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Officials say state rankings will help schools improve
Test scores don't tell the whole story, says the San Jose Unified School District
By Chantal Lamers
Officials from San Jose Unified School District aren't sweating the school-ranking results recently released by the California Department of Education. They said they plan to continue doing what they have done for the last year: improve.
The Academic Performance Index (API) ranking is new this year. It was created by the Public Schools Accountability Act, which became law in April 1999. The PSAA serves three purposes: to measure and improve academic performance in California schools with the API ranking; to offer financial support to schools in need of improvement; and to reward improving and high-ranking schools.
Some 7,000 public elementary, middle and high schools in California were given an API number between 200 and 1000, with a statewide performance target of 800. Under the year-old accountability system, the state mandates that schools achieve a 5 percent improvement rate each year. Schools were also ranked with a score of one through 10 against other schools with similar demographic and socio-economic characteristics, with 10 being the highest score.
"For over a year, we've been using the test scores in a prescriptive sense to help us analyze what is working and what is not," said Maureen Davidson, spokesperson for San Jose Unified School District.
Davidson said test scores released in 1999 promoted district officials to begin making internal improvements including teacher training and staff development. "All of our schools, I believe without exception, have made improvements in test scores," she said.
Schools that close the 5 percent gap within the next year may be rewarded by the state with a $150 bonus per student. However, schools that continue to lag behind state goals during the next three years could face a state takeover.
But Carol Myers, SJUSD board member, said there has been too much emphasis placed on the scores. "Politicians have done a disservice by doing a one-number thing," Myers said. She said scoring each school by one test score is the simplified way to measuring schools, and the data should be broken down into subgroups.
"People need to realize that test scores don't tell everything there is to know about a school," Myers said.
For example, Myers said, Willow Glen Elementary scored a 4 among schools with similar demographics. But what isn't apparent to many people is that the school has a higher enrollment of non-English speaking students than other elementary schools in its neighborhood, Myers said.
"Right now, this whole testing thing is so new, we'll need a three- to five-year period to shake things out. Five percent shouldn't be a problem for a while, but down the road when every school is expected to reach 800, it's just not realistic," Myers said.
Lois Allen, Willow Glen Middle School's principal, said faculty on her campus are encouraged by the scores their students received and pleased the state is ranking its schools.
"I think it's long overdue," said Allen, whose students received an 8 among middle schools with similar demographics and a 6 compared with schools statewide.
"We're going to continue what we've been doing," Allen said, referring to toddler programs designed to help students improve their reading and math skills. Allen said, since 1998, Willow Glen Middle School students have improved their test scores by 28 percent, and she sees no sign of that trend stopping in the future.
But Davidson said it'll take more than a year or two to turn around a school system that serves 1 million children and has been, for the most part, ignored by the state for the past 25 years.
"It's certainly true that California schools haven't had any attention from the legislature in the last decade," Davidson said.
API results are available to the public on the California Department of Education website at www.cde.ca.gov/psaa.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
