APR: Big Gain by Little District

SAN JOSE, CA— The staff of the Santa Clara County Office of Education has analyzed the California 2008 “Accountability Progress Report,” released by the state on Sept. 4. Some highlights of the analysis:

• Three of the top five state schools in Growth Academic Performance Index were from Santa Clara County: Faria Elementary (Cupertino Union), Murdock-Portal Elementary (Cupertino Union) and Millikin Elementary (Santa Clara Unified).
   
• Facing challenging benchmarks, county students classified as “English Learners” met their “Adequate Yearly Progress” performance targets in Language Arts. Another county subgroup, disabled students, increased in their proficiency level in Language Arts from 13 percent in 2002 to 30 percent this year.
   
• The county district with the largest API gain was little Luther Burbank, which gained 33 points, from 729 to 762.

“We really depend on the support system” offered by the SCCOE, said an exuberant Jan Kaay, director of Instructional Services at Luther Burbank, when she learned of the results. “I found the staff to be both supportive and inspirational. They would show up at our door at almost a moment’s notice” with an array of instructional support, she said.

The APR report is made up of three components: Growth API, 2008 AYP and a list of schools in Program Improvement (PI). The SCCOE staff analysis summarizes the performance of county students, and compares their performance with their statewide counterparts. (The analysis can be found at the SCCOE Web site, at www.sccoe.org.)

The results were, as has been the trend, a mixed bag, both in the county and statewide. The median API for county high schools actually has dropped by one point since the inception of the test in 2000. (It has risen 65 points in county elementary schools and 77 points in middle schools over that same span.) And although county students as a whole scored higher than their counterparts statewide, local Filipino, Hispanic and socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroups scored lower than their counterparts.

“We’ll continue to focus on how this office can best provide support to our districts in those areas,” said Charles Weis, county schools superintendent. “We want to make sure we are meeting the needs of every group, and every student.”

Date last updated: September 4, 2008