News

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Good News on State and Federal Testing Results

A message from Dr. Davis Hayden, the districts’ director of research, evaluation, and technology

Official test results for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) show that most of our schools made large gains in student achievement last year. Several schools that have been labeled as needing “Program Improvement” made all their required score improvements and are therefore poised to have that label removed next year.

The state’s Academic Performance Index (API) measures the academic performance and growth of schools on a variety of academic measures. API scores range from a low of 200 to a high of 1,000 (the statewide API target for all schools is 800). The API now includes three more schools in the districts that achieved the state goal of 800 or higher (La Cumbre Junior High, Santa Barbara Charter, and Santa Barbara Community Academy). These three schools now join the districts’ seven other schools with API scores over 800 (Open Alternative, Peabody, Roosevelt, Santa Barbara Charter, Washington, Goleta Valley, and La Colina).

In general, we can be proud of the achievement gains made by our students, the hard work of their teachers and support staff, leadership by administrators, and the support given to so many students by their parents.