Local Schools Fare Well in State Ranking

Ventura County schools continue to outperform most schools across California, this time on a statewide academic ranking of public campuses that is being released today.

The ranking, which is based on standardized test scores reported last summer, shows that most local campuses placed in the top half of schools statewide. It also reinforces the well-documented difference in student performance between this area’s affluent east county and more blue-collar west county.

And it shows that students are making progress at schools from Ojai to Moorpark.

Countywide, more than 25% of schools reached their state goal--an 800 Academic Performance Index score--compared with 17% statewide. The mean score in Ventura County is 700, compared with 697 in Orange County and 596 in Los Angeles County. That puts Ventura County fifth among the state’s 18 largest counties--those with more than 100 schools.

For the second consecutive year, campuses also received a score of 1 to 10, with a 1 representing the bottom 10% of schools and 10 the top 10%. All elementary schools are ranked together, as are middle and high schools.

One-fifth of Ventura County schools--or 31 campuses--improved their standing on the statewide ranking. At the same time, 27 campuses dropped in their rankings, and 100 schools did not move up or down.

In addition to receiving a number relative to all California schools, campuses also received a number compared with 99 other schools with similar demographics. On the ranking of similar schools, 37% of Ventura County schools showed improvement over last year.

The latest rankings show some schools excelling based on the overall state list and others doing better on the similar-schools list, prompting educators to disagree on which is a better measure of student performance and progress.

Most Simi Valley campuses, for example, ranked in the top third of schools on the statewide list but did not fare as well when compared with similar schools. The city’s Atherwood Elementary received a 9 on the state ranking, but only a 2 on the similar-schools ranking.

“I think the statewide rankings are a little truer,” said Bob Rizzardi, coordinator of high school programs for Simi Valley Unified. “There are less variables involved. There is less room for error.”

But Hueneme Elementary Supt. Bob Fraisse said the similar-schools ranking is a better way to assess his campuses because it takes into consideration the district’s relatively high number of students who are poor or who speak limited English.

Several Hueneme schools ranked in the bottom half of campuses statewide, but ranked higher when compared with schools with similar ethnic and socioeconomic traits. Sunkist Elementary received a 5 on the state list and a 10 on the similar-schools list. Fraisse said that to bring schools like Sunkist up on the state list, educators have to reach students earlier--even before they walk into a kindergarten classroom.

Eva Baker, co-director of UCLA’s research center on testing, said the state ranking is an accurate measure of a school’s progress, while the similar-schools ranking provides context. But she said teachers and parents shouldn’t hang onto any part of the Academic Performance Index as “a badge of infamy or pride.”

“My concern is that people don’t use that to decide what house they purchase,” she said. “If people want to make a judgment on a school, they ought to go to the school. They ought to recognize that the API is a piece of what goes on in schools. It’s not the whole thing.”

The state Department of Education also set new targets that every school must meet on the API to be eligible for cash rewards next year. This year, 78% of local schools met their targets. Ventura County Supt. of Schools Chuck Weis expects the campuses to do the same next year. “Our school districts have gotten the message that this is really important,” he said.

Weis, who sits on the advisory committee that helped shape the accountability program, acknowledged shortcomings but said districts still need to do everything they can to help students continue to raise their scores.

“This is the way the public is measuring our schools,” he said. “Given that this is the way, it’s important for us to give our students the tools to do well.”

Schools facing the greatest challenge are those with the lowest API scores, which are given on a scale of 200 to 1000. Cesar Chavez Elementary in Oxnard is being asked to improve its API score of 407 by 20 points.

Meanwhile, all five of the schools in Oak Park Unified are already deemed high-achieving by the state--reaching an 800 score--so they weren’t given growth targets for next year.

As more schools get closer to reaching 800, some educators say the proportional gains will slow.

The state’s ranking system has been criticized for relying solely on test scores. The Department of Education plans to add other measurements, including graduation and attendance rates and results of an upcoming high school exit exam. But until then, teachers and parents have said there is too much riding on one test.

Schools that don’t improve could face consequences ranging from staff reassignment to state takeover. That pressure has prompted teachers to spend excessive time concentrating on test preparation, and has even led some teachers to help their students cheat.

Robin Hagey, whose daughter is a fifth-grader at Park Oaks Elementary in Thousand Oaks, said she doesn’t believe test scores are the best way to judge a school. The school’s API score of 667 doesn’t show how dedicated the teachers are or how effective instruction is at Park Oaks, she said.

“I definitely don’t think the scores reflect the quality of the education the kids are getting,” Hagey said.

Ventura Unified Assistant Supt. Jerry Dannenberg said that the state keeps changing the rules. For example, several schools did not receive new rankings because a large percentage of parents got waivers excusing their children from taking the test.

“They didn’t know what the rules of the game were,” Dannenberg said.

“The hard part with the testing program is that the state isn’t consistent.”

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* MAIN STORY

A look at API results statewide. A3

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What Is the API?

California’s Academic Performance Index is the cornerstone of Gov. Gray Davis’ push to hold schools accountable for student performance.

The API includes both a numerical score for each school and rankings of 1 to 10 to show how the school compares with other schools statewide and with schools that have similar enrollments.

This is the second release of the statewide rankings. In October, the state reported which schools had met improvement targets set when the initial rankings were unveiled in January 2000.

The API summarizes the performance of 7,000 schools statewide on the 2000 Stanford 9, a standardized basic skills test that was given last spring to about 4.3 million students.

The scores will once again be used to set improvement goals and will form a base for determining whether schools qualify for future rewards or sanctions. This fall, schools will learn whether they met their academic goals.

Starting in 2002, the API is expected to encompass the scores of tests based on California’s English/language arts standards. The year after that, the state plans to add scores from math tests geared to the standards.

Under state law, the index in future years will also include a high school exit exam and attendance and graduation rates. For now, the only component in place is results on the Stanford 9.

Readers who want to know how a school in Los Angeles County is faring can use this index as a gauge. These results are for schools overall, not for individual grades or students.

Results for all schools and districts in California are available on the World Wide Web at:https://api.cde.ca.gov/.

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How to Read These Tables

* Find the school district. Districts are listed in alphabetical order.

* Search for the individual school. Schools within a district are listed in alphabetical order, by elementary, middle and high school. Some small schools, with 11 to 99 pupils, have scores and targets but no rankings.

* For each school, the table first lists the 2000 API score, on a scale of 200 to 1,000. The statewide median is 666, up from 630 last year. Two asterisks (**) indicates problems with the tested population or data irregularities; for more information, call the school or visit the API Web site.

* Next comes a statewide ranking, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 representing the bottom 10% of schools and 10 the top 10%. All elementary schools are ranked together, as are middle schools and high schools.

* The third column is a second ranking from 1 to 10 comparing the school with a group of 100 other schools that are similar in certain regards, such as poverty rate, the number of English-language learners, pupil mobility, pupil ethnicity and percentage of teachers with emergency credentials. A school could have a statewide ranking of 4, below average, but a similar-schools ranking of 8, well above average.

* The final column lists the target score for the next API report, due in the fall. A school’s growth target is calculated by taking 5% of the range between a school’s 2000 API and the statewide performance target of 800. That number is then added to the 2000 API to compute the 2001 API target. For schools with a 2000 API of 781 to 799, the annual growth target is 1 point. An asterisk (*) indicates that a school is at or above 800; any school that maintains an API of 800 or higher is eligible for rewards.

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How the API Was Computed State officials took each school’s Stanford 9 scores from last spring and used a seven-step formula to obtain a score between 200 and 1,000. The national percentile rank (NPR) for each student tested was used to make the calculation. The percentages of students scoring within each of five NPR performance levels, called performance bands, were weighted and combined to produce a summary result for each content area.

Summary results for content areas were then weighted and combined to produce a single number. Reflecting the state’s emphasis on literacy, language skills carried extra weight in the early grades.

In grades 2 through 8, content areas were weighted as follows: mathematics, 40%; reading, 30%; language, 15%; spelling, 15%. In grades 9 through 11, mathematics, reading, language, history-social science and science each carried a weight of 20%.

To satisfy the Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999, officials set a statewide API performance target of 800 out of 1,000. The annual growth target for a school is 5% of the range between a school’s API and 800. For example, a school with a 2000 API of 500 is 300 points below the statewide target; 5% of 300 is 15 points, so that school’s goal for the 2001 API would be 515.

Of the state’s 8,000 schools, 7,000 will be ranked in the API. Among schools not included were those with fewer than 100 students and alternative schools.

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE INDEX FOR VENTURA COUNTY SCHOOLS

Briggs Elementary

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Olivelands Elementary 641 649 Briggs Elementary 601 4 5 611

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Conejo Valley Unified

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Acacia Elementary 807 9 10 * Aspen Elementary 864 10 8 * Banyan Elementary 866 10 6 * Conejo Elementary 642 5 5 650 Cypress Elementary 832 9 4 * Glenwood Elementary 737 7 6 740 Ladera Elementary 833 9 10 * Lang Ranch (Elementary) 906 10 8 * Madrona Elementary 889 10 9 * Manzanita Elementary 628 4 6 637 Maple Elementary 884 10 10 * Meadows Elementary 876 10 8 * Park Oaks Elementary 667 5 7 674 University Elementary 824 9 5 * Walnut Elementary 764 8 6 766 Weathersfield Elementary 871 10 5 * Westlake Elementary 879 10 4 * Westlake Hills Elementary 894 10 6 * Wildwood Elementary 848 10 4 * Colina Intermediate 851 10 7 * Los Cerritos Middle 781 9 1 782 Redwood Intermediate 826 10 6 * Sequoia Intermediate 814 9 8 * Newbury Park High 783 10 10 784 Thousand Oaks High 785 10 7 786 Westlake High 801 10 6 *

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Fillmore Unified

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Piru Elementary 630 4 9 639 San Cayetano Elementary 601 4 4 611 Sespe Elementary 599 4 3 609 Fillmore Middle 568 3 6 580 Fillmore Senior High 506 2 3 521

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Hueneme Elementary

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Bard (Richard) Elementary 617 4 3 626 Hathaway (Julien) Elementary 567 3 6 579 Haycox (Art) Elementary ** Hollywood Beach Elementary 811 9 9 * Hueneme Elementary 648 5 5 656 Larsen (Ansgar) Elementary 521 2 7 535 Parkview Elementary 666 5 10 673 Sunkist Elementary 650 5 10 658 Williams (Fred) Elementary 642 5 7 650 Blackstock (Charles) Junior High 600 4 9 610 Green (E. O.) Junior High 640 5 10 648

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Mesa Union Elementary

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Mesa Elementary 765 8 8 767

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Moorpark Unified

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Arroyo West Elementary 809 9 8 * Campus Canyon Elementary 752 8 7 754 Flory Elementary 712 7 3 716 Mountain Meadows Elementary 755 8 4 757 Peach Hill Elementary 655 5 3 662 Walnut Canyon Elementary 720 7 5 724 Chaparral Middle 802 9 8 * Mesa Verde Middle 726 7 6 730 Moorpark High 724 8 10 728

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Mupu Elementary

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Mupu Elementary 712 716

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Oak Park Unified

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Brookside Elementary 887 10 5 * Oak Hills Elementary 879 10 3 * Red Oak Elementary 863 10 2 * Medea Creek Middle 867 10 6 * Oak Park High 834 10 8 *

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Ocean View Elementary

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Laguna Vista Elementary ** Mar Vista Elementary ** Tierra Vista Elementary ** Ocean View Jr High 594 4 8 604

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Ojai Unified

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API San Antonio Elementary 823 * Summit Elementary 864 * Meiners Oaks Elementary 721 7 5 725 Mira Monte Elementary 760 8 4 762 Topa Topa Elementary 778 8 7 779 Matilija Junior High 751 8 3 753 Nordhoff High 745 9 9 748

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Oxnard Elementary

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Nueva Vista Intermediate 354 376 Brekke (Norman R.) Elementary 468 1 2 485 Chavez (Cesar E.) Elementary 407 1 1 427 Curren Elementary 538 2 3 551 Driffill Elementary 485 1 2 501 Elm Street Elementary 354 1 1 376 Harrington Elementary 544 2 6 557 Kamala Elementary 450 1 1 468 Lemonwood Elementary 636 5 9 644 Marina West Elementary 560 3 2 572 McAuliffe (Christa) Elementary 620 4 2 629 McKinna Elementary 543 2 6 556 Ritchen (Emilie) Elementary 669 5 1 676 Rose Avenue Elementary 633 4 9 641 Sierra Linda Elementary 559 3 2 571 Frank (Robert J.) Intermediate 503 2 7 518 Fremont Intermediate 608 4 2 618 Haydock (Richard B.) Intermediate 547 3 7 560

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Oxnard Union High

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Camarillo (Adolfo) High 731 9 5 734 Channel Islands High 561 3 9 573 Hueneme High 498 2 4 513 Oxnard High 596 4 7 606 Rio Mesa High 597 4 9 607

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Pleasant Valley Elementary

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Bedford Open Elementary 881 10 9 * Camarillo Heights Elementary 813 9 3 * Dos Caminos Elementary 763 8 5 765 El Descanso Elementary 648 5 2 656 El Rancho Structured Elementary 639 5 4 647 Las Colinas Elementary 843 9 6 * Las Posas Elementary 777 8 6 778 Los Nogales Elementary 744 7 2 747 Los Primeros Structured Elementary 848 10 7 * Santa Rosa Elementary 802 9 2 * Tierra Linda Elementary 836 9 5 * Valle Lindo Elementary 741 7 5 744 Los Altos Intermediate 774 9 6 775 Monte Vista Intermediate 794 9 8 795

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Rio Elementary

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API El Rio Elementary 668 5 9 675 Rio Lindo Elementary 650 5 6 658 Rio Plaza Elementary 490 1 2 506 Rio Real Elementary 491 1 4 506 Rio del Valle Elementary 542 3 2 555

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Santa Paula Elementary

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Bedell (Thelma B.) Elementary 668 5 3 675 Blanchard Elementary 606 4 6 616 Glen City Elementary 551 3 7 563 McKevett Elementary 582 3 5 593 Thille (Grace S.) Elementary 567 3 8 579 Webster (Barbara) Elementary 483 1 4 499 Isbell Middle 586 4 9 597

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Santa Paula Union High

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Santa Paula High 561 3 9 573

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Santa Clara Elementary

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Santa Clara Elementary 768 770

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Simi Valley Unified

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Atherwood Elementary 805 9 2 * Berylwood Elementary 641 5 1 649 Big Springs Elementary 814 9 3 * Crestview Elementary 666 5 1 673 Garden Grove Elementary 738 7 2 741 Hollow Hills Elementary 870 10 8 * Justin Elementary 689 6 1 695 Katherine Elementary 750 7 2 753 Knolls Elementary 705 6 1 710 Lincoln Elementary 651 5 1 658 Madera Elementary 772 8 2 773 Mountain View Elementary 726 7 2 730 Park View Elementary 636 5 1 644 Santa Susana Elementary 714 7 7 718 Simi Elementary 785 8 3 786 Sycamore Elementary 711 6 1 715 Township Elementary 778 8 1 779 Vista Elementary 865 10 6 * White Oak Elementary 769 8 2 771 Wood Ranch Elementary 852 10 6 * Hillside Middle 728 7 1 732 Sinaloa Middle 735 8 2 738 Valley View Middle 782 9 3 783 Monte Vista 651 6 1 658 Royal High 724 8 7 728 Santa Susana High 710 8 3 715 Simi Valley High 734 9 4 737

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Somis Union Elementary

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Somis Elementary 647 5 1 655

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Ventura Unified

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School 2000 2000 Similar Target API Rank School API Homestead (Alternative) ** Blanche Reynolds Elementary 696 6 2 701 Citrus Glen 746 7 8 749 Elmhurst Elementary 720 7 4 724 Foster (E.P.) Elementary 617 4 7 626 Juanamaria Elementary 730 7 7 734 Lincoln Elementary 737 7 10 740 Loma Vista Elementary 813 9 4 * Montalvo Elementary 677 6 8 683 Mound Elementary 871 10 7 * Pierpont Elementary 840 9 9 * Poinsettia Elementary 836 9 6 * Portola Elementary 744 7 6 747 Saticoy Elementary 672 5 2 678 Serra (Junipero) Elementary 739 7 2 742 Sheridan Way Elementary ** Will Rogers Elementary 636 5 7 644 Sunset Elementary 691 6 4 696 Anacapa Middle 752 8 7 754 Balboa Middle 740 8 5 743 Cabrillo Middle 773 9 6 774 De Anza Middle 574 3 5 585 Buena High 724 8 9 728 Ventura High 683 7 6 689

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