Schools

APR, API, AYP, PI: What Does it all Mean?

Education officials have released a compilation of state and federal standardized testing results, which can paint different pictures of how schools are performing academically.

Education officials on Wednesday released their annual Accountability Progress Reports, or APRs.

These reports, a compilation of state and federal standardized test results, are used by educators to gauge how well schools and districts are performing academically.

Those figures include the state’s Academic Performance Index, or API, and the federal Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, and Program Improvement designations.

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Looking at how Livermore schools performed this past year can be tricky and confusing.

One report says our area is home to high-performing schools, while another suggests Livermore students are struggling.

Find out what's happening in Livermorewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Huh?

Let's try to explain.

The state's report, API, provides a "growth model" based on a scale of 200 to 1,000 points, with a score of 800 considered exemplary.

Each year schools are given a growth target to reach via a formula based on past test results and other factors.

So how did the district perform in 2011?

  • 90 percent of elementary schools met their API targets.
  • 100 percent of middle and high schools met their API targets.
  • 85 percent of schools scored in the 800-point mark.
  • The district as a whole now sports an API of 832, a 10-point increase from a year ago.

Impressive.

However, the other portion of the APRs paint a different picture. These results are based on the No Child Left Behind Act, which has a goal of getting all students up to proficient levels by 2013.

These expectations rise each year. Schools either reach these goals or they don't.

The in consecutive years didn't meet the federal AYP goals. The district in 2011 met 28 of 40 AYP goals.

For a district to meet the federal benchmarks set forth in AYP, all significant student subgroups in the district must score at proficient levels mainly in English and math tests.

If a district’s English-learners subgroup fails to meet standards in English, for example, the district fails as a whole, despite having all other subgroups testing at proficiency.

Yes, that's all or nothing.

On top of that, districts who fail to meet AYP standards get the dubious distinction of being under Program Improvement.

Schools and districts may face federal sanctions and fines if they fail to emerge from Program Improvement, something that's considered a difficult task. To get out from underneath that shadow, schools and districts must meet all federal benchmarks for two years in a row.

The Livermore district in 2011 entered its second year of PI status.

So in a nutshell: Livermore is performing well when it comes to state standards. Not so well when it comes to what the federal folks expect.

But they aren't alone.

Education experts predict that every district in the nation will be designated Program Improvement by 2014.

To view the APRs click here.


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