I have kids in Irvine schools and the only thing that can make a kid academically successful is parent involvement, the more involved you are, and by that I mean lots of things, the higher the chances that your kid will be successful.
By parent involvement I mean:
- follow up with classroom activities: what did they do today? how well your son did? for those weak spots do things 2 or 3 times, or as needed,
- follow up with the teacher, what are her observations of your son while he is in the classroom? does he participate?
- attend and take notes in the parent teacher meetings, does your kid need external help?
- obviously make sure they do homework
- review homework, look for teacher notes in previous homework assignments, do old assignments again if your son needs to
- stay in communication with the teacher: email, face-to-face meetings, when you drop your kid in the morning it's a good time to do a small talk, ask quick questions: what's the next major mileston in the academic program? they should be doing _x_ by 2nd trimester!, take a mental note, time tests? the reading counts program? (extra credit for reading books on your own)?
- if your son needs extra help like: Kumon, other educational mentor, do the research and do the follow up to their own methodology, I have experience with Kumon and it worked great for us
- does the teacher have extra-credit assignments?, if you feel that your son can do it, why not? do those too
- all the work to wake him up on time, make a healthy breakfast, do his lunch box, take him to the school
Parents involvement is key, and I personally believe, that if you do this and anything on top of this, your son must succeed in any school system.
I think Irvine schools rank well because: a)highly educated demographics b)white collar parents with service sector jobs or a professional job, can afford to have a stay at home spouse, or they are highly paid and they only work 1 shift, and they have free time to help their kids, but there's no magic in the land or the water that they drink! ;-)
A high ranking score is something that comes as a bonus to parent involvement, and I see many parents doing at least this, and others they are already doing things of the next grade, which sometimes seems excessive, yes Academics is great, but is not the only thing to succeed in our current business world, there are social skills or subjective skills that he can learn doing team sports, or participating in non-academic activities.