Ask an Expert: Jim Cox and Pat Puleo
Measuring Up: A Parent's Guide to Testing, Grades, and Assessments

My daughter's middle school has an API of 350. Most of the students are not yet comfortable speaking English. So what does the score really mean?

In the case of large numbers of English language learners in a school, the API means very little. Students who have limited English capabilities will have a difficult time taking a test designed for English speakers/readers.

A school's performance is compared to a very large nationwide sampling of students (approximately 250,000) who took the test in the spring of 1995. In the national sample, less than 2 percent of the students had limited English skills. The developers of the test indicate that any student who has limited English skills and takes the SAT-9 is taking the test under "handicapping conditions."

In contrast, California public schools have approximately 25% limited English learners.This is roughly 12 times more than the national sample. With this in mind, it is understandable how those schools with high percentages of English learners will have lower test scores, and therefore lower API's.

When less than 2 percent of the national sample group had limited English skills, the comparison is inappropriate. Many contend it is unfair. This is especially true when labels, such as "ineffective" are placed upon schools and its staffs, based solely on this test. The committee to the state board which recommended eliminating the scores for students who are not yet proficient in English, but they did not accept their committee's recommendation.

We have personally seen many schools with lots of students still learning English do amazing work, but still post low test scores. For this reason, among others, the API and the SAT-9 score it's based on are not necessarily meaningful indicators of the quality of a school. We encourage you to review additional assessment data gathered at the site if you want to learn more about your school's effectiveness in meeting the academic challenges of their students.

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