Schools

API Scores: How Do Redwood City Schools Measure Up?

The 2011 Academic Performance Index (API) scores have been released. Six of 16 schools scored above the state's minimum target. How did your child's school measure up?

As parents and care-givers, a quality education for our children is a top priority. Where a family sets down roots often has to do with the quality of the schools in the area - and one criteria often looked at is a school's Academic Performance Index, or API score.

The 2011 API scores for all public schools in California have just been released - and Patch has the low-down on how schools in the measured up.

But first, a little background info.

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What is an API score?

The independent research organization EdData describes APIs as follows:

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“The Academic Performance Index (API) is an annual measure of test score performance of schools and districts. The California Department of Education (CDE) calculates the API and disseminates the results directly to schools and districts as well as posting them on the CDE website.

“The API is a single number on a scale of 200 to 1,000 that indicates how well students in a school or district performed on the previous spring’s tests. An API is calculated for the whole school, plus its ‘numerically significant subgroups,’ including socioeconomically disadvantaged students, English learners, and students with disabilities.”

What do all these rankings/scores mean?

2012 API Target - Typically, if a school’s API score falls below the state’s minimum target score – which, in California, is 800 – the state will set a goal target for the following year of last year’s score, plus 5 points. If a school’s 2012 target is ‘A,’ that means the school is already scoring at or above the state’s minimum target, and therefore does not have a growth target, other than to remain at or above 800.

2011 Statewide Rank - How a school ranks within a grouping of schools equaling 10 percent of schools statewide of a similar type, with 1 the lowest and 10 the highest.

2011 Similar Schools Rank – How a school ranks within a grouping of 100 similar schools from throughout the state, with 1 the lowest and 10 the highest.

2011 API Students Included – How many students from a particular school took the API tests in 2011.

2011 API SCORES FOR THE REDWOOD CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT:

 


2011 Base API 2012 Growth Target 2012 API Target 2011 Statewide Rank 2011 Similar Schools Rank Students Included 813 A N/A 6 5 335 802 A N/A 5 5 559 725 5 730 2 1 303 Garfield Elementary 657 7 664 1 1 473 693 5 698 1 2 237 809 A N/A 5 8 269 728 5 733 2 2 634 672 6 678 1 1 795 755 5 760 3 1 250 720 5 725 3 5 374 992 A N/A 10 10 537 847 A N/A 7 3 105 725 5 730 2 3 242 876 A N/A 8 8 606 Selby Lane Elementary 704 5 709 1 2 520 774 5 779 4 6 353

*"A" indicates this school scored at or above the Statewide Performance Target of 800 in 2011. A school with an API or above has no growth target, but must maintain an API of at least 800.

Tune in to Patch later this week, when we will publish the API scores for the .

 

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