Most LAUSD Schools Meet State's Academic Performance Index Growth Target

About two-thirds of California public schools showed increases in their students' Academic Performance Index (API) last year, said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, as she released the 1999-2000 API on Wednesday. Of those schools, the Los Angeles Unified School district reports that 75 percent of LAUSD elementary schools and 64 percent of all district schools met the qualifying standards.

Schools that meet their API growth target are eligible for three different cash awards from the State of California. The state has allocated $677 million for the three awards programs. A total of 352 LAUSD schools qualified for awards. Statewide, 67 percent of all schools met their growth target.

Three of every four LAUSD elementary schools qualify for cash awards under the state program that rewards improved student achievement. The percentage of elementary schools eligible for the API "growth target" awards—75 percent—matches the standard statewide.

"We're on the right track," said Superintendent of Schools Roy Romer. "(Wednesday's) API report shows that our focus on improving the elementary instruction program is getting results."

Thirty-nine percent of district middle schools qualify for awards. At the senior high school level, 16 percent qualified for the awards. Romer said these results, while disappointing, are not unexpected, given the district's primary focus on elementary instruction. He said he expects improvement across all grade levels as the district expands its standards-based instruction efforts.

The API, which is currently based on a school's results on the Stanford 9 standardized test, is part of an effort to make California schools more competitive by adding more rigorous curriculum standards, offering schools rewards and potential punishments. For the first time, schools whose API number rises 5 percent will be eligible for a series of awards up to $150 per student and as much as $25,000 per teacher.

Much of that money could go directly to teachers. One program doles out cash awards of $25,000, $10,000 or $5,000 to individual teachers at schools that show the greatest improvement. The other programs involve smaller cash awards, as well as money to be distributed by school site councils, which can spend it on textbooks, teacher salaries or anything else that helps the school.

Of 6,815 schools statewide eligible for awards based on API results, 606 have not had scores released, mostly because of missing or improperly coded data, according to Bill Padia, director of policy and evaluation for the state Department of Education. The data are now being corrected and should be available by the first week of December. APIs are scored on a scale of 200 to 1,000. The state's target for schools is 800.

	Related Links The 1999–2000 API growth reports are posted on the California Department of Education’s Web site at http:// api.cde.ca.gov.

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