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 A group of happy patrons on the deck of the Yodler Saturday enjoy the fun and sun after a day on the slopes. Photo by Susan Morning |
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Mammoth schools place well in S.T.A.R. test scores |
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Thursday, 04 September 2008 |
Ratings increase for Mammoth High and Middle schools, slight dip for Elementary School
By Stacey Powells
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
Every school in California sits on pins and needles at the end of August.
This is the time when the California Department of Education releases the Academic Performance Index or “API” scores that reflect the annual progress school districts have made.
API scores are based on the results of S.T.A.R. testing, which most California public school students take a month before the school year lets out. According to the California Department of Education, the API is a single number, ranging from a low of 200 to a high of 1,000.
The API was established by the PSAA (Public School Accountability Act), a state law passed in 1999 that created a new academic accountability system for K-12 public education in California. Its primary goal is to help schools improve and to measure the academic achievement of all students.
“There are two key benchmarks that are set for all schools in California,” said Mammoth Unified School District Superintendent Frank Romero. “The API, which is the state benchmark, and the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which is a federal benchmark.”
Unlike the API scores where schools get credit when students move up in proficiency levels, the AYP doesn't give schools credit but does expect students to perform at certain levels of proficiency. As a matter of fact, the federal government has an expectation that by 2014, 100 percent of students in every school in California will be proficient.
“This is all a result of the 'No Child Left Behind Act' but to think that all students in the California school system will be 100 percent proficient is just not realistic,” Romero said. “What that means is that all schools will end up with some type of program improvement.”
The California State Department of Education wants every school in California to have an API score of 800, but as far as how the schools did in our own backyard? “I think we are really on the right track,” Romero said. “This is just the beginning. As we implement our new efforts to improve student performance we will see ongoing progress by each of our schools.”
The API for Mammoth High School in 2007 was 718 and the score for 2008 was 729, an improvement of 11 points. “For a population as diverse as ours is, that's a pretty significant jump,” Romero said. There are six criteria for the AYP and Mammoth High School met five out of the six. “The high school should have met all six of the federal criteria but there was a glitch in the system that miscalculated the percent of students who graduated, but all of them did meet the graduation requirements.” The graduation criteria is 83 percent.
“Mammoth Middle School did great this year,” Romero said. Their base API score was 721 and their target was a growth of five points. “Their actual growth was 43, so they ended up with an API score of 764. They also met their AYP.
The local charter school, Mammoth Olympic Academy, had a base API score of 731 last year. This year? Their score was 847. “They went up 116 for this year and met all their API and AYP criteria,” Romero said.
Mammoth Elementary School did not reach its API scores for 2008. “Overall every single grade level exceeded its benchmarks in math and all grades exceeded their benchmarks in English Language except for third grade,” Romero said. The base API score for Mammoth Elementary was 754 and there was a slight drop to 746, but if they had met their growth target it would have been 761. “I don't want parents to be discouraged,” Romero said. “Our school assessments show that the kids are reading and computing at levels way beyond what was expected of them, but it just wasn’t reflected on the S.T.A.R. tests… they faltered a bit.” The new principal will be looking at all the programs and if something isn't working she will be creating new avenues to ensure progress with the S.T.A.R. scores. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 12 September 2008 )
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