Q: What factors contribute to a U.S. public school academic rating, esp. at middle/elementary school levels.

Disclaimer — this write-up is strictly personal bias, not backed by any data.

I shared with Jack my simple “model”, consisting of 4 + 2 factors

1. (PE) parents’ effort.
2. (SE) students’ own effort and intrinsic motivation, if we could hypothetically remove all influences.
3. (SA) students’ abilities. See also https://1330152open.wordpress.com/2016/08/16/roller-coaster-academic-competition/
4. (FI) Peer influence from fellow students — the wild card. How important I don’t know.
5. —— secondary factors ——
6. (PA) parent’s abilities — eg: education level; limited availability due to long work hours and commute.
   • Jack observed in wealthy school districts, more parents pick up their kids and spend more time outing with kids.
7. teacher/student ratio, qualifications and influence on SE — less important than parent’s influence, at middle/elementary level.

PE – is the dominant factor. That’s why Asian students tend to be top. However, without any evidence, I feel FI can be more effective at influencing student’s effort.

SA – I think 95% students’ abilities are not so different at middle and elementary school levels. Some (like myself) are able to concentrate better than others (my son is easily distracted), but with effort parents can compensate for it. I believe that kids in a poor school district are just as intelligent as kids in top school districts, though abilities encompass more than raw talent. Overall, I believe SA has limited impact on the school’s academic rating at middle/elementary level.

SE – Most kids before middle school are not motivated. Some are less interested in academic studies than others, but with effort parents can compensate for it. Overall, SE has more impact on schools’ academic rating than SA at middle/elementary level.

If in an imaginary school all parents are equally uninterested, then students are left to their devices. Their disparate abilities and effort levels will be more visible. School academic rating would reflect SA and SE. In the real world, most parents have the capacity to effectively control students’ effort. Therefore, PE is the dominant factor contributing to middle/elementary schools’ academic rating.

Q1: If a student is not doing well on the benchmarks, which of those factors would help him if/when moving to a top school? FI only.

At high school level? I don’t want to talk about it but I feel SE and SA are the top 2 factors. FI?

How about in Singapore primary school level? My personal experience – FI is as important as PE! As a parent, I put in a huge effort but other parents put in even more effort.