APR: Progress leads O’Connell to call for raising California’s API goals
But scores fall short of ever-increasing federal targets as ESEA languishes
Published: September 14, 2010
With nearly half of California’s schools now at or above the overall target of 800 on the state’s Academic Performance Index, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell is advocating that the target be ratcheted up.
O’Connell’s statement, contained in a California Department of Education press release summarizing the state’s 2009-10 Accountability Progress Report, comes despite news in the APR that California’s performance continues to fall under federal measurements of “adequate yearly progress.”
“When we set the target goal of 800 on the API 10 years ago, it was ambitious and it challenged most California schools that had never been held accountable for improving academic achievement,” said O’Connell, who will complete his second and final four-year term at the helm of the state’s schools at year’s end.
“Now that nearly half of our schools are at or above this API target, it is time to have a serious conversation about raising the target goal. California schools are made great by hardworking students, teachers, administrators, paraeducators, school board members, and parents. I know that they could meet this challenge by keeping up the momentum and helping even more students reach higher levels of success.”
Data broken out by subgroups, other categories
“Forty-six percent of all California schools are now at or above the overall statewide target API of 800, up four percentage points from the year before. This includes 51 percent of elementary schools, 40 percent of middle schools, and 25 percent of high schools,” according to the CDE press release.
Tables released by CDE also break the results down into a dozen different ethnic and socioeconomic student subgroups, yielding results that continue to show incremental progress in closing gaps in academic achievement between the groups. Hispanic and socioeconomically disadvantaged students posted the greatest overall gains in the 2010 Growth API, with a 17-point increase over their 2009 Base APIs. Students with disabilities gained 16 points, and blacks and English learners 15. Even the smallest gains, by white students and native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders, were in the double digits at 11 points.
AYP target climbs 11 percent
The APR combines state API results with federal AYP and program improvement data, which are derived from results of the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program and the California High School Exit Examination. Schools in California and across the country continue to struggle under federal AYP measurements. AYP goals are now rising 11 points per year under the No Child Left Behind Act’s goal of having all student reach proficiency in English and math by 2014.
Educators have sharply criticized NCLB’s rubrics, and the 2001 law is overdue for reauthorization; significant changes are expected as reauthorization proceeds under the law’s original name, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
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