Elementary, high schools see increased API scores

Angelique Flores

Almost every school in the Huntington Beach city and union high school

districts saw increases in their Academic Performance Index scores

released last week.

These standardized test scores rate the performance of schools that

district and county education agencies based on the Stanford 9 test

results using a scale from 200 to 1,000. If a school surpasses the

state’s target score of 800, the goal is to improve 5% the next year. If

scores aren’t raised, schools could suffer such consequences as having

sanctions imposed on them or being taken over by the state.

The scores for these two school districts were released late this year

because of a format error in the high school district information and

data miscoding for the elementary school district. Scores for the

Fountain Valley and Ocean View school districts were released in October,

Eight of the nine schools reporting in the elementary school district

increased their scores -- all but one of these surpassing their growth

target. Five of these nine schools exceeded the state’s target. New

schools such as Huntington Seacliff Elementary will not have their scores

published until Jan. 17 because there are no base scores to determine a

growth yet. According to district calculations, officials estimate the

school’s score will be about 844.

“We attribute the growth to the focused attention on student learning,

and analysis of progress through multiple measures,” said Lynn Bogart,

director of curriculum and instruction.

Hawes Elementary topped the district with 856. Peterson Elementary,

whose scores hadn’t moved much the past three years, had the biggest jump

of 74 points from last year.

The only school that dropped was Smith Elementary, which fell eight

points. Perry Elementary scored the lowest with 628. Though seven points

higher than last year, the school was two points short of meeting the

state’s target.

Bogart said that these figures don’t accurately show the growth of the

students because of the shift in the two schools’ populations since the

fall of 1999. Students from Smith and Perry moved to Huntington Seacliff,

making the target growth of these schools difficult to reach.

“You’re comparing different groups of students,” Bogart said, adding

that the school had almost a 30% demographic change. “It’s difficult to

achieve growth with a whole new set of students.”

Another reason for the lower scores is the higher number of

English-learners and socioeconomically disadvantaged students at these

two schools, officials said. Given these hurdles, district officials are

still thrilled with the progress.

In the high school district, all of the schools’ numbers increased,

with Fountain Valley High coming out on top with 765.

Although none of the district’s schools have reached the state’s

target yet, they all surpassed the growth target.

And district officials are pleased.

“We are as a district and as individual schools doing a good job in

having incremental increases over years,” said Jerry White, director of

curriculum development. “We don’t want huge jumps; we want steady

increases.”

These stable increases show the district’s changes will make

long-lasting differences that will prove to be more effective, White

said.

Westminster, which scored at the bottom of the district with 601, had

the biggest leap from last year with an increase of 57 points. White

attributes the jump to a emphasis on reading. About 70% of the students

at Westminster are English-learners. Enhancing reading skills helps these

students in English, which in turn aids them when taking standardized

tests.

Earlier released results for the Fountain Valley school district

ranged from 763 to 892. All the scores rose this year, with nine of the

district’s 11 schools surpassing the state’s target.

Ocean View’s scores ranged from 490 to 874, with four of its schools

scoring above 800. All but one school, Westmont Elementary, saw gains of

14 to 69 points.

Depending on growth and scores, districts will receive funding from

the state. Amounts are to be determined in January.

For a complete breakdown of the scores by district and school, visit

the state’s Web site at https://www.cde.ca.gov/psaa/api/