I continue to be dismayed by the results of attempts to reduce something as complex as school quality to a single number. It reminds me of similar attempts to quantify physician and hospital quality, which struggle to take into account the enormous variation in patient populations.

I currently have a 3rd grader at Landels Elementary, and a 9th grader at Mountain View High School. My older child attended Graham before starting at the high school. My experiences, and those of my kids, at all three of these schools have been very positive.

I am shocked to see that, while Graham and MVHS are highly ranked in this latest round of scores, at 9 and 10 respectively, Landels earns only a 6! I assume that this is based on the usual test scores prescribed by NCLB. I can only say that it does not in any way reflect the quality of the education my two kids have received at Landels Elementary. All of the teachers my children have had at Landels have been more than competent; I consider many of them outstanding educators, who somehow blend rigor with creativity and warmth. My daughter's current 3rd grade teacher has certainly drilled her on her multiplication tables, but she has also found a way to introduce a wealth of enrichment activities into her classroom, from origami to classroom musical theater. We have also been happy with the supplementary GATE activities offered on campus.

I'm glad that I talked to parents in Old Mountain View before enrolling my son at Landels a decade ago. They gave me a much clearer picture of the strengths of our local public schools than these much-publicized test scores ever could have done.

All schools in the Mountain View Whisman School district do a fine job of educating all children!!
My kids went to Theuerkauf and now so do my grandkids. As a volunteer, I see that all the teachers and principal do they're very best to make sure all kids learn. They all work hard and they improved their API points by 41 last year!!! That says a lot.

"All schools in the Mountain View Whisman School district do a fine job of educating all children!!"

That really flies in the face of the facts. You should stop drinking that Kool-Aid.

It's good to see Theuerkauf is improving. However, the school's API score of 760 is still pretty bad if we compare it with other schools that achieved API 950+?

I am hoping parents and teachers realize that there are more need to be done. Kids don't do good in school is less likely to be sucessful when they grow up (note: I am not talking about the few exceptions).