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Published on 10/24/2001 All articles from this issue

LASD tops in test scores for third year in a row

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By Sara Ballenger / Town Crier Staff Writer

The Los Altos School District (LASD) has done it again. For the third consecutive year the district has had the top STAR test results and the highest Academic Performance Index (API) ranking in the state, said Dick Liewer, assistant superintendent.

"The district is No. 1 in the state for the third year in a row," said Marge Gratiot, superintendent. "I think it's a good consistency and show of stability."

Oak School ranked second from San Francisco to Salinas and third in the state. Bullis ranked in California's top 10 scores, Liewer said.

"We are very proud," Gratiot said.

API is part of the Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA). Passed into law in 1999, it tracks and compares growth in schools' academic performance and rewards schools that meet their performance goals, according to the state Department of Education.

A school's API ranking is based solely on the SAT 9 segment of the STAR tests and is meant to indicate how well a school performs, Liewer said.

In addition to ranking schools, the API is used to determine eligibility for monetary awards, according to the state Department of Education. The goal of the reward system is to increase test scores.

This year, the only LASD schools that will receive a monetary reward are Almond Elementary and Egan Junior High schools.

"Egan has the highest API in the state for junior highs the second year in a row," Liewer said. "What they had to do to get that reward money is improve five API points."

There are some anomalies in the testing system, Liewer said.

"Springer went up 24 API points from last year, but the other part of the equation is that any subgroup had to also improve their own scores by four points," Liewer said.

The state defines a subgroup as 15 percent of the school population or 100 students.

Springer has an Asian population that makes up 22 percent to 25 percent of the student body, Liewer said.

"Last year, the Asian population at Springer scored an unbelievable 972 out of 1,000 points," Liewer said. "And this year they scored a 970, so Springer didn't get the money. It's really divisive."

For more information, logon to http://api.cde.ca.gov.