When put to the test, California's students showed real improvement in the Academic Performance Index (API), California's new ranking of statewide school performance, released in early October by the California Department of Education.
"Although CTA does not favor ranking schools by one performance measure or an 'off the shelf' test, we are pleased that, due to the hard work of classroom teachers, California's schools are making improvements. The API results show that real improvements in student performance are possible when we set clear goals and invest in our schools," says CTA President Wayne Johnson.
Johnson hails the good news on student improvement while criticizing Prop. 38, the school voucher initiative on California's Nov. 7 ballot that would threaten those very improvements.
"As students are showing gains, this is no time to engage in a risky experiment that would put public schools in jeopardy and cost California taxpayers billions of dollars. Proposition 38 would undermine both standards and accountability measures by creating voucher schools that would not have to face the same accountability or scrutiny as public schools."
The 2000 API data shows that 71 percent of all schools, including almost 80 percent of elementary schools, met their academic growth targets. In many cases, schools far surpassed the targets.
Implemented a year ago, California's API is a numeric index that ranks schools between 200 and 1000, based on the results of the Stanford 9, a nationally normed test given in spring to public school students in grades 2-11. The 1999 API established the baseline for each school's academic performance. Each school's growth target is set at five percent of the difference between the school's API and the statewide performance target of 800.
The API program also establishes rewards for schools that met their targets and ensures targeted assistance to public schools that didn't meet their academic goals. Sixty-seven percent of California schools are eligible for monetary rewards based on their gains over the last year.