WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.279 Hello. Today on the show, we're going to talk 00:00:02.279 --> 00:00:04.719 about something that is incredibly important 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:08.880 and often talked about in listings, in conversations 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:11.580 people have when buying or selling homes. It's 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:13.820 always talked about, it's always mentioned, but 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:17.399 it's frequently misunderstood. And it's one of 00:00:17.399 --> 00:00:18.839 the most important things, especially if you 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:20.920 have kids or are planning to have kids, and that's 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:24.079 schools and the quality of schools, but specifically 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:29.280 school ratings. Now, What if I told you that 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:31.480 the school ratings that a lot of people depend 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:34.939 on to choose what is a good school versus a not 00:00:34.939 --> 00:00:38.520 good school are complete BS and can even be potentially 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:41.979 harmful for your child? You would say, oh, my 00:00:41.979 --> 00:00:44.359 goodness, what's going on? So I'm going to let 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:47.600 you know about school rating systems and why 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:50.079 you need to do some different research before 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:52.340 deciding on whether a school is good or bad. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:54.960 Let's get into it. Hello. If we haven't met yet, 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:57.259 my name is Doug Varinas. I'm a licensed realtor. 00:00:57.259 --> 00:01:00.100 estate agent here in Vancouver, Washington, and 00:01:00.100 --> 00:01:02.880 in Oregon as well. And if you're looking to buy, 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.319 sell, or invest in Vancouver or PDX, I'm your 00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:10.319 guy. I can help you find a place that you're 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:12.099 going to love at a price you're going to love 00:01:12.099 --> 00:01:15.239 with terms you're going to love. So you can click 00:01:15.239 --> 00:01:17.260 the link in the description to schedule a chat 00:01:17.260 --> 00:01:20.359 with me. 100 % no pressure, no biggie. Let's 00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:23.459 talk real estate. I love doing it. So let's get 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:25.900 into school ratings and why they are a complete 00:01:25.900 --> 00:01:29.359 BS way to actually determine whether a school 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:31.980 is going to be right for your child. Now, recently, 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:36.079 I had a client talk about the schools. They're 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:37.799 frequently talking about schools. They have young 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:40.319 kids approaching school age, and this is a big 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:43.000 factor for them. And so it was frequently mentioned. 00:01:43.909 --> 00:01:46.790 when we were looking at homes. And finally, I 00:01:46.790 --> 00:01:49.870 said, you know, what is a good school to you? 00:01:50.010 --> 00:01:52.370 And this question really kind of threw them for 00:01:52.370 --> 00:01:54.670 a loop because I'm not sure they actually thought 00:01:54.670 --> 00:01:56.650 about it. And it came out more as a question. 00:01:56.709 --> 00:02:00.390 And it was like, the kids are safe and they do 00:02:00.390 --> 00:02:04.769 well on tests, question mark. And I said, OK, 00:02:04.909 --> 00:02:09.870 well, the thing is. With and school ratings, 00:02:10.129 --> 00:02:12.449 especially sites like, you know, great schools 00:02:12.449 --> 00:02:15.490 dot org, you know, people hop on that and they're 00:02:15.490 --> 00:02:17.349 like, look at the number and then they just go 00:02:17.349 --> 00:02:20.110 on. Well, I mean, when you're talking about something 00:02:20.110 --> 00:02:22.289 as important as a school, that's going to be 00:02:22.289 --> 00:02:24.150 a great fit for your family. I don't recommend 00:02:24.150 --> 00:02:26.889 just looking at a school rating and going from 00:02:26.889 --> 00:02:29.550 there or going by reputation. You know, Camas 00:02:29.550 --> 00:02:32.169 is a great school district. Well, is it? Yeah. 00:02:32.250 --> 00:02:34.389 For some people, it can be. For other people, 00:02:34.490 --> 00:02:37.280 it could be a complete nightmare. And so frequently 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:39.800 what happens with average real estate agents 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:42.180 is that they point to these ratings, too, or 00:02:42.180 --> 00:02:43.840 they go by reputation. They're like, this is 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:45.240 a great school. It's a great school district. 00:02:45.340 --> 00:02:46.979 That's great schools. And they write it and they 00:02:46.979 --> 00:02:49.860 use that just parroting whatever they hear. And 00:02:49.860 --> 00:02:51.060 they'll put that in the listing description, 00:02:51.319 --> 00:02:53.620 highly rated schools. And you go, that's great. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:55.659 And then you move on and you find out, like, 00:02:55.860 --> 00:02:58.879 I'm not a big fan of this school. Because the 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:02.069 truth is about. sites like greatschools .org 00:03:02.069 --> 00:03:04.469 and all of them is that they're primarily driven 00:03:04.469 --> 00:03:08.650 by test results and people who bothered to put 00:03:08.650 --> 00:03:10.430 in a comment. And we all know that the people 00:03:10.430 --> 00:03:12.930 who tend to put in comments in those ratings, 00:03:13.050 --> 00:03:14.870 they either had a really great experience or 00:03:14.870 --> 00:03:17.409 a really bad experience. There's no nuance about 00:03:17.409 --> 00:03:19.830 it. The school's either on fire or it's the best 00:03:19.830 --> 00:03:23.009 thing since sliced bread. So they're incredibly 00:03:23.009 --> 00:03:26.979 inaccurate because You know, would you like your 00:03:26.979 --> 00:03:29.539 kid to be judged solely on their test scores? 00:03:29.659 --> 00:03:32.199 Is that the only thing that's important to you 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:35.680 and your family? In most cases, I think the answer 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:38.259 to that is going to be no. But that's all the 00:03:38.259 --> 00:03:41.120 data that these school rating sites have and 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:44.479 that they use and prioritize. So when your average 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:46.539 realtor starts talking about schools and how 00:03:46.539 --> 00:03:49.439 they're great, do they have children? Do they 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:51.639 know what a great school is? Have they been to 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:54.319 a school? I have pretty extensive experience 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:56.620 working in the Vancouver school district and 00:03:56.620 --> 00:03:59.520 almost all of the schools in the district. And 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:02.560 so what I can tell you about school ratings are 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:05.879 not only are they not accurate and that they're 00:04:05.879 --> 00:04:09.000 just based solely on test scores. They could 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:11.819 be they're not accurate from year to year. Like 00:04:11.819 --> 00:04:15.000 schools can have quite a bit of turnover in staff 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:18.180 and teachers and administration. People are moving 00:04:18.180 --> 00:04:21.660 around quite a bit. And so really, you know, 00:04:21.660 --> 00:04:24.339 even if a school is good one year, it might not 00:04:24.339 --> 00:04:28.000 be good the next year. And so really what I recommend 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.939 that people do. or that they determine what is 00:04:31.939 --> 00:04:36.339 a good school for them and for their child potentially. 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:40.319 So I'm going to give you an example, just a personal 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:45.199 example for me and my kids who goes to a low 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:48.819 rated school. So the school, if you go up on 00:04:48.819 --> 00:04:50.959 great, I just did this. I went on the great schools 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:54.959 .org, typed in their school. It came out of five 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:57.279 out of 10. So I don't know, an average school. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:59.860 It's, you know, maybe it's terrible. I don't 00:04:59.860 --> 00:05:01.720 know. Or maybe it's maybe it's OK. It's average. 00:05:02.220 --> 00:05:06.459 But what I know about that school is that it 00:05:06.459 --> 00:05:10.019 has an incredibly active PTA that does a lot 00:05:10.019 --> 00:05:14.139 of fundraising for extra events. It's one it's 00:05:14.139 --> 00:05:16.240 the only elementary school that has a Mandarin 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:20.500 immersion program. And the PTA also holds some 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:22.819 very significant cultural events there that are 00:05:22.819 --> 00:05:24.740 a lot of fun. I know that the counselor there 00:05:24.740 --> 00:05:27.779 has been one like counselor of the year for I 00:05:27.779 --> 00:05:29.740 don't know if it was nationally, but the state 00:05:29.740 --> 00:05:32.699 of Washington, they won a pretty. prestigious 00:05:32.699 --> 00:05:35.420 award as a great counselor. I know her personally. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:38.180 She does a great job. I know the principal personally, 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:42.519 and his sort of viewpoint on education aligns 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:45.000 with mine and my family's a little bit more. 00:05:45.220 --> 00:05:47.980 And so I have a lot more on the ground information. 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:50.420 I know that the school is one of the smaller 00:05:50.420 --> 00:05:53.660 ones in the district. So the class sizes are 00:05:53.660 --> 00:05:57.920 around 20. And so I have a lot of information 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:01.689 about this school and how it relates to my family 00:06:01.689 --> 00:06:04.769 and what I'm looking for in a good school that 00:06:04.769 --> 00:06:08.810 goes well beyond the great school's rating. So 00:06:08.810 --> 00:06:10.529 if I'm looking for a home and maybe I'm looking 00:06:10.529 --> 00:06:13.610 in this area and I see that school rating, you 00:06:13.610 --> 00:06:15.009 know, maybe I'll give that home a pass because 00:06:15.009 --> 00:06:17.050 it has a 5 out of 10. Well, that would be a huge 00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:19.399 mistake. Again, this is depending on what I'm 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:22.660 looking for. So I think really what the what 00:06:22.660 --> 00:06:25.180 you need to do is determine what a good school 00:06:25.180 --> 00:06:27.259 is going to look like for you and your kid, because 00:06:27.259 --> 00:06:28.800 it's going to look different because all kids 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:31.300 are different. But the truth is with public schools 00:06:31.300 --> 00:06:34.779 is they're sort of they can be a, you know, one 00:06:34.779 --> 00:06:38.100 size fits all. So, you know, is your kid do they 00:06:38.100 --> 00:06:40.519 learn differently? Are they neurodivergent? Are 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:43.240 they on an IEP? Maybe they need some more support. 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:46.139 what you think is going to be a good education 00:06:46.139 --> 00:06:48.560 is going to look different from another family. 00:06:48.699 --> 00:06:51.120 So I believe that every children, every child 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:53.259 is different and has a different way of learning, 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:55.759 of course, and every family has different needs 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:59.040 for their children as relates to education. And 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:01.620 so what I recommend instead of just looking at 00:07:01.620 --> 00:07:04.399 these ratings or taking the word of your real 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:05.740 estate agent who doesn't know anything about 00:07:05.740 --> 00:07:09.069 schools, most likely, is determine what a good 00:07:09.069 --> 00:07:11.990 school or a good education is for you. What does 00:07:11.990 --> 00:07:14.029 that look like? Like, ideally, if you're going 00:07:14.029 --> 00:07:16.470 to public school or private school, but I'm talking 00:07:16.470 --> 00:07:18.269 public schools because that's what I'm seeing. 00:07:18.470 --> 00:07:20.569 You know, people want good schools or bad schools 00:07:20.569 --> 00:07:24.790 or high rated schools. And that's, you know, 00:07:24.790 --> 00:07:27.250 that's related to the public schools in this 00:07:27.250 --> 00:07:29.550 example. So I want you to determine what a good 00:07:29.550 --> 00:07:31.949 school is. Is it the community more important? 00:07:32.230 --> 00:07:34.769 Are the academics more important? Maybe those 00:07:34.769 --> 00:07:37.339 test scores are very important to you. And so 00:07:37.339 --> 00:07:39.199 they're not important to me. Maybe they're important 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:41.839 to you. And so, you know, you have to determine 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:45.680 what makes a good school for you. And then you 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:47.980 have to do some groundwork. So I recommend joining 00:07:47.980 --> 00:07:51.519 like the PTA Facebook page, going to a PTA meeting, 00:07:51.779 --> 00:07:54.180 meeting with the principal, trying to arrange 00:07:54.180 --> 00:07:57.040 maybe a tour of the school. You know, you have 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:59.160 to do your due diligence. Like it is not as easy 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:01.839 as as relying on the ratings at all, especially 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:04.379 if your kid might have some different needs, 00:08:04.579 --> 00:08:06.699 because I can tell you that. You know, if I have 00:08:06.699 --> 00:08:09.339 a kid who has pretty significant special education 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:11.680 needs, I don't know if Camas is going to be the 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:13.819 right school district. I'm just saying that the 00:08:13.819 --> 00:08:15.620 highly rated Camas school district that everybody 00:08:15.620 --> 00:08:19.339 points out to is based on, you know, kids sitting 00:08:19.339 --> 00:08:22.139 in their seat, not getting in trouble, doing 00:08:22.139 --> 00:08:24.720 pretty well on the tests. And so if your kid's 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:26.339 good at that and that's kind of what you're looking 00:08:26.339 --> 00:08:29.620 for, it's a very like. vanilla straight edge 00:08:29.620 --> 00:08:31.759 school district so if your kid does not fit in 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:34.379 that box you could have some struggles because 00:08:34.379 --> 00:08:37.320 a lot of times like these good schools are in 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:40.279 neighborhoods where you know to be honest like 00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:43.120 conformity is valued and so if you kind of stick 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:45.460 out or you do things differently you know your 00:08:45.460 --> 00:08:48.480 kid might be labeled the weird kid or they don't 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:52.240 wear the the latest brand shoes or whatever you 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:54.679 know they could be ostracized and unfortunately 00:08:54.679 --> 00:08:57.210 you know that can happen anywhere And I don't 00:08:57.210 --> 00:08:59.529 mean to paint with such a broad brush, but I'm 00:08:59.529 --> 00:09:01.590 just trying to give some nuance to like these 00:09:01.590 --> 00:09:04.990 great, highly rated schools that are so great 00:09:04.990 --> 00:09:08.690 versus these ones that are, you know, regarded 00:09:08.690 --> 00:09:11.230 less because of their rating. Because a lot of 00:09:11.230 --> 00:09:13.370 times, like even these Title I schools where 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:16.129 the majority of the kids are on free and reduced. 00:09:16.730 --> 00:09:18.870 school lunch and they've had troubles with test 00:09:18.870 --> 00:09:20.750 scores. I can tell you I've worked at these Title 00:09:20.750 --> 00:09:23.190 I schools and a lot of times like they get extra 00:09:23.190 --> 00:09:25.690 funding for programs that kind of think outside 00:09:25.690 --> 00:09:28.710 the box. The community can be pretty strong. 00:09:29.029 --> 00:09:31.350 And so even though that they don't do as well 00:09:31.350 --> 00:09:37.070 on test scores, like the community is doing a 00:09:37.070 --> 00:09:40.389 lot of cool stuff and the school staff is really 00:09:40.389 --> 00:09:43.029 engaged. And if your kid is going to do well 00:09:43.029 --> 00:09:45.450 on a test anyway, it doesn't matter what the 00:09:45.450 --> 00:09:48.429 other test scores are. Your child will do well 00:09:48.429 --> 00:09:52.529 on those tests, if that makes sense. There could 00:09:52.529 --> 00:09:55.889 be some kids that they're struggling in their 00:09:55.889 --> 00:09:58.509 own way and they don't do well on tests. And 00:09:58.509 --> 00:10:00.070 again, does that mean they're not intelligent? 00:10:00.230 --> 00:10:01.629 Of course not. It just means maybe they don't 00:10:01.629 --> 00:10:04.269 do well on tests. But because the test scores 00:10:04.269 --> 00:10:06.210 are lower, it doesn't mean your kid's test scores 00:10:06.210 --> 00:10:08.090 are going to be lower because they're most likely 00:10:08.090 --> 00:10:10.629 going to be... doing well on the test, you know, 00:10:10.629 --> 00:10:15.429 according to their ability. Oh, again, this is 00:10:15.429 --> 00:10:18.309 a lot more complicated than people make it out, 00:10:18.370 --> 00:10:20.309 especially like your average real estate agent 00:10:20.309 --> 00:10:23.970 who's not plugged into any of that. So if you 00:10:23.970 --> 00:10:26.049 are looking for a home and you're looking for 00:10:26.049 --> 00:10:28.049 a school district and you're looking for a school 00:10:28.049 --> 00:10:31.309 that's going to fit you and not just be blanket 00:10:31.309 --> 00:10:33.629 recommended because of ratings that aren't accurate 00:10:33.629 --> 00:10:39.080 again. Hit that button in the description and 00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:41.259 schedule a call with me and I can help you find 00:10:41.259 --> 00:10:43.460 a school that's going to fit in for you. I hope 00:10:43.460 --> 00:10:44.960 this has been helpful. If it has, it really helps 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:47.220 if you hit the like button, do the subscribe 00:10:47.220 --> 00:10:50.279 -y thing if you're so inclined. And I'm looking 00:10:50.279 --> 00:10:53.039 forward to seeing you in the next show. If you 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:56.059 have an experience that you've had with a school 00:10:56.059 --> 00:10:59.720 or school rating versus what the reality was, 00:10:59.820 --> 00:11:01.960 I'd love to hear that in the comments too. Like 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:04.399 definitely comment about your experience with... 00:11:04.669 --> 00:11:06.549 a school that might have been especially if it 00:11:06.549 --> 00:11:08.149 was like a lower rated school that you found 00:11:08.149 --> 00:11:10.309 was like really cool. I'd love to hear why that 00:11:10.309 --> 00:11:12.669 was for you specifically. Take care, everybody 00:11:12.669 --> 00:11:13.710 out there. See you next time.