Schools

APR, API, AYP, PI: What Does it all Mean?

Education officials have released a compilation of state and federal standardized testing results, which can paint different pictures of how schools are performing academically.

Education officials on Wednesday released their annual Accountability Progress Reports, or APRs.

These reports, a compilation of state and federal standardized test results, are used by educators to gauge how well schools and districts are performing academically.

Those figures include the state’s Academic Performance Index, or API, and the federal Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, and Program Improvement designations.

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Looking at how San Ramon Valley schools performed this past year can be tricky and confusing.

One report says our area is home to high-performing schools, while another shows San Ramon Valley students fall short.

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Huh?

Let's try to explain.

The state's report, API, provides a "growth model" based on a scale of 200 to 1,000 points, with a score of 800 considered exemplary.

Each year schools are given a growth target to reach via a formula based on past test results and other factors.

So how did the San Ramon Valley Unified School District perform in 2011?

  • 100 percent of elementary schools met their API targets.
  • 100 percent of middle and high schools met their API targets.
  • 95 percent of schools surpassed the 800-point mark.
  • The district as a whole now sports an API of 922, a 6-point increase from a year ago.

Impressive.

But the other portion of the APRs paint a slightly different picture. These results are based on the No Child Left Behind Act, which has a goal of getting all students up to proficient levels by 2013.

These expectations rise each year. Schools either reach these goals or they don't.

The district in prior years actually met the federal AYP goals.

But not in 2011, when it met 40 of 42 AYP goals.

For a district to meet the federal benchmarks set forth in AYP, all significant student subgroups in the district must score at proficient levels mainly in English and math tests.

If a district’s English-learners subgroup fails to meet standards in English, for example, the district fails as a whole, despite having all other subgroups testing at proficiency.

Yes, that's all or nothing.

On top of that, districts who fail to meet AYP standards for two consecutive years get the dubious distinction of being under Program Improvement.

Schools and districts may face federal sanctions and fines if they fail to emerge from Program Improvement, something that's considered a difficult task. To get out from underneath that shadow, schools and districts must meet all federal benchmarks for two years in a row.

The San Ramon Valley district isn't in PI.

So in a nutshell: San Ramon Valley schools are performing well when it comes to state standards. And not as well when it comes to what the federal folks expect – .

But they aren't alone in lagging behind federal benchmarks.

Education experts predict that every district in the nation will be designated Program Improvement by 2014.

To view the APRs click here.


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