Teachers, students, administrators and Morgan Hill School
District officials are celebrating the release today of the 2002
Academic Performance Index (API) growth report; 10 of the schools
met or exceeded their schoolwide growth target.
Teachers, students, administrators and Morgan Hill School District officials are celebrating the release today of the 2002 Academic Performance Index (API) growth report; 10 of the schools met or exceeded their schoolwide growth target.
“This is very good news for all of us who have worked so hard over the last few years to stay focused on improving student achievement.” Superintendent Carolyn McKennan said. “I would like to acknowledge the dedication of all of our teachers, literacy and math coaches, support staff and administrators who continue to work collaboratively to improve student learning.
“The Board of Education goals related to student achievement and the support of parents and community have definitely paid off.”
The API is the foundation of the statewide accountability system for California public schools that includes the API, growth targets and awards based on API growth. This year marks the fourth reporting cycle for the API, established through the Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA) in 1999.
Results of the California standards tests (CSTs), given in 2002 and 2003 as part of the state’s Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program, were used to calculate each school’s 2002 Base API and 2002-03 growth results. The CST results used in the API include English-language arts, mathematics, and history-social science.
Encinal Elementary, which was folded into Los Paseos Elementary at the beginning of this school year, and Burnett Elementary were the only schools to fall short of their target growth.
Four elementary schools exceeded the state API target of 800: the Charter School of Morgan Hill, Los Paseos, Nordstrom and Paradise Valley/Machado.
Jackson Elementary does not have an API score due to an adult testing error. During the testing in the spring, a procedural error was discovered and reported to the district, which in turn reported the error to the state.
Of the district’s four schools, plus the Charter School of Morgan Hill, that were in the running to become a California Distinguished School, three of them and the charter school are still eligible. Los Paseos, Nordstrom and Paradise Valley/Machado can go to the next step of the process.
“For all the schools that were eligible, that is the honor,” McKennan said. “That’s the celebration. We all know that becoming a Distinguished School doesn’t make the teaching and learning process any better. Those things had to be in place for the schools to get there.”
At the secondary level, the celebration of API growth is perhaps even larger. Britton Middle School and Martin Murphy Middle School both had growth of 26 points, Britton from 693 to 719 and Murphy from 707 to 733.
Live Oak scored 674, an increase of 12 points. Its growth target was seven.
“This is the best API overall we have received,” McKennan said. “We realize this is just a snapshot, one day in the life of everyone, but we are proud that they exceeded their target. What a tribute to the folks in the school and our students and their families.”
Growth in their subgroups at the middle schools and at Live Oak High was significant.
“The API for many of our schools include STAR results for a large number of limited-English-proficient students who are required to take the tests in English,” said McKennan. “As these students become more proficient in English, they will increase their performance on the STAR tests and help raise the API for their schools. Our goal is to ensure that all students meet the academic content standards established by the state.”
