produced its lowest score since the new SAT test was introduced in 2005. Foothill High School was the only other school to register a decrease in the past year with a 19-point dip in 2009-2010.
While San Ramon Valley High School’s SAT scores have steadily climbed over the past few years, the number of students who take the SAT has actually been sliding over the same period. Similar to the growing income gap in the area, this discrepancy could signal an increasing divide between academic “haves” and “have nots.”
The top-performing high school over the past five years has been Monte Vista High School with an average SAT score of 1,737. The worst performing school over the past five years has been Dublin High School with an average score of 1,594. Dublin High School remains the only Tri-Valley school to average below 1,600 over the past five years.
Dublin High School’s SAT scores have continued to drop, while its API scores rose significantly in the past two years. U.S. colleges almost universally accept SAT scores as an accurate measure of college-readiness. The widening disparity between Dublin High School’s SAT scores and API scores may indicate that Dublin High School is “teaching to the test,” while neglecting to prepare students properly for college.
“Year after year after year, Dublin Unified School District officials and Dublin High School apologists have repeated their claim that Dublin High is improving at a rapid pace and that its SAT scores will be higher next year,” said Rully Kusuma, one of many Dublin parents behind the proposed public charter high school called Tassajara Prep. “Unfortunately, after five years of declining SAT scores, it has become apparent that this mythical ‘next year’ may never arrive.”
College admission requirements become more robust every year. Students wishing to set themselves apart with higher SAT scores may want to consider test-preparation services to supplement classroom instruction. Internet searches for the local area show that the Tri-Valley region has a plethora of SAT test-preparation services to choose from in order to provide students with the best chance possible for success.
12:44 AM on August 22nd, 2011
I think the data were reported incorrectly by dusd…
7:03 AM on August 22nd, 2011
Very disappointing statistics.
7:15 AM on August 22nd, 2011
I am wondering what the motivation is behind your blog is this a campaign to get the charter school approved? First it was drop out rates now it is SAT scores what will be next?
10:58 AM on August 22nd, 2011
Unless you do bunch of research, these negative trends won’t be published anywhere else. I am very concerned about the quality of the education program at DHS and these trends don’t lie…DUSD should go on the offensive and publish a credible plan to change this while looking at why other high schools perform better.
7:23 AM on August 22nd, 2011
I wonder what spin James Morehead and One Dublin are going to come up with to excuse these unacceptable scores.
7:30 AM on August 22nd, 2011
Fwiw, every one of my very successful friends was just a so-so student in school.
8:10 AM on August 22nd, 2011
Your website used to promote Dublin and be positive to read. Now it is all about your pocketbook.
Was that always your intent behind this website?
8:16 AM on August 22nd, 2011
Hi Anonymous – the Around Dublin website still promotes Dublin and other cities in the Tri-Valley. We report the news and statistics as they are without being influenced by pressure from local politicians, developers, the school districts, or city halls. Around Dublin is a non-profit operation existing only to serve the community.
Regards, John Z.
12:58 PM on August 24th, 2011
John,Thanks for taking the effort to illustrate and report the results. I would like to support your views but it seems that the data obtained always seems tainted. Would it be possible for you to obtain irrefutable data ? … for instance directly from the school district ? I am sure this will solidify support for you. Most residents are non-partisan and only seek the truth.
8:13 AM on August 22nd, 2011
Heck, and I thought my kid making the honor roll was a big deal. I guess it’s time to remove that Dublin High School bumper sticker! Canada, here we come!
9:13 AM on August 22nd, 2011
Whatever Around Dublin is intent to promote the Charter school or not, the SAT score of Dublin High is way fall behind the rest is true.
9:27 AM on August 22nd, 2011
Why not look for the weaknesses in the school programs? It does no good to simply look at data and make judgements based on that. Find out what the problems are, and the causes, then develop programs that address them. We can’t just turn our backs and think opening another type of school will be a solution.
10:23 AM on August 22nd, 2011
I agree completely. The Around Dublin team is saying that because scores drop, that DHS is not performing well. AD is not promoting Dublin by bashing DHS every chance they get, along with adding an obligatory quote or plug for the charter school.
The data in the test results, along with the upcoming API scores, provide insight and assistance into areas of improvement. Anyone who has ever served on a PFC, SSC, school board or any of these educational organizations would know this.
Why doesn’t the AD team help DHS improve their scores by working with the administration and school organizations? Maybe this blog should be retitled ATP, or Around Tassajara Prep, since most educational articles on this site are around TP anyhow?
5:07 AM on August 29th, 2011
…”Why doesn’t the AD team help DHS improve their scores by working with the administration and school organizations?”…
Last I checked, we all pay tax dollars to the people/monopoly who are actually supposed to do this. Is this a case that the DUSD is underpaid relative to their surrounding peer organizations? or is it simply that we are seeing DUSD underperform?
You get what you pay for, or at least that is what I think everyone is asking for here, may it be through a charter school or sunk cost and public schools.
11:32 PM on March 8th, 2012
It’s not the problem, it’s the demographics issue.
10:56 AM on August 22nd, 2011
Unlike the last boo boo article by John the last time, this data seems legit. Check out http://projects.latimes.com/schools/custom-ranking/county/alameda/statistic/sat-scores/order/highest/
Definitely a red flag and an indicator for Dublin High to improve their teaching methods in preparation for SAT (very important for college). However, I also think the mix of students and academic oriented families are fast changing in Dublin. I see a lot of highly educated families moving into Dublin… especially the east side. School pays an important role but parents are the main motivators to excel at school. Dublin High will definitely improve over time.
9:16 PM on August 22nd, 2011
Say what? Dublin High will definitely improve over time? Oh, come on, how many times is that empty promise going to be repeated? For the last five years, the district and Dublin High supporters have been saying that its SAT scores will soon improve. Then, every year it’s the same thing — wait until next year. The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is SAT scores. Dublin High is NOT improving as a college prep high school. Dublin High is a fine high school for many kids. It’s a fine high school if that’s the kind of high school you want your kids to go to. If you want your kids to go to a college prep high school, Dublin High is not the place for you.
Your comment about highly educated families moving into east Dublin reflects what the district has been counting on for years. Rather than actually improving the academic program at Dublin High, they have been lazily counting on an large influx of kids from the east side to improve their SAT scores. Read my lips – it’s NOT happening.
2:57 PM on August 23rd, 2011
Hello Mr Lem aka Mr Gloom and Doom, You do know the data this blog culled from is suspect right? http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/ai/documents/sat10.xls
6:03 PM on August 24th, 2011
No, the data is correct. Even James Morehead is reporting the same data on his One Dublin High School website, and James Morehead is always right.
Darrell
3:01 PM on August 23rd, 2011
Actually… it is happening. Check out the excellent API scores of Dougherty, Green, Fallon and soon Kolb. These students will propagate up the system.
3:50 PM on August 23rd, 2011
Hi Darrel, Save us! What do you suggest we do?
6:09 PM on August 24th, 2011
I suggest you speak at a school board meeting and demand that Dublin High focus on preparing kids for college rather than focusing on raising its API score to the detriment of the students. While you are at it, tell them it is time to either build a high school in east Dublin or stop fighting against Tassajara Prep. I think they will be very receptive to your demands because the number one thing they care about is improving public education in Dublin, not power, money, job security, and control. Do it – you’ll feel so much better after you do!
Darrell
4:24 PM on August 23rd, 2011
Nor will it ever happen as long as this administration is in place. In order to effect real change, the entire leadership structure needs to blowup itself up and start from scratch.
11:22 AM on August 22nd, 2011
I would be careful about taking this California Department of Education data at face value.
I’m looking at the Excel file for 2009-2010 right now, which I downloaded from http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/ai/documents/sat10.xls
It says that over 565 percent of Dublin High students took the SAT.
That’s right: 565 *percent.*
That’s because the number of grade 12 students is reported as 26, and the number who took the test is reported as 147.
Almost every other school shows a more reasonable sub-100 percent rate of SAT-taking.
Obviously there is something screwy here. Whether the conclusions of the article are correct or not, I think the piece shows an alarming lack of concern about the accuracy of the data it draws upon.
Dan
12:06 PM on August 22nd, 2011
Dan, Heck! you are right. There’s something fishily screwy with the data. 565.38% SAT percent tested definitely doesn’t sound right. After the last data mess up by John, I am not sure about the creditability of his blogs anymore. There isn’t a intellectual vetting process prior to his publishing. However, it’s still fun to read and have pretty smart people in Dublin rebutting his conclusions. Nice to know residents of Dublin are no dummies. Go Dublin Go !
3:18 PM on August 22nd, 2011
Every statistics for Dublin Unified reported by the CDE were messed up. One can only wonder…
5:27 PM on August 22nd, 2011
As far as I know, nobody has shown that the district is to blame for the data being bad. Do we know this for a fact?
5:29 PM on August 22nd, 2011
As far as I know, nobody has shown that the district is at fault for the data being bad. Do we know this for a fact?
3:26 PM on August 23rd, 2011
Dan, For better or worse, I would think the school would have an interest in getting the correct scores out there. I went thru their website but did not find any data. Short of actually contacting the school, do you know of a way to get actual correct data ?
6:12 PM on August 24th, 2011
The SAT data for Dublin High on the CDE website is correct. The data comes from the College Board, not from the high schools, so there is no chance for Dublin to screw up the data.
Darrell
6:52 PM on August 22nd, 2011
To quote Twain and Disraili or others…nah I shall not but you can google it if you dont know where I am coming from.
Things change, teachers move, you have a bad crop of students. Support your local schools. What else you going to do move to Danville just because of a statistical blip?..Bye good bye. I’ll take your house off your hands if you like.
5:42 AM on August 23rd, 2011
I agree. Our son applied to an out of state college. He was accepted there after high school but decided to do the JC thing for two years. Upon re-applying ….we waited….and waited and finally contacted the school to see why the application had not been completed. Turns out…not once…but twice…Dublin High sent his transcripts to wrong schools.
Finally we went to the college…called DHS and waited by the admissions office fax for them to send the transcripts.
Maybe a little more Quality control is necessary…
6:53 AM on August 23rd, 2011
Darn….. My home price will still be affected by this SAT scores. Planning Commission cause my home price to drop years ago by poor planning and schools cannot even help out to keep my home price at par with San Ramon and Danville. Help!!! I need to refinance and I cannot get equity. DUSD can you give a hand so that our home prices just don’t drop but rather just don’t get affected. Do your jobs!!!!
1:21 PM on August 24th, 2011
You call yourself Around Dublin but admit you promote cities aorund the Tri-Valley. So why don’t you call yourself Around the Tri-Valley and quit misleading people that you are promoting Dublin.
3:37 PM on August 26th, 2011
Is DUSD completely incompetent in educating our children? Or are they completely incompetent in providing correct data? Either way they are incompetent. Makes you wonder why the man in charge of it all is getting a raise.
9:26 PM on August 28th, 2011
Isn’t this data over a year old?
10:30 PM on August 28th, 2011
The data is clear. Dublin High SAT scores are poor and not improving. High SAT scores are essential to get into a good university. Everything else is meaningless noise. John Z is not the issue. TP is not the issue. The issue is that the people with the monopoly on educating our kids are failing by this most objective metric. Let me be clear. The people in charge of Dublin High School should be FIRED and replaced with people who will demand results. Clearly our unionized teachers and the DUSD administrators with their cushy jobs (and their onedublin.org propoganda machine) need to be made to feel a little less comfortable. In the private sector they would have been fired long ago. Reminds me of the Minnesota public employees who screamed and yelled recently about having to actually pay a small portion of their own benefits…
4:07 PM on August 30th, 2011
for all those people who expect East Dublin kids to bring up the score, the truth is that many families move out the Dublin before their kids go to DHS.
I live in East Dublin, I knew three families move out the Dublin this summer because their kids are going to high school after summer. My sons are at elementary school now and I plan to move if the charter school does not happen. If you talk to many families in the east side, they all feel the same. Many of them have wait and see attitude. Therefore, east Dublin will remain a young kids community because many families with high school age kids move out.
There is no reason to be angry and say something like “Great, move out, we don’t need you”. It is a reality check. We need to improve our education and the first thing is to recognize what we did wrong or our school district did wrong. Too many people just want to cover their ear or bury their head in the sand and ignore what they see. How would that help?
8:20 PM on August 30th, 2011
Thank goodness I’m rich and can afford to send my kids to private school.
1:17 PM on September 8th, 2011
I went to the public hearning on Tassajara Prep last night, this is my first time in such hearing and I heard both side’s arguments, I don’t think TP is the only solution but I am not convinced by DHS’s auguments neither. I have a child in elementary school who will be in high school in a few years, I look around all the high schools in tri-valley area and do a comparison, DHS is just not the top performing school, in fact it has the lowest SAT amoung the 9 schools in the trivalley. so I want to ask the board if they don’t approve the TP then what are they going to do to improve the performance of DHS so that parents in Dublin is not forced to send their children to the lowest ranking school in the area due to lack of choices. Don’t tell me SAT is not everything, everyone knows SAT is the first thing college checks for admission, if we cannot bring DHS SAT score up, what leg they have to stand on to refuse parents wanting another choice? If the board is not able to improve the score in the past 5 years after all that efforts, it is time to either approve the TP or do something drastically (like change the admin or teachers of the school due to none performance) so we can see some results soon. I don’t have another 5 years to waste on waiting.
2:39 PM on September 8th, 2011
You are right on the facts. OneDublin people either bury their heads in the sands or are misled by OD/DUSD. For the last 3-5 years, a lot of parents like you had been told to be patient by DUSD and had been promised that AP and SAT scores would be better once Fallon students attended DHS. Well, you have seen the results so far. That does not leave us frustrated parents much choice – either we support a college-prep charter school in East Dublin or we move out.
I choose to fight until there is no tomorrow. How about you?
11:36 PM on March 8th, 2012
Indeed. Dublin High and the school district had all the time in the world to improve performance and they’ve failed.
11:48 AM on September 27th, 2011
we keep speaking of inaccurate data. Why is it that only the Dublin School data seem to be the only one consistently in error?
Errors, whether intentional or not are a great way to obfuscate and distract anyone interested in trying to get to the truth.
The sad fact is that Dublin is indeed teaching to the (API) test. I have observed this firsthand with my own children.
the rule in politics is to follow the money, schools get funding from API scores, not from SAT scores. As a parent I sincerely believe that this school district is money hungry and cares nothing about our kids future success or indeed the community.
9:04 PM on October 21st, 2011
Just a thought but maybe it’s not the teaching, maybe its the students. Not all students are cut out for college. Maybe they aren’t really serious about their SAT scores. While I think it’s obviously important to have quality teachers and education in our local public schools, I guess the test scores situation doesn’t bother me that much. College isn’t the end-all be-all in life and frankly I think there is too much emphasis on getting into college, and not enough emphasis on good old fashioned values and hard work. Yes education is absolutely important but it is really only one piece of a person’s development.
I think this article is a bit inflammatory and is drawing premature conclusions. I also think parents in this community need to chill out. Not all kids are cut out for college. If you are so concerned about your kids getting into college, perhaps you should put them into a private school and/or move to a different school district. Our district overall is still very good. Get some perspective.
7:51 AM on February 10th, 2012
There are a total of 2,916 public and private high schools that show student enrollment in California, according to highschool.com. In the statewide SAT results published in the Los Angeles Times, Monte Vista ranked 39th, Foothill 47th, Amador Valley 56th, San Ramon Valley 63rd, Daugherty Valley 75th, California 95th, Granada 195th, Livermore 223rd and Dublin 283rd, placing all of these schools within the top 10 percent of high schools in the state for SAT scores. Of the 59 high schools in Alameda County, Foothill ranked fourth, Amador Valley sixth, Granada 14th, Livermore 17th and Dublin 18th in SAT scores, placing all of these schools in the upper third of high schools in their county. Of the 31 high schools in Contra Costa County, Monte Vista ranked fourth, San Ramon Valley seventh, Daugherty Valley eighth and California 10th in SAT scores, placing all of these schools in the upper third of high schools in their county.
3:46 PM on February 13th, 2012
I know this won’t be a popular opinion, but with a growing section 8 housing program in Dublin, how many underachieving students are now going through dublin high.
This is great for the kids to be in a better environment, but I would guess it would skew the scored lower.
In time kids from section 8 homes, who have gone through a better public elementary and middle school experience will see their scores rise and overall the scores will rise.
Someone go look back and see what SAT scores were before the Bart Housing Complexes were built.
Don’t get me wrong…I think its great that these kids are getting a new opportunity at a quality education. Give it time for the scores to even out.
When you bring a previously poorly educated kid into the high school and he/she does poorly on the SATs…obviously downward skew.
Zorro
11:43 PM on March 8th, 2012
How is it related to the BART project? Section 8 is equally spread across the town. Biggest low income cluster is Arroyo Vista project actually. It’s going to be rebuilt.
9:43 PM on March 7th, 2012
Having researched different website, this the DHS is pretty good so we purchased in Dublin. The negative bias has vested political interest here.
The report doesn’t know how many student goes to CSU or other colleges and is not complete.
3:09 AM on March 9th, 2012
What the deal with the scores and section 8 again?
First of all, I really feel sickened by some of the comments, not just on this thread.
Dublin High School is a normal school, which I believe is improving. For kids, who want to go to college it’s not the worst one. It’s all about students. If they think that college education is important for them, they just need to study more. You can excel at any school, if you hardworking and goal oriented. Moving out of Dublin, because of a High School tests scores seems rather impractical idea. Unless you have full pockets of moneys to jump from one location to another without a problem.
I had a friend. Very worried parent of two. She was planning to move to Palo Alto, so her kids will get a chance to go to Gunn High School. Little she knew, that the school with high scores was full of students high on drugs. I am glad, she had a chance to talk and to rethink. She kept her nice house in Dublin Ranch area and eventually her kids went to good colleges.
About Bart section 8 project. Never came to anyone mind that it could be very offending for people living there? Please do some research before posting some information. This “Bart section 8 project” or “Camellia Place”, has 112 units and only several of them are eligible for section 8. I live in this “Project”. Not on a section 8 program. My children’s test score were always high. My son is a student in UC Berkeley with double major. My daughter still in school and having a test results with a highest scores possible. Any school would be glad to have her.
I remember, I was totally surprised that problem with drugs was the worst in San Ramon school district and then Pleasanton. Dublin High School was the cleanest out of all school. Scores not everything. Some kids may be just not planning for college. Does it means they’ll end up bad? Not at all. Look at the long listing of the most successful people. Most of them never got a college education. Who knows, may be Dublin will also be proud of some of them.
Member of a Bart section 8(?) Project Community.
9:27 AM on May 9th, 2012
Does anyone know how Dublin high posted skewed statistics?
http://dublin.patch.com/articles/dublin-high-ranked-high-in-magazine-s-list-but-data-isn-t-correct
I know for a fact, that dublin high has improved but the US news rankings are bizzare. No way it is higher than Mission SanJose high or san ramon/cupertino schools. What did the Dublin high folks do here? This is fraud!
10:01 AM on May 9th, 2012
There was another school with incorrect data as well: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/08/11601779-principal-errors-get-nevada-high-school-ranked-13th-in-us?lite
I know that so many of you people just jump at the chance to dump on the school district, but the data also went through the Department of Education. There is a chance that someone else messed things up.
11:02 AM on May 9th, 2012
Don’t worry about skewed numbers from Dublin High. Other schools cheat too. Including San Ramon, Pleasanton and Lafayette. I think we are underestimating our Dublin High kids and our school teachers (Definitely not the school board). I will take this anytime to boost the desirability factor of our homes to increase our home prices.
2:44 PM on May 9th, 2012
Well..the nevada school principal at least acknowledge the stats are wrong. Dublin high had “no comments”. Believe me, I dont mind the rankings. I live in Dublin, I just don’t think it is representing it correctly. We have neighbors in the high school and while it has improved a lot, it still is no where in the so called “gold” status.
5:21 PM on May 9th, 2012
When did they say “no comment”?
This was released today:
The following is the content of a media release sent out by DUSD on Wednesday afternoon:
When the district received word that Dublin High School was listed among the nation’s top performing high schools, according to U.S. News and World Report’s high school rankings, we were delighted, but not surprised because we know that our teachers, administrators and students achieve remarkable academic results.
Upon closer examination of the data used by the magazine, it was clear to us that they used inaccurate student enrollment information. The district migrated to a new student data reporting system in fall 2010 and due to an error in the migration, enrollment data for Dublin High School was incorrectly reported. This inaccuracy was reported to the California Department of Education’s California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) office in December 2010. The district worked over the next several months with state department of education agencies to correct the data, and we were notified that the inaccurate data had been corrected. Unfortunately, it appears the correction was not shared with the various state systems used to disseminate data and statistics statewide. The magazine’s formulas were applied to data still inaccurate on the California Department of Education’s data reporting system, which in turn was inaccurately reflected on federal student information and statistics databases.
In this District, we value honesty and integrity, so we took action immediately to notify the both the magazine and the public. In Dublin, we model what we teach, and we teach the importance of truth.
We do want to use this opportunity to draw attention to the great work that is being done at Dublin High School and throughout the entire district. Our high school may not be ranked 12 according to a magazine, but the manner in which they are handling this disappointment demonstrates that they are number one when it comes to maturity, integrity and character. We are proud of Dublin High School, and we are proud of our great kids.
7:26 PM on May 9th, 2012
How much of the ranking was due to the inaccurate number of students? At least it put on the map and hopefully next time with correct numbers we will rank very high
8:47 PM on May 9th, 2012
Hi Anonymous – if DUSD can provide the correct data, I’m sure that the US News folks will be able to update Dublin High’s ranking.
Thx, John Z.
12:25 PM on May 10th, 2012
If DUSD provided the correct data, DHS would not even be on the map. Let’s wait and see.
9:56 AM on August 22nd, 2011
I don’t think Dublin Unified has acknowledged this long-standing problem of lagging SAT scores, so a generation of Dublin students have already been “left behind”. Of course, you’d never get anyone from the district to admit that.
I am not sure what you mean by looking at the data is no good. If the district is doing something about the low SAT scores, there should be an improvement as we see with the other Tri-Valley schools. We’re not though. That’s what is most concerning to many parents with kids approaching high school age.
5:21 PM on August 22nd, 2011
let’s take that to another level. if the district can care less about the data it reports to the state, how accurate are the transcripts it sends to the different colleges?
1:42 PM on August 24th, 2011
Um, I think most people believe what they see on the CDE website. All of this manufactured concern and outrage are simply a distraction from the sad fact that Dublin High is the only high school with an average SAT score barely past 1500 while the others are reaching 1800.