API scores are delayed 6 weeks

Marisa O’Neil

Academic Performance Index growth scores for most California school

districts will come out Friday, but Newport-Mesa will have to wait

another six weeks for results.

The 2002-03 API growth scores will come out at the beginning of

December, said Peggy Anatol, director of curriculum and assessment

for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. The district asked the

state to update Newport-Mesa’s demographic data first.

“Especially with [the federal] No Child Left Behind [Act], a lot

of schools went in and looked at their data more closely to make sure

it’s perfect,” Anatol said. “We want it all to be perfect and want

the right evaluation for our schools.”

The revised demographic data take into account factors such as

student ethnicity, gender and participation in the free and reduced

lunch programs.

The state of California uses the Academic Performance Index to

measure school performance annually as a part of the Public Schools

Accountability Act of 1999. The data factors in student performance

on California standardized tests and CAT-6 test.

Schools are given a score from 200 to 1,000, with a statewide

target of 800. Schools are then assigned a growth target score for

the next year that they are expected to meet.

Schools receive a base score for the previous year’s tests in

January or February and growth targets in October. Correcting or

revising data the state has about the district delays the growth

target release until December.

“We’re already all moving in the direction we feel we need to,”

Newport Elementary Principal Denise Knutsen said. “You don’t really

wait [for the numbers]. It just gives more data to reinforce what we

already know.”

Newport Elementary made the statewide target for 2002 with a base

score of 824. But, Knutsen said, that doesn’t mean the school can

rest on its laurels.

“We’re over the 800 mark, but we’re still pulling everything

together and working as hard as we can,” she said. “The standards are

high. That’s good, but we have to work hard to maintain where we

are.”