nks a school with 100 other schools in the state with similar demographic profiles (including parent education level, poverty level, student mobility, student ethnicity).
Each rank ranges from 1 to 10, with a score of 10 meaning that the school's API fell into the top 10%.
Indicator of performanceEdit
A school's score or placement on the API is designed to be an indicator of a school's performance level and is calculated annually by the California Department of Education, primarily based on CST and CAHSEE tests.
Due to the API's heavy reliance on standardized testing (although some factors such as attendance and graduation rates are considered), many criticisms of standardized testing can also be leveled at the reliability and accuracy of API scores as an indicator of a school's level of "academic achievement."
One criticism until recently was that a school's API score took no account of a school's student dropout rate. This created the incentive to let poorly performing students drop out, since this would increase a school's average test scores. SB 219 (Senator Darrell Steinberg, 2007) addressed this concern, however, by requiring schools' API scores to incorporate student dropout rates. These changes are expected to be implemented in 2011.
The API is closely tied to monetary and incentive awards by setting Annual Percent Growth Targets for each school and whether the school met or exceeded this goal. The Public Schools Accountability Act also establishes The Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program and the Governor's High Achieving/Improving Schools Program.
In addition, the API is used to determine Adequate Yearly Progress as a part of the No Child Left Behind Act.
- Academic Performance Index (API)
- Understanding the API
- Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA)
- Google - public data: Education Statistics of California: Academic Performance Index (API)
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).|