News

Friday, June 4, 2010

Academic Performance Index and State Similar Schools Ranks for 2008-09

Information from the districts’ Office of Research, Technology, and Evaluation

At a recent board meeting the latest similar school data was presented along with Academic Performance Index (API) data for all schools. Each school in our districts is matched on demographic characteristics with 100 other schools in California and then its API is ranked on a 1 to 10 scale (1=lowest 10 percent of schools; 10=highest 10 percent of schools). On average, State Similar Schools Ranks went down in the Santa Barbara Elementary District (from 4.9 to 4.5) and up in the Santa Barbara Secondary School District (from 6.7 to 7.0). Overall, the API for the elementary district went up strongly (16.5 points) while the secondary district went up modestly (7.6). The elementary district’s growth API ranged from 647 to 912. The secondary district’s growth API ranged from 753 to 858. An API of 800 or above is a benchmark and excellent score for schools.

Our elementary district’s schools that increased in State Similar Schools Ranks include Franklin, Peabody, and Santa Barbara Community Academy and in state API ranks were McKinley, Peabody, Santa Barbara Charter, and Washington.

Notable gains in API include Peabody’s gain of 41 points to achieve an API of 874, Santa Barbara Community Academy’s gain of 37 points to reach 815, McKinley’s gain of 28 points to reach 702, Washington’s gain of 26 points to reach 912, Franklin’s gain of 24 points to reach 701, Monroe’s gain of 20 points to reach 784, and Santa Barbara Charter’s gain of 66 points to reach 805.

Our secondary district schools that increased in State Similar Schools Ranks include Goleta Valley Junior High, La Colina Junior High, and Dos Pueblos High, with La Cumbre Junior High maintaining a 10, the highest score possible.

For state API ranks, La Cumbre Junior High increased from 6 to 7. For API scores, La Cumbre gained 41 points to reach 800, Goleta Valley gained 19 points to reach 836, and Santa Barbara High gained 17 points to reach 771.

It should be noted that the state takes more than a year to report data back to school districts, therefore, data for this report is from STAR tests taken over a year ago (school year 2008-09).