Area schools gain higher marks

Area schools improved at about the same rate as others in the state, though they lagged behind in improvement among individual student subgroups, according to state reports released Thursday.

The state's main benchmark is the Academic Performance Index, or API, a score from 200 to 1,000 that is heavily based on a school's standardized test performance. All schools are expected to reach an API of 800.

Also included in the reports is the federal Adequate Yearly Progress benchmark. A school makes AYP if all of its subgroups have a 95 percent participation rate and if roughly 25 percent of their students can score proficient or better in math and English.

The good news: The Elk Grove Unified School District moved off the Program Improvement status it was given when it had previously failed to meet the participation requirement by special education students in math. And two elementary schools became the first in the south Sacramento County area to reach 900 points.

C.W. Dillard Elementary Principal Linda Meyerson was crestfallen last year to see her school's API score fall 25 points. Despite the drop, she said then that she still expected the school to reach the 900 mark this year. It did that, with the area's highest upswing: 45 points.

"Truly, I was in complete shock," she said. "It's quite a celebration, and well deserved by my staff."

Meyerson believes the school's scores suffered last year because of staff shuffling. This year, she said, that wasn't a problem.

Cosumnes River Elementary is still the top-performing school in the area; it ended up with an API of 908 after a 12-point gain.

The four new Elk Grove schools made big debuts. Pleasant Grove High School started off as the district's best performing high school with an API of 809. The two new elementary schools -- Arnold Adreani at 871 and Helen Carr at 804 -- also did well. Albiani Middle School scored 785.

Lake Canyon Elementary, in Galt, debuted at 834.

Galt High improved for the third year in the row with an API of 740. The 11-point gain was smaller, though, than the 24- and 70-point jumps of the past.

And, in River Delta, Rio Vista High jumped 44 points to an API of 684.

Area schools did substantially better than the state as a whole in meeting the federal AYP standard: 85 percent of area schools met the mark; statewide, this rate is 65 percent.

The bad news: Though area schools performed well above par, according to the federal benchmark, they lagged in the state API standard.

About 70 percent of schools in south Sacramento County showed some improvement in API, which is roughly the same rate statewide. However, less than half of the schools made their growth targets in at-risk subgroups, such as English learners and low-income students.

About 52 percent of schools statewide met their targets, compared with 45.5 percent of schools in the area.

The traditional high schools in the Elk Grove district, except Valley High and newcomer Pleasant Grove, saw drops in API ranging from four to 21 points.

Christine Hikido, Elk Grove director of research and evaluation, said it was too early to tell what the causes for the decline were.

"We're going to spend some time going through all the results, pinpointing on the factors we need to focus on, and then implementing our next steps," she said.

Isleton Elementary in River Delta Unified saw the steepest drop in the region, falling 70 points to 634.

Vernon E. Greer Middle School and Fairsite Elementary in Galt both moved into the fourth year of the federal Program Improvement status. Walnut Grove entered its first year.

In the fourth year of Program Improvement, schools are asked to create a plan for restructuring. In the fifth year, schools are required to implement the plan, according to the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

VIEW SCORES ONLINE

• Academic Performance Index reports can be found at:

www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/apireports.asp

• Adequate Yearly Progress reports can be found at:

www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ay/aypreports.asp

About the writer:

• The Bee's Dan Nguyen can be reached at (916) 478-2653 or dnguyen@sacbee.com.