Academic Performance Index

What Is the API? California's new Academic Performance Index is the cornerstone of Gov. Gray Davis' push to hold schools accountable for student performance. The API includes both a numerical score for each school and rankings of 1 to 10 to show how the school compares with other schools statewide and with schools that are similar.

Twenty-two California schools had their test scores thrown out this year for reasons ranging from outright cheating to comparatively minor mistakes, such as failing to cover up bulletin boards or stumbling over instructions. In most cases, schools or school districts turned themselves in. Because of budget cuts, the state Education Department no longer conducts random audits at schools or scans test booklets for irregularities. Nearly half the campuses lost their Academic Performance Index scores because of cheating by teachers on the multiple-choice tests.

What Is the API? California's Academic Performance Index is the cornerstone of Gov. Gray Davis' push to hold schools accountable for student performance. This release is the second to indicate whether schools are meeting improvement targets for the Stanford 9 set by the state. Schools must meet those targets--for the school overall and for sizable subgroups within each school--to qualify for cash awards that the state has set aside to encourage academic improvement.

Parents at a high-performing Los Angeles school called this week for the reinstatement of teachers who were removed from their classes for allegedly cheating on state standardized tests. An initial investigation in May concluded that one second-grade teacher and two third-grade teachers at Short Avenue Elementary either coached students improperly, changed incorrect answers on tests or both. Last month, when officials released school scores for the Academic Performance Index — the state's primary yardstick for evaluating schools — Short Avenue in Del Rey was denied a score.

One feature of the state's new Academic Performance Index is causing some double-takes: the comparisons of similar schools. The API, which ranks the state's 6,700 schools based on results from the standardized Stanford 9 exams, includes a numerical score for each school and a ranking of 1 to 10 to show how the school compares statewide and with other campuses that have similar student demographics. That second number, the similar schools rank, is intended as an equalizing factor.

California high schools, which had been the weak link in efforts to raise achievement levels, showed significant signs of improvement this year on state tests, according to results released Friday. More than two-thirds of high school campuses met test score goals set by the state, twice as many schools as last year, the new statistics showed.

Despite rising standardized-test scores across Orange County, the county's overall ranking in the state slipped from sixth to seventh, according to new data released Tuesday.

More campuses in the Los Angeles school system are reaching state academic goals, but the district is still failing to meet important federal targets, according to data released Wednesday by the state Department of Education. The district scored a 728 last year on the Academic Performance Index, which measures improvement on a 1,000-point scale based on factors such as standardized tests. That represents a 19-point jump for the nation's second-largest district over the previous year.

About a half-dozen schools will be honored for their Academic Performance Index scores tonight at the Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting. The board also will appoint a pool of architects to design several new schools and modernization projects at a number of existing campuses. The board will meet at 7 p.m. in the Santa Ana Unified School District boardroom, 1601 E. Chestnut Ave. Information: (715) 558-5555.

Four of the six comprehensive high schools in the Huntington Beach Union High School District failed to qualify for performance-based cash rewards, according to state data released Thursday. The rewards are based on the Academic Performance Index, launched in January 2000. Most schools in California received their API scores in October, but a handful were delayed. Ocean View High in Huntington Beach and Westminster High both qualified.

More campuses in the Los Angeles school system are reaching state academic goals, but the district is still failing to meet important federal targets, according to data released Wednesday by the state Department of Education. The district scored a 728 last year on the Academic Performance Index, which measures improvement on a 1,000-point scale based on factors such as standardized tests. That represents a 19-point jump for the nation's second-largest district over the previous year.

As encouraging as it is to see California in the running to win a Race to the Top grant for its schools, we can't help wondering how great a price the state will pay for the possibility of receiving as much as $700 million. The U.S. Department of Education announced last week that California is one of 19 finalists in the second round of grant applications. Should it succeed — and the odds are decent, because officials say that more than half the finalists will receive grants — many of California's neediest schools will receive infusions of new money.

People around school think of them as the smart kids, but they never thought they'd be known for that. Thanks to photos of their faces plastered on the walls of Franklin High School, members of the nine-member Academic Decathlon team are being recognized by their peers and teachers. And for good reason: This is the first group in school history to make it to the state competition that began Saturday and continues Sunday. They are competing against 61 other teams in the grueling contest that tests students' knowledge in 10 areas, including language, literature, economics, art and science -- with a focus on the French Revolution . "This is huge for them," said Samuel Kullens, the Franklin coach.

The bell signaling the end of the school day at De Anza Elementary in Baldwin Park rang more than an hour ago. But hundreds of students are still at school, studying vocabulary, practicing math and completing homework under the supervision of teachers. With the help of state grants, federal funds and teacher volunteers, nearly half of De Anza's students spend extra hours every week learning at school -- hours well beyond the traditional school day. "Until six o'clock at night, you would think we're still in session," said Principal Christine Simmons.

With each click of his mouse, Sam Picture wondered if John Muir High School was a good career move. Stories of high dropout rates, low test scores and violence popped on his screen when he researched the 55-acre campus in northwest Pasadena in January 2008. He didn't see it as a deterrent, but rather, a challenge. Picture, now the school's athletic director, is one of the many teachers, administrators and counselors hired to turn around the troubled high school, which since 2001 has cycled through five principals.

Thirty-nine Los Angeles schools -- a group larger than the entire Glendale school system -- identified as "failing" under federal standards became eligible Tuesday for takeover under a recent Board of Education policy. These schools bring the number of Los Angeles Unified School District campuses eligible for takeover to 252. Bidders from inside or outside the nation's second-largest school system could submit proposals to run such schools. The bidding process also applies to 51 new schools set to open over the next four years.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vowed to double the rate of academic improvement at schools under his stewardship in benchmarks announced Tuesday. The marching orders apply to the 10 schools that make up the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, Villaraigosa's high-stakes effort to improve some of the city's lowest-achieving campuses. The partnership assumed leadership of the schools July 1. Villaraigosa unveiled his goals before 300 teachers, administrators, parents and students gathered in the auditorium of Markham Middle School in Watts.

Five-foot-two Erica O'Brien pushes a tall stack of gray cartons across the floor, straining as if they were full of coal, not tests. The office on the top floor of Banning High School is stuffy, even though it's only 6 a.m. But when the phone rings, O'Brien answers affably. "Penthouse," she says. That's what life is like these days for testing coordinators such as O'Brien. After weeks of preparing in the background, they suddenly become the most important person on campus.