School test results still high, but slipping

CONGRATULATIONS--Ladera Elementary School third-graders Amanda Sciarillo and Andrew Camuccio work hard on their computer skills. Ladera (in Conejo Valley Unified) ranked highest among all local schools in the recent Academic Performance Index, a statewide measure of success.

Oak Park Unified School District turned in the best performance locally in a recent academic ranking that measures schools not only on a statewide basis, but also against campuses with similar socioeconomic backgrounds.

The Academic Performance Index (API) gives schools a score between 200 and 1,000 depending on how their students fared in the national Stanford 9 test each spring.

The rankings include not only the national SAT 9, but results from California’s English Language Arts test for the first time.

All five Oak Park elementary and secondary schools scored 800 or above on the 2001 tests and ranked in the top 10 percent statewide.

Compared against schools that serve similar students, Oak Park’s results were mixed.

Oak Park High School had a similar schools ranking of 9, which means its API score was higher than 90 percent of the competition.

Oak Park was compared to high schools such as Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills in Orange County; Agoura and Calabasas in Los Angeles County; and Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park in Ventura County.

Oak Hills Elementary School, on the other hand, earned a similar schools ranking of 3, equivalent to the bottom 30 percent. The school still placed in the top 10 percent statewide, however.

Nine of the 12 schools in Las Virgenes Unified School District earned the top decile ranking, but four elementary schools in the district—Bay Laurel and Chaparral in Calabasas, and Sumac and Willow in Agoura Hills—were in the bottom 10 percent when compared to schools of similar background.

Of the four elementary schools, three were gauged against schools in the same category, but Sumac, which is less than a mile from Willow, was placed in a different comparison group.

Las Virgenes officials questioned the meaningfulness of the similar schools grouping.

"I don’t think parents are necessarily going to move from one district to the next because of that," said assistant superintendent Joe Nardo.

"What’s important to us is what’s changing with the API."

Marilyn Lippiatt, the superintendent of schools at Oak Park, agreed.

"We don’t look at scores as much as we look at improvement. What we’re constantly going over is where we can improve and make a difference for a student."

The state’s schools are placed into groups of 100 according to their similarities. Factors include pupil ethnicity and mobility, the education level of parents, and the number of credentialed teachers at each school.

"The formula tries to compare schools where that data is similar," Lippiatt said. "Why those schools might end up in different ranking groups, I don’t know."

Only one Las Virgenes school—White Oak Elementary in Westlake Village—had a similar schools ranking above 7. A few schools, like Manzanita Elementary in Thousand Oaks, had only an average state ranking, but placed high in the similar schools competition.

Nardo said Las Virgenes officials are looking at other school districts for insight.

"We have to look at a school that’s at a 10 and we’re at a 1—what are they doing as a district that earned that ranking as a 10?" Nardo said. "They may have more specialized programs."

About half of the schools in Conejo Valley Unified District, including all three high schools, were ranked in the top 10 percent statewide. When compared to similar schools, Newbury Park scored a 9 while Thousand Oaks and Westlake only had a 5.

Ladera Elementary School in Thousand Oaks was the only school in the region to earn a ranking of 10 in both the state and similar schools comparison.

In addition to the California English test, future API results will include state tests in math, social studies and science. How students perform on the California High School Exit Exam also will be included in the API.

Nardo said the average API base score—a measurement that helps compute growth for the year—is down because of the inclusion of the English test.

Only 18 percent of all California schools reached the API performance target of 800.

"They predicted that once they put in those California content standards that the scores would drop because you’d be comparing apples to oranges."

Last year’s scores relied solely on the Stanford test.

Delaine Eastin, state superintendent of public instruction, said in the long run the API will provide a more accurate reading of how schools are doing.

"As a result of this inclusion, the API is now broader and richer, giving us a more comprehensive look at how our schools are performing," Eastin said.