October 7, 2005

2005 Accountability Progress Report shows overall improvement at area schools

Four elementary sites given Distinguished School application nod

By Candy Richter
Staff Writer

According to the state’s 2005 Accountability Progress Report released on Sept. 20, local elementary and high schools faired better than schools in California overall.

In Santa Clara County, 74 percent of the public schools, compared with 72 percent statewide, posted improved Academic Performance Index results, falling in line with similar gains seem in standardized testing performance.

“Overall, this latest data shows that an upwards trend in student achievement is continuing,” said Colleen Wilcox, Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools. “[Our] students are again out-performing students statewide.”

Campbell Union High School District was cited by the county office as one of the school districts with greatest increases from API base score to API base growth score, moving from 691 to 723.

In fact, all of the campuses that posted gains showed double-digit growth. Prospect showed the most significant gain with a 36 point increase and crossed the 700-point threshold to post a 715 API for 2005.

At the Campbell Union Elementary campuses, Black-ford posted the most significant gains, increasing 36 points to 738, and Rolling Hills Middle increased 26 points to 839. Based on the 2005 scores, four CUSD sites were invited to submit California Distin-guished School nomination application; Blackford, Capri, Forest Hill and the newest addition to the CUSD roster, Village School.

While each of the four schools nominated have excelled academically, it is the newly recognized, parent-participation Village School that has emerged as a first-time achiever on a few levels. This is Village’s first year as a bona fide “officially” recognized autonomous school site in the eyes of both the Campbell district and the state.

It is also their first full year as a physically independent site after the Hazelwood campus closure, and their inaugural API score is a whopping 832.

Adding another star to their crown of achievement, Village has also been invited to submit an application for the state’s coveted Distinguished School Award, an accolade that must be earned through outstanding academic performance and is an invitation-only call to nomination.

According to CUSD Superintendent, Johanna VanderMolen, these accomplishments are not only praiseworthy, but a testament to the dedication and spirit of the parent participation model of Village. “For a school to have an API of 832 the first year out of the gate, and to already have been nominated receive the California Distinguished School nomination, that is exceptional. We are really very proud.”

For Village Principal Katie Middlebrook, now in her third year with the Village community, this has been the culmination of much hard work that began with the repurposing of Village’s image from an “alternative program” campus to a “parent participation” campus.

“Village offers parents the opportunity to become partners in their child’s education. We focus on educating the whole child, not only as a textbook-driven environment, but through hands-on, experiment-based activities as well.”

With the mandatory 3 hours of parent volunteer time per family, per week, Village is able to offer classroom activities pairing teachers with two adult “helpers.” This can bring the student to adult ratio to 29 to 3. “We go through all the regular district screening, plus offer training to our parents in literacy and asset building strategies,” said Middlebrook.

With an increased enrollment this year of 45 percent and an anticipated increase next year that will necessitate the addition of a new building, Middlebrook and the dedicated parent and teaching community of the Village School seem to have a formula that works. Middlebrook sums it up, “We have a magical little spot with neat people.”

What is the API?
The Progress Report includes the Academic Performance Index, or API, which is the state’s accountability program that measures the academic growth and performance of each school site. It is a numeric index ranging from 200 to 1,000 based on the percentage of students scoring at a certain level or above on state-wide testing.

The statewide goal for all schools is 800. Results from the STAR test data and the California High School Exit Exam are used in the calculation of a school’s API. The API consists of a few different numbers; a “baseline” number, a “growth” number and the difference between the two.

By subtracting the prior year’s API base number from the current year’s API growth number, the result is how much a school grew in that year.

What is AYP?
With the creation of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, AYP, or Adequate Yearly Progress was defined as an accountability system that measures a school’s or district’s progress in meeting the guidelines set forth in NCLB.

Achievement targets are set by the state, and if a school or district does not meet their AYP target, the site or agency can be designated Program Improvement. Cur-rently, only Title I schools and districts can receive PI designation.

Each year the AYP targets are not met, the PI designation continues. The PI designation does not extend beyond Year 5, however 10 schools that were in Year 5 last year missed their AYP this year. NCLB has not commented on the next course of action in these instances.

If a school or district no longer receives Title I aid, or their AYP targets are met, the PI designation will be removed. In the 2005-06 school year, 1,772 schools received a PI designation. Of those schools, 320 were newly identified.

How do these measurements relate to each other?
The AYP targets were established to ensure that schools and school districts, now referred to as Local Education Agencies (LEA), are meeting the education needs of their various populations or sub-groupings.

Subgroups are numerically viable if they contain 100 students or 50 students who represent at least 15 percent of the student population to be tested. Unlike the API scores, AYP targets are either attained or unattained. They are not measured as progressively improved scores.

The API index is based on incremental growth targets that work toward the attainment of the state’s goal of 800 for each school and LEA. These indices are measured progressively, and growth is considered positive, even if the ultimate 800 API target has not yet been attained. The AYP criteria are directly tied to the federal NCLB act and includes API scores.