Students make small overall gains

Students statewide and locally made small changes toward generally understanding grade level academics, according to the 2008 academic performance report released by the California Department of Education yesterday.

The APR, which consists of three separate reports, is an annual report card for every school in the state. Scores leveled off and in some cases decreased. In California, one-third of schools are meeting the target, which translates to 41 percent of elementary schools, 29 percent of middle schools and 17 percent of high schools scoring above 800 points. Many schools in San Mateo County are at or above the proficient marker, however, not everyone is making the grade. Interestingly, gains were seen in all four of the major ethnic groups statewide.

"I’m particularly pleased that this year’s API results show some narrowing of the achievement gap between students who are white or Asian and their peers who are African American, Hispanic or learning the English language,” said State Superintendent Jack O’Connell.

Since the API gives schools more credit for improvement made by the lowest-achieving students, the scores more clearly indicate where gaps are narrowing, he explained.

API scores range from 200 to 1,000, with 200 being far below basic, 500 being below basic, 700 being basic, 875 being proficient and 1,000 being advanced. The statewide API performance target for all schools is 800.

Gains and losses were wide spread across San Mateo County district schools.

North Star Academy in Redwood City retained its position with the highest score in the county — 988. It was followed by all four elementary schools within the Hillsborough City Elementary School District which boasted scores ranging from 972 to 983 — topped by North Hillsborough.

On the other end of the spectrum, schools in the Ravenswood City Elementary School District posted the lowest scores ranging from 605 for the Stanford New School to 690 at Edison-Brentwood Elementary. Thirteen schools in the county, not counting small schools, scored in the 600s. Six of the schools are in Ravenswood.

Not meeting the standards can mean a loss of funding or control for schools and school districts. These thresholds of understanding will begin to increase next year to meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. At that point, it may become harder for districts and schools to meet the target growth. These objectives increase over time so that by the 2013-2014 school year, 100 percent of students at all schools must score at the proficient level or above.

There was good news for four San Mateo County schools — San Mateo High, Horrall Elementary, Taft Elementary and Hawes Elementary — which all exited program improvement this year. To exit, a school must meet its growth goal for two consecutive years. Only 116 schools statewide accomplished this feat this year.

David Miller, San Mateo Union High School District superintendent, was very happy to see the scores and San Mateo’s progress.

In addition, the district saw a jump in understanding by English language learners, Miller said.

Taft Elementary in Redwood City grew quite a bit from the 444 score it received in 1999 to its current 774 score.

"We are thrilled that in a year when the bar was raised significantly, two of our schools exited program improvement, one school in program improvement made annual yearly progress, and no new schools were designated program improvement,” said Jan Christensen, Redwood City Elementary School District superintendent.

Along with the good news, came some tough news for Redwood City as the district itself entered program improvement. When one or more sub-groups fail to make the annual growth goal for two consecutive years, the district enters into program improvement. The South San Francisco Unified School District also entered program improvement.

Countywide, two schools were added to program improvement: Allen Elementary in San Bruno and Spruce Elementary in South San Francisco. Five schools — Fair Oaks Elementary and Garfield Charter from Redwood City; College Park Elementary and The Bayside S.T.E.M. Academy in San Mateo; and Parkway Heights Middle School in South San Francisco — entered the fifth year of program improvement, which requires reorganization — a step most of the schools already started.

For more information visit www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ar/.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.

API scores:

The API scores were taken from the 2008 Growth Academic

Performance Index prepared by the California Department of

Education on Sept. 4, 2008. API scores range from 200 to 1,000, with 200 being far below basic, 500 being below basic, 700 being basic, 875 being proficient and 1,000 being advanced. The statewide API performance target for all schools is 800.

The scores are shown for each district as well as for the individual schools within the district. The first number is the 2008 API score, the second is the 2007 API score, the third was the expected growth and the fourth number is the actual growth. Some schools may have an "A” or "D” in the third column. A means the school surpassed the statewide goal last year and wasn’t given a goal. D is used for

districts, which do not receive target information. A "*” denotation means a school had between 11 to 99 students tested.

Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary School District - 878 / 878 / D / 0

Central Elementary - 922 / 922 / A / 0

Cipriani Elementary - 881 / 887 / A / -6

Fox Elementary - 896 / 929 / A / -33

Nesbit Elementary - 817 / 829 / A / -12

Sandpiper Elementary -897* / 925 / A / -28

Ralston Intermediate - 973 / 849 / A / 24

Burlingame Elementary School District - 884 / 874 / D / 10

Franklin Elementary - 919 / 924 / A / -5

Lincoln Elementary - 921 / 920 / A / 1

McKinley Elementary - 804 / 787 /5 / 17

Roosevelt Elementary - 898 / 910 / A / -12

Washington Elementary - 860 / 905 / A / -45

Burlingame Intermediate - 878 / 852 / A / 26

Hillsborough City Elementary School District - 961 / 957 / D / 4

North Hillsborough Elementary - 983 / 967 / A / 16

South Hillsborough Elementary - 972 / 960 / A / 12

West Hillsborough Elementary - 976 / 970 / A / 6

Crocker Middle School - 949 / 948 / A / 1

Millbrae Elementary School District - 841 / 841 / D / 0

Green Hills Elementary - 866 / 848 / A / 18

Lomita Park Elementary - 721 / 765 / 5 / -44

Meadows Elementary - 842 / 849 / A / -7

Spring Valley Elementary - 877 / 878 / A / -1

Taylor Middle School - 845 / 841 / A / 4

Redwood City Elementary School District - 764 / 765 / D / -1

Adelante Spanish Immersion Elementary - 799 / 797 / 3 / 2

Clifford Elementary - 807 / 804 / A / 3

Fair Oaks Elementary - 694 / 694 / 5 / 0

Garfield Charter Elementary - 689 / 675 / 6 / 14

Hawes Elementary - 720 / 716 / 5 / 4

Henry Ford Elementary - 794 / 774 / 5 / 20

Hoover Elementary - 705 / 687 / 6 / 18

John Gill Elementary - 778 / 786 / 5 / -8

North Star Academy - 988 / 981 / A / 7

Roosevelt Elementary -712 / 698 / 5 / 14

Roy Cloud Elementary - 877 / 889 / A / -12

Selby Lane Elementary - 715 / 719 / 5 / -4

Taft Elementary - 774 / 753 / 5 / 21

John F. Kennedy Middle School - 670 / 691 / 5 / -21

McKinley Institute of Technology - 691 / 687 / 6 / 12

Newcomer Academy - 374* / 381* / 21 / -7

Orion Alernative - 870* / 854* / A / 16

San Bruno Park Elementary School District - 779 / 776 / D / 3

Decima M. Allen Elementary - 755 / 767 / 5 / -12

Belle Air Elementary - 713 / 716 / 5 / -3

Crestmoor Elementary - 850 / 902 / A / -52

El Crystal Elementary - 852 / 838 / A / 14

John Muir Elementary - 838 / 848 / A / -10

Portola Elementary - 864 / 852 / A / 12

Rollingwood Elementary - 792 / 819 / A / -27

Parkside Intermediate - 747 / 723 / 5 / 24

San Carlos Elementary School District - 882 / 873 / D / 9

Arundel Elementary - 892 / 897 / A / -5

Brittan Acres Elementary - 893 / 879 / A / 14

Charter Learning Center - 893 / 888 / A / 5

Heather Elementary - 816 / 850 / A / -34

White Oaks Elementary - 904 / 901 / A / 3

Central Middle - 867 / 842 / A / 25

Tierra Linda Middle - 908 / 895 / A / 13

San Mateo Union High School District - 781 / 774 / D / 7

Aragon High - 813 / 800 / A / 13

Burlingame High - 826 / 813 / A / 13

Capuchino High - 710 / 706 / 5 / 4

Hillsdale High - 772 / 774 / 5 / -2

Mills High - 837 / 821 / A / 16

Peninsula High - 518* / 534* / D / -16

San Mateo High - 749 / 745 / 5 / 4

San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District - 826 / 815 / D / 11

Albion H. Horrall Elementary - 748 / 730 / 5 / 18

Audubon Elementary - 883 / 861 / A / 22

Baywood Elementary -919 / 928 / A / -9

Beresford Elementary - 830 / 800 / A / 30

Brewer Island Elementary - 949 / 933 / A / 16

College Park Elementary - 765 / 748 / 5 / 17

Fiesta Gardens International Elementary - 745 / 766 / 5 / -21

Foster City Elementary - 928 / 919 / A / 9

George Hall Elementary - 806 / 786 / 5 / 20

Highlands Elementary - 853 / 873 / A / -20

Laurel Elementary - 830 / 834 / A / -4

Meadow Heights Elementary - 836 / 799 / 1 / 37

North Shoreview Elementary - 810 / 796 / 4 / 14

Park Elementary - 791 / 807 / A / -16

Parkside Elementary - 761 / 789 / 5 / -28

Sunnybrae Elementary - 780 / 788 / 5 / -8

Abbott Middle - 795 / 768 / 5 / 27

Bayside Middle, now known aas the Bayside S.T.E.M Academy - 704 / 684 / 6 / 20

Borel Middle - 804 / 807 / A / -3

Bowditch Middle - 905 / 880 / A / 25

Sequoia Union High School District 751 / 753 / D / -2

Carlmont High - 800 / 800 / A / 0

Menlo-Atherton High - 758 / 762 / 5 / -4

Sequoia High - 710 / 699 / 5 / 11

Summit Preparatory Charter - 801 / 841 / A / -40

Woodside High - 740 / 743 / 5 / -3

Redwood High - 640* / 774* / D / -134

South San Francisco Unified School District - 757 / 745 / D / 12

Buri Buri Elementary - 833 / 829 / A / 4

Junipero Serra Elementary - 814 / 801 / A / 13

Los Cerritos Elementary - 741 / 728 / 5 / 13

Martin Elementary - 729 / 740 / 5 / -11

Monte Verde Elementary - 835 / 823 / A / 12

Ponderosa Elementary - 821 / 818 / A / 3

Skyline Elementary - 809 / 784 / 5 / 25

Spruce Elementary - 786 / 789 / 5 / -3

Sunshine Gardens Elementary - 790 / 762 / 5 / 28

Alta Loma Middle - 772 / 773 / 5 / -1

Parkway Heights Middle - 682 / 681 / 6 / 1

Westborough Middle - 786 / 790 / 5 / -4

El Camino High - 750 / 730 / 5 / 20

South San Francisco High - 721 / 698 / 5 / 21

Baden High - 400* / 429* / D / -29