The Orange County Register's rankings are designed to show which elementary schools in Orange County provide the richest academic experience and strongest environment for learning – from schools with the best test scores to those with cultural diversity and small class sizes.
The results generated a ranking system of more than a dozen measurements for 388 public elementary schools.
- Data sources: All the data used to create the rankings come from the state Department of Education and Register education partner GreatSchools, and is available publicly. The categories were chosen and weighted in consultation with local education experts.
- Who wasn't ranked: After consultation with county education leaders, we omitted K-8 schools, but kept smaller schools with fewer grade offerings than the typical K-5 or K-6. Because we know parents will want to know how their schools performed, we provide the raw data for those 12 schools.
Register rank
This score is determined by combining a school's academic and school environment scores. Academics forms 75 percent of the total rank. School environment contributes 25 percent. Each category, like the Register rank, runs from 1-388, with 1 indicating the best.Academics
The Register simplified its academic rating this year, swapping several categories of the California Standards Test and the Academic Performance Index used in 2009 for education partner GreatSchools' rating.
- GreatSchools rating: GreatSchools issues schools a rating from 10, the best possible score, through 1, based on the percent of students who are proficient on California Standardized Tests in English, math and other core subjects. Great Schools calculates ratings by grade, subject and demographic combinations, then averages those ratings to achieve an overall school figure. Those same standardized tests are used by the state to help generate elementary school Academic Performance Indexes. Click here for a detailed explanation on GreatSchools ratings. This category constitutes half of the academic score.
- 2008 API similar schools rank: The state ranks each school's API performance against 100 schools of similar demographic makeup. Schools that perform in the top 10 percent of their comparison set receive a score of 10; those that perform in the bottom 10 percent receive a 1. The 2008 similar school score is the most recent – the 2009 ranking is released in May. This equals one-sixth of Academics score. Note: Trabuco Elementary and Silverado Elementary schools did not receive a score because of their small sizes. Heroes Elementary did not receive a score because the school just opened in 2008.
- What works, what doesn't: From the best to those struggling, how O.C. schools rank in 2010.Top districts: Smaller districts seem to have the edgeTop 101. Oka Elementary
2. Loyal Barker Elementary
3. Jack L. Weaver Elementary
4. Panorama Elementary
5. Arroyo Elementary
6. Northwood Elementary
7. Stone Creek Elementary
8. Mariners Elementary
9. Ladera Elementary
10. Olinda ElementaryReview the dataMethodology: Our criteria for ranking the schools.