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Health & Fitness

API Scores: Are they a good gauge for student perfomance?

So you're shopping for a new home and you ask how are the schools? The response, "The API score is 833." What does that really mean? Simply put, the state has standardized tests that rank students/schools based on those exams. Is it truly an indicator of how well that school teaches its students or of how an individual child will perform? Probably not. So why are people so concerned with the 'score' itself? It's human nature to want to have a gauge for things, so you can have a baseline if something is good or bad.

For purposes of choosing schools however, it's more important to talk with teachers and parents of children that actually attend the school to see what their experience is. It's feared that the API score is not a good broad based metric on how well a school performs. It simply shows that schools are good at teaching kids about how to take a standardized test. Each school has it's own programs that help students learn and thrive. Regardless of the API scores, it will have students that perform above average to excellent.

Ultimately, we are looking at the child to perform to the best of their ability and not the school. So next time you're looking for that perfect home in the perfect school district, keep this in mind. Today's API scores does not necessarily influence your child becoming the President.

Don't take my word for it. Here's an article written by a San Carlos School Board Member Seth Rosenblatt.

The Most Important Unimportant Number

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