The Napa Sentinel (CA), September 27, 2007

The Pacific Research Institute has released a book authored by three prominent educators which dispels the once "sacred" belief that more affluent communities provides better schools with a higher education proficiency.

The new book is "a ground-breaking book on the performance of students in middle-class public schools throughout California from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI). The authors shatter the myth that upscale communities naturally have good schools," the Institute states.

"The study abounds with localized data. But all the data point to one broad conclusion -- that many public schools, even in affluent areas, are failing to prepare California students for higher education," The Institute states.

The Napa Valley Unified School District was included in the study but no California or St. Helena school districts.

In Napa two schools were studied, Vintage High School and West Park Elementary. The study looks at language arts and mathematics; the medium price of homes; free or reduced school lunch fees; Socioeconomic disadvantages; teachers with full credentials and teachers with emergency credentials; and education of parents.

The book is titled, "Not as good as you think – why the middle class needs school choices." Its concern is that middle class families are facing the prospect that their children would have a difficult time gaining entrance into higher education facilities.

At Vintage High School in the field of language arts only 48 percent of ninth grade students have a passing grade; only 41 percent of 10th graders have a passing grade; and 46 percent of 11th graders have a passing grade, according to the Institute. In the field of mathematics 26 percent have a passing grade in geometry; 12 percent in algebra and 21 percent in algebra 2.

At West Park Elementary 45 percent of third graders pass language arts while 44 percent of fifth graders pass. In mathematics fourth graders had a 48 percent passage rate and fifth graders had a 47 percent passage rate.

The Institute reports that the median price of a home in the school district is $645,000. It reports that 17.6 percent of Vintage High students participate in a free or reduced fee on school lunches, while at West Park 22.9 percent of the students are on the program. A total of 29.1 percent of the students at Vintage are labeled socioeconomic disadvantaged. A total of 24.3 percent of students at West Park are socioeconomic disadvantaged.

Eighty-two percent of the teachers at Vintage are fully credentialed with 19 percent have emergency teaching credentials. At West Park there are 93 percent fully credentialed teachers with 4 percent having emergency credentials.

The education levels of the parents of these students were also studied. The percentage of parents not going to high school were Vintage 13 percent and West Park 6 percent.

The full report can be obtained by going to the internet site at www.pacificresearch.org.