API scores see boost

Students and administrators at the school in Costa Mesa are jubilant over their dramatic increase in the Academic Performance Index, or API, a state tool to measure academic improvement from one year to the next.

Paularino students jumped 63 points on the index, scoring 813 compared with last year’s API score of 750.

The improvement put Paularino squarely above the state’s targeted score of 800 for public schools, which is based on state-standardized test scores.

Paularino Elementary was one of 19 schools in Newport-Mesa Unified School District that surpassed the 800 mark.

Six of those schools were in an extreme minority among California schools: They scored above 900.

“I am extremely proud of all the excellent school progress. These dramatic increases are definitely cause for celebration,” Newport-Mesa Unified Supt. Jeffrey C. Hubbard said in a statement. “Each year, the schools improve their achievement and I attribute that to hard-working, dedicated staff and committed students and parents,”

The district’s schools are given improvement targets every year.

In total, 77% of the district’s schools met all of their API targets.

Local schools overall saw a 17-point increase, putting them at a score of 813 districtwide compared with the state average of 755.

Paularino Principal Stacy de Boom credited the 63-point jump at her school to a strong sense of collaboration, where staff, students and parents all work together for the sake of the children.

“We have wonderful families at Paularino who are just so supportive, and that makes it all come together,” de Boom said.

The school expected its scores to go up this year, de Boom said, but the level of improvement amazed everyone at Paularino.

“We really tried to focus on the essential standards this year,” she said, in combination with targeting English learners and those students who needed extra help.

The category at the school that improved the most was its English learners, who gained 93-points above last year’s score.

The school’s Latino students gained 81 points, and Paularino Panthers identified as socio-economically disadvantaged saw a 78-point gain. White students saw a 39-point improvement.

The Title I school also met all of its No Child Left Behind requirements, de Boom said.

She is proud of its community feel, where parents walk their children to school and stay to participate in the morning flag salute.

“It’s a great place to be,” she said.

Five schools posted measurable declines in API scores from 2008 to 2009. Sonora Elementary showed the largest decline, from a 2008 score of 846 down to a 2009 score of 822, a 24-point difference. Its Latino, disadvantaged and English learners groups all saw declines of about 20 points.

Schools are given incremental goals each year, and are asked to improve their API scores by a stated number of points.

Pomona Elementary School was asked to achieve 5 points more than last year’s score of 705, for example, but fell to 701, not meeting its goal. Schools who meet the state target score of 800 are challenged, as their goal, to stay over 800.

Newport Elementary and Rea Elementary each saw their scores decline by 17 points. Newport Elementary had a score of 863, still far above the coveted score of 800, but Rea Elementary dropped from 710 to 693.

Early College High School’s score dropped from 861 to 852, but the school remained well above the 800 mark.

Two smaller schools, Orange Coast Middle College High and Back Bay High, each showed declines, but their scores are somewhat ambiguous due to the small number of test scores used to determine their API ranking.

Districtwide, English learners and students with disabilities saw significant growth in their scores, at 25 and 24 points respectively.

Sixty-three percent of the district’s schools met all of their No Child Left Behind targets, and there is a 93.4% high school graduation rate, an improvement over last year.

The Newport-Mesa district’s scores, posted on the State Department of Education website, are accessible here