Academic Performance Index

Academic Performance Index
News, Opinions, Research and Advice

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Schools get new API targets, known as "base scores," based mainly on the California Standards Tests. (SF Chronicle) (2/21/2003)

Los Angeles elementary schools lift their API decile rankings. (LA Times) (2/21)

The Appellate Court rules that the Dept. of Education lacks the authority to fine-tune the rules for awarding big bonuses to teachers. Thirty Sacramento elementary teachers get checks in time for Christmas. (Sacramento Bee, 12/26/02)

New API scores are finally released for one-fourth of the state's schools. (LA Times, 12/19/02)

Late-release of corrected API scores bring smiles to educators in West Contra Costa Unified. (Contra Costa Times, 12/20/02)

The October 2002 API shows schools to be making progress, but at a somewhat slower rate. Just 53 percent of schools meet their targets, and 2,000 schools' API scores are missing in action. (LA Times, 10/18/02)

Some schools are threatened with sanctions, even when they've made large gains in prior years. (Orange County Register, 10/19/02)

The state's budget crunch brings an end to the cash bonuses for schools meeting their API growth targets.(LA Times, 10/18/02)

The roller coaster ride for the API of the Bay Area's star, Los Medanos Elementary, confirms a law of physics: what goes way up must eventually come way down. (SF Chronicle, 10/18/02)

The API calculations contain a margin of error, especially when making year-to-year comparisons. The question is how large it is, and at what "confidence interval" was it calculated. The imprecision is unavoidable, and should be made explicit. (Orange County Register, 8/11/02)

The more subgroups of students a school has, the harder it is for the school to qualify for API bonus funds. This bias that penalizes diverse schools could lead to new laws that correct the problem. (Orange County Register, 8/12/02)

Smaller schools are more likely to show bigger swings in their API scores year to year. And big gains in one year are likely to result in a decline in their API the next. (Orange County Register, 8/13/02)

Legislators are pressing for a change in the laws to correct for the API's imprecise and unfair results. (Orange County Register, 8/14/02)

Why did the SAT-9 scores of San Mateo high school students drop, especially in ninth grade? The riddle is similar to that faced by other high schools statewide. The problem may in fact be norming problems with Harcourt-Brace's national sample. (San Francisco Chronicle, 10/13/00)

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OPINIONS AND EDITORIALS

The ever-wise Peter Schrag assesses the API after four years on the road. "It's not a Cadillac," he writes, "but usually it runs." (Sacramento Bee, 10/23/2002)

The editors of the Sacramento Bee come out in favor of the API, but offer somewhat critical support. They stress the API's dependence on one test alone. (Sacramento Bee, 10/5/2000)

Dan Walters, leading political columnist, calls the API "crude at best." He blasts its flaws, while affirming the effort to compare schools fairly. (Sacramento Bee, 10/5/2000)

RAND Corp. researcher Brian Stecher calls the monetary award part of the accountability system "more like a game show than a thoughtful educational reform strategy." His article "Test Schemes Look More Like Lotto Than Lessons" is the sharpest dissent yet from the crowd that favors rewarding good test scores with money. (L.A. Times, 9/27/2000)

Steve Rees, editor and publisher of School Wise Press, has a few things to say about the right (and wrong) ways to measure school effectiveness. (S.F. Chronicle, 1/26/2000)

Finally, a terrific overview by David Hoff, writing in the esteemed Education Week, looks at the predictability of the swings in test scores in most states. (Education Week, 1/26/2000)

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ADVICE

Meet our on-line experts in testing and assessment: Jim Cox and Pat Puleo. They're here to answer your questions in their monthly column. They take on questions from parents about the API and the SAT-9 with grace and wit. (School Wise Press)

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BACKGROUND

A brief one-page summary sheet might be handy to give to parents whose questions start at the beginning. (CDE, September 2001)

The use of the API in tracking the growth in SAT-9 test scores is explained clearly in this straightforward two-page summary. (EdSource, October 2000)

Sample reports of those set for release in October 2001 are available for elementary, middle and high schools. (CDE, October 2001)

Explaining the API growth measures or the awards they're based on, to staff or parents requires having a reference in hand. This handbook, prepared by the staff of the California Department of Education (CDE), should cover all bases. (CDE, October 2001)

How does a school with unusual grade ranges get assigned to be an elementary, middle or high school? (CDE, September 2001)

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RESEARCH

The Department of Education has assembled some technical documents here, emphasizing the component elements that make up the API. The "similar schools" measure is among those factors you can research in depth here.

Stanford professor Dr. David Rogosa offers a helpful perspective on the statistical meaning of the API results. This will help you explain the heart of the API in simple terms, while doing justice to the statistical complexity of the index. (Dr. David Rogosa, November 2000)