Schools aiming for better API rankings

By JULIE DRAKE
and JANNISE JOHNSON
Valley Press Staff Writers

The 2000 Academic Perfor-mance Index rankings compares test scores of more than 7,284 pub-lic schools both with their peers statewide and with 100 schools of similar demographics.

The rankings are from 1 to 10, with 1 being lowest.

Tom Fong, spokesman for the Department of Education's educa-tional, planning and information center, said the numbers are es-sentially the same as the ones re-leased in October 2000, but the dif-ference is that there are new tar-get growth rates schools must work toward when they test again in April and May.

"Well, they have to gear up and figure out what they need to know," Fong said.

New legislation has allowed high school districts' ninth-grad-ers, and seventh-graders who at-tend school in districts with sev-enth through 12th-graders, to be factored into the scores.

Under old rules, students couldn't be counted until they had been with districts for at least a year.

These changes have actually pushed scores up within the high school district, according to Ray Monti, deputy superintendent of Educational Services for the Ante-lope Valley Union High School District.

"In every single case, our scores at every school went up, which gives us every indication that our freshman class performs very well," Monti said.

For most high schools, the state has set target growth rates be-tween seven and 10 points for next year.

In rankings, the district's six high schools ranged from 3 to 7 statewide and from 4 to 8 when compared with similar schools. For example, AV High ranked a 3 statewide while it ranked a 5 when compared to schools of simi-lar demographics.

Schools' demographic makeups are determined by student mobil-ity, ethnicity, socio-economic stat-us, percentages of fully-credentialed teachers, percentages of teachers with emergency cre-dentials, percentages of students who speak English as a second language, average class-sizes per grade levels and whether or not schools are multitrack.

On the other side of the spec-trum, Quartz Hill High ranked a 7 statewide and a 5 in the similar school ranking.

Monti said the district is contin-uing to use strategies for academic improvement they set in place last year.

Those strategies include the teaching of test-taking skills, giv-ing the API test in an environ-ment that's as stress free as possi-ble, and teaching to the state stan-dards.

Strategies for bringing up the scores in elementary schools are a little different, said Wayne Leach, assistant principal for Joshua Ele-mentary School in Lancaster.

Lancaster district schools ranked statewide from 1 to 6 and from 1 to 10 in the similar school rank.

Joshua ranked a 3 statewide and a 2 with similar schools. Con-versely, New Vista Middle School ranked a 6 statewide and a 10 with similar schools.

Joshua Elementary School teachers are working on improving math problem-solving skills as well as concentrating on test-tak-ing methods.

In fact, teachers at Joshua have started using a state approved pro-gram called Test Ready Plus, to help them impart better test-tak-ing skills to students.

Elementary school children also have to learn how to properly fill in bubble portions of the test.

Joshua students raised their scores last year, and were eligible for reward money from the state as a result, he said.

School administrators are tak-ing a holistic approach to meeting the target growth rate by trying to get parents more involved in the process, he said.

Joshua's growth target for 2001 is 575, 12 more than their 2000 score of 563.

Lancaster School District Su-perintendent Steve Gocke said the district's growth is steady but he is concerned about his African-Amer-ican subgroup.

He said that group scored lower than even the students who com-prise the low socio-economic group.

District administrators have formed a task force to investigate the situation.

Gocke speculated that the group is scoring lower because many students are new to the area and haven't had time to settle in and take advantage of different programs offered.

The longer they stay, he said, the more their scores will rise.

Lancaster School District schools need to improve between eight and 12 points.

Schools within the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District scored fairly well on the 2000 API rankings.

High Desert Middle School has a target growth rate of 4, meaning it needs to improve its 2000 API base from 729 to 733 when stu-dents retest in April and May.

High Desert's rank is 8 state-wide and 3 compared with similar schools.

Margaret Gonder, Meadowlark Elementary principal and director of special programs for the district, said while she is pleased with scores and the state ranking, the goal is to improve further.

Meadowlark Elementary, which is a K-2 school, is considered too small to be included among the rankings, but its 2000 API was 717. Acton Elementary's 2000 API was 750; it ranked a 7 statewide and a 3 with similar schools.

Agua Dulce Elementary ranked 7 statewide with a 5 in the similar schools rank. The elementary school's target for this year is 753, three more than last year. Vas-quez High School's goal for this year is 664, seven more than last year. Vasquez' statewide rank was 6, with a 5 similar schools rank.

Gonder said she believes that once the state finishes developing standards that are more in line with the Standford 9 tests, she ex-pects scores to rise.

"Currently the (Stanford 9) isn't as well aligned with state stan-dards. I know the state is working on that goal," Gonder said.

Mary Gerard, superintendent of the Wilsona School District, said she was pleased with its schools' overall performances.

Wilsona is a small district with just three schools - two elementa-ry schools and a middle school. Vista San Gabriel Elementary's score last year was 613; it ranked a 3 statewide and a 6 for similar school ranking. The school's target API for this year is 622.

Wilsona Elementary School scored 688 last year; its statewide ranking is 6; and its similar school rank is 10. Its target for this year is 622.

"We were pleased all three schools met their overall target," Gerard said, adding that Vista San Gabriel qualified for a monetary award, meaning it met all of its performance goals.

Gerard said the district uses a variety of methods to improve stu-dents' performances, such as TAPPS, or Talk Aloud Paired Problem Solving, a program that encourages students to become more involved in the problem solv-ing process.

Robert A. Haley, superintend-ent/principal at Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes School, which had a state-wide rank of 7 but a similar school rank of 2, said his school has worked on its curriculum stan-dards as well as included addition-al staff development days paid for by the district.

The school's target API for this year is 726, 4 above last year's score. Haley said in addition to staff development days, the school has instituted an after-school pro-gram that combines extra-curricu-lar activities with academic pro-grams geared to help students who may be struggling in particular areas. Through the program, stu-dents are able to remain an addi-tional two hours twice a week for any additional help that is needed.

Uploaded January 18, 2001