Greater Orange News Service

California releases API Scores:
OUSD’s Panorama: A Perfect 10-10

The annual California Academic Progress Index scores were released this week from the state achievement tests taken last spring by students in 2nd- 11th grade throughout California. Orange Unified School District had one school that ranked a 10-10, Panorama Elementary School. Panorama scored 887 on the possible 200 to 1000 point scale. California’s goal is to have all schools score 800 or above. Schools are ranked in two categories on a 1-10 deciles score. The first rank is the Statewide Score Rank. The second ranking is the “Similar Schools” Rank which compares schools to 100 other schools with like characteristics (ethnic make-up; poverty levels; credentialed teachers etc.). The rankings cannot be compared from one year to the next because of changes in “weighting” and changes in “similar schools” characteristics. Also released were the performance targets for this year.

California State Superintendent of Public Education Jack O’Connell praised all California Schools because a majority continued to make “steady progress” on the states growth model testing scheme despite the fact that less than a third of the schools met the state’s achievement goals. One bright spot was that state-wide schools passing the 800 test score goal was up from 21% last year to 25% this year. Orange Unified, like the rest of the state’s schools, showed no extraordinary gains despite a multi-year investment by the OUSD Administration of over $ 2.5 million educational tax dollars spent on the consultant firm Focus on Results. As evidence, OUSD’s two “poster” schools for Focus on Results, Prospect Elementary School and Portola Elementary Middle School, both had very poor showings (see Program Improvement Schools below).

OUSD had 6 schools rated a 10 in the State-wide rank (Chapman Hills Elementary; Nohl Canyon; Panorama; Serrano; El Rancho and Canyon H.S.). Nine OUSD schools ranked a 9; and four ranked an 8. At the other end of the rankings, Fairhaven Elementary had a 628 API Score, but ranked a 1. Two schools ranked a 4; and three schools ranked a 3. The rankings for the eight OUSD state identified Program Improvement Schools were: California Elementary 4-8; Esplanade Elementary 2-5; Fairhaven Elementary 1-3; Handy Elementary 3-3; Prospect Elementary 2-3; Sycamore 3-3; Yorba Middle 4-8; Portola Middle School 2-5.

The lowest ranking school in California was the Academy for New Americans in Fresno. The school’s mostly recent immigrant students scored 267. Faria Elementary School in Cupertino continued its streak as California’s top scoring school for the third year with a 999 score.

The API expectation of yearly incremental progress is not compatible with the No Child Left Behind Act federal standards that has a goal of complete grade level proficiency of all students by 2013. One of O’Connell’s goals is to “harmonize” the two testing systems.

For Orange Unified Schools API CLICK ON:
http://api.cde.ca.gov/APIBase2006/2005Base_Dst.aspx?cYear=&allcds=3066621&cChoice=2005BDst

State Superintendent of Public Education Jack O’Connell’s API Press Release CLICK ON: http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr06/yr06rel27.asp


For Information on Panorama Elementary School CLICK ON:
http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/sarc/pdf/panorama_sum.pdf

For Information on Faria Elementary School CLICK ON:
http://www.cupertino.k12.ca.us/Faria.www/ and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faria_Elementary_School

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