Vallejo Times-Herald: Vallejo schools test results show some academic growth

By Lanz Christian Bañes

Nearly three-quarters of Vallejo public goals showed some academic improvement in the last year, according to results released Thursday by the state Department of Education.

However, just 10 of the 22 Vallejo City Unified School District schools for which Academic Performance Index Scores are available met their academic growth goals.

This is a mild improvement from the 2010-2011 school year in which nine schools achieved their targets out of the 25 schools that had scores available.

via Vallejo schools test results show some academic growth.

EdSource Today: California test results on the up and up – partly

California’s public schools continued to show gains on the Academic Performance Index (API), a measure of how well students do on the California Standards Tests and, in high school, on the exit exam. For the first time since the testing program began in 1999, a majority of schools reached or exceeded the state’s target of 800 on the index.

Results of the spring 2012 exams, released yesterday by the State Department of Education, showed that 53 percent of schools met the mark, 4 percentage points above last year.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said the growth is especially noteworthy given the years of budget cuts that schools have endured. “The incredible efforts of teachers, administrators, school employees, parents, and students should serve as an inspiration to us all. While there’s still more work to do, California’s schools have earned a vote of confidence,” said Torlakson in a written statement accompanying the announcement.

via California test results on the up and up – partly – by Kathy Baron and John Fensterwald.

EdSource Today: Overusing test for special ed students inflates API scores

By Doug McRae

California’s 2012 Academic Performance Index (API) results, released Thursday, in general show small but steady gains similar to the last four years. But a deeper look at the results shows not only inflation contributing to the gains but also a substantial policy shift toward lower expectations for special education students in California.

The API trend data inflation is due to the introduction of a new test for special education students over the past five years: the California Modified Assessments, or CMAs. These tests were introduced to give selected students greater “access” to the statewide testing system, by making tests easier than the regular California Standards Tests (CSTs) given to all other students. When the CMAs were approved in 2007, the plan was that roughly 2 percent of total enrollment (or about 20 percent of special education enrollment) would qualify to take CMAs instead of CSTs. A major criterion for taking a CMA rather than a CST was that a special education student had to score Far Below Basic or Below Basic on a CST the previous year; the decision whether a student should take a CMA or a CST was left to each student’s Individual Education Program (IEP) team.

via Overusing test for special ed students inflates API scores – by Doug McRae.

The Reporter: Vacaville area schools hit state achievement target scores, mirroring statewide trend

By Richard Bammer

Vacaville-area public school districts surpassed their targets for academic achievement on the 2012 Academic Performance Index (API), reflecting a statewide trend that marks a decade of steady growth.

Widely regarded as a “report card on schools,” the results were announced at 10 a.m. today, when State Superintendent Tom Torlakson held a press conference to release the data to the public.

He said that, for the first time, a majority of California’s public schools – 53 percent, an increase of four points – scored at or above the state target of 800. Ten years ago, only 20 percent of schools met or surpassed the API target.

via Vacaville area schools hit state achievement target scores,….

Daily Republic: Solano schools improve on API testing

FAIRFIELD — More than two-thirds of the Solano County schools improved their Academic Performance Index scores and the county improved by an overall average of 11 points.

Statewide numbers were released Thursday by the California Department of Education in the Academic Progress Report. API runs from a low of 200 to a high of 1,000. In California, schools are expected to improve each year until reaching the target of 800.

Schools at or above a score of 800 are expected to maintain their scores above 800.

via Solano schools improve on API testing.

CA Dept of Education: API Growth Report Released for 2012

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent Tom Torlakson announced today that for the first time a majority of California’s public schools met or surpassed the statewide target for academic achievement on the 2012 Academic Performance Index (API).

Some 53 percent of schools scored at or above the state target of 800, an increase of 4 percentage points over last year, marking a decade of steady growth. Ten years ago, only 20 percent of schools met or surpassed the API target.

via API Growth Report Released for 2012.

EdSource Today: Brown signs bill moving API away from standardized tests

By John Fensterwald

Senate Bill 1458, which will shift California’s chief measure of a high school’s performance, from a near exclusive reliance on state test scores to a broader gauge of student accomplishment and preparation for college and the world of work, is now law.

After Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill Wednesday, its sponsor, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, predicted in a press release that the bill “will prove to be one of the most significant education reform bills of the decade.”

Starting in 2016, test results of the California Standards Tests will comprise no more than 60 percent of a high school’s Academic Performance Index, or API, the three-digit score that, next to a school’s mascot, has become its identity. Less prescriptive than last year’s version of the bill, which Brown vetoed with a caustic message, SB 1458 doesn’t dictate what the other elements comprising the 40 percent (or more) will be; the bill leaves that up to the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to determine. But it does makes clear that those measures should reflect success in preparing students for higher education and the workplace. Steinberg has said these elements might include high school and middle school graduation and dropout rates, or factors such as the proportion of students who pass Advanced Placement exams, are eligible for a four-year state university (complete the A-G course requirements), graduate without need for college remediation in English and math, or have completed a Partnership Academy program in a career pathway and qualified for college credit in that area.

via Brown signs bill moving API away from standardized tests – by John Fensterwald.

The Educated Guess: Steinberg hoping this time Brown will sign bill changing API

Darrell Steinberg is the epitome of persistence – or a glutton for rejection. Undeterred by a stinging message accompanying a veto a year ago, the president pro tem of the Senate tried again, authoring a bill, heading once more to Gov. Jerry Brown, that would change the metrics of the state’s school accountability system.

Steinberg said he has had a number of conversations with Brown on the matter, and has made amendments to accommodate the governor. But he said Thursday that he still doesn’t know if Brown will sign it – or send it back to him. And Brown’s advisers aren’t commenting about pending bills, as usual.

via Steinberg hoping this time Brown will sign bill changing API – by John Fensterwald.

SacBee: Bill revises school rating system

California schools would be judged less by student test scores under a bill lawmakers are sending to Gov. Jerry Brown.

Senate Bill 1458 by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg de-emphasizes standardized tests in evaluating schools, and requires other factors – such as graduation rates, college-going rates, and other measures – to be used in calculating a school’s Academic Performance Index. It cleared the Legislature on Friday when the Senate approved it, 23-13.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/01/4777707/bill-revises-school-rating-system.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy

via Bill revises school rating system.

The Educated Guess: Select committee: Time running short to end racial disparity

By Kathryn Baron

California’s economic prosperity may lie in a dozen recommendations for helping African American, Latino, and Southeast Asian boys succeed in school. The state Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color is releasing those proposals today in Sacramento along with testimony from an all-star panel of education, health, and workforce experts.

Committee members spent the last year and a half holding hearings across the state to gather personal stories, research, and examples of successful reforms. What they learned filled 19 bills that are currently before the Legislature. Nearly half those bills address the disproportionately high rates of school suspensions and expulsions meted out to boys of color.

The panel notes that although more than 70 percent of Californians under 25 aren’t white, they continue to face extensive economic, educational, and health barriers that prevent them, and eventually the state, from thriving.

via Select committee: Time running short to end racial disparitie – by Kathryn Baron.

EdSource Today: Schools short of API targets prepare to lose millions in aid

By Kathryn Baron

By the time Dan Wright took his turn at the podium before the State Board of Education last March, he already knew his district’s fate was sealed. The five schools in Stockton Unified School District that received funding under the Quality Education Investment Act, or QEIA, were going to be kicked out of the program.

“I knew the answer by the time I got up there; nothing I said would change their minds,” said Wright, the District’s Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education.

It came to pass on June 30. At midnight that day, those five schools became $1.74 million poorer. They are among 71 schools that have failed to meet their academic targets for receiving QEIA funding. More could follow next week, when the State Board takes up another batch of waiver requests.

via Schools short of API targets prepare to lose millions in aid.

The Educated Guess: Another report urges changing API

By John Fensterwald – Educated Guess

A report this week from a Washington think tank bolsters Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg’s call for significantly revising the state’s primary accountability measure, the Academic Performance Index. Now, if Gov. Jerry Brown would only read it…

“Ready by Design: A College and Career Ready Agenda for California,” published by Education Sector, recommends that the API shift focus from students’ performance on standardized tests to measures of readiness for college and careers, such as high school graduation rates, results of Advanced Placement tests, and percentages of students needing remediation in college. That’s essentially what Steinberg’s bill, SB 1458, would do without specifying what measures would be included, and that is what his bill last year, SB 547, would have done, had Gov. Jerry Brown not vetoed it with a snarky message sharply critical of quantitative gauges of school achievement.

via Another report urges changing API – by John Fensterwald – Educated Guess.

The Educated Guess: API has served its purpose (if it ever did)

By John Fensterwald – Educated Guess

A court decision this week involving Los Angeles Unified has raised again the contentious issue of evaluating teachers using standardized test scores. But a recent report for the think tank Education Sector recommends adopting the same method developed by Los Angeles Unified to replace the Academic Performance Index as a statewide way of measuring schools’ progress.

Called Academic Growth over Time, AGT is a value-added model that compares students’ actual performance on state tests to their predicted performance based on demographic characteristics – family income, language, and ethnicity – as well as past test scores. The intent is to distinguish factors of learning that schools can control from those they can’t.

The use of AGT to evaluate individual teachers has sharply divided teachers in Los Angeles Unified. United Teachers Los Angeles opposes using AGT in any manner, while teachers affiliated with Teach Plus Los Angeles and Students Matter support using it as one of several measures, counting for no more than a third of an evaluation. But less controversial is the district’s use of AGT as a tool to evaluate schools, in part because it involves a larger number of student test scores and doesn’t call for high-stakes decisions affecting individual teachers’ careers. To the contrary, a schoolwide AGT can encourage collaboration and team-teaching

via API has served its purpose (if it ever did) – by John Fensterwald – Educated Guess.

Daily Republic: Fairfield-Suisun schools improve test score rankings

FAIRFIELD — All but one school in the Fairfield-Suisun School District improved or retained its state ranking on standardized tests, according to state data released Thursday.

The California Department of Education ranks schools from one to 10, with 10 the highest score, on how students performed on the state tests. It also compared each school to schools around the state with similar demographics. In this category, all but three schools improved or retained their ranking.

The rankings were for tests taken in 2011, which the Daily Republic compared to rankings from 2010. Five schools — B. Gale Wilson, Crescent, Dan O. Root, Fairview and Suisun elementary schools — all improved by two points in the rankings, the biggest jump within the district. Nelda Mundy Elementary scored a 10 while Suisun Valley Elementary scored a nine.

via Fairfield-Suisun schools improve test score rankings.

The Educated Guess: California seeks to dump Adequate Yearly Progress

By Kathryn Baron

Three months ago, California’s proposal for a waiver from parts of the No Child Left Behind law was considered so weak that critics said it wouldn’t pass the federal government’s giggle test. Yesterday, the State Board of Education approved sending a more robust waiver request to Washington, although not through the same channels as most other states.

At issue is the part of NCLB (now commonly referred to by its original title, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA) that requires every student to be proficient in math and English Language Arts by the end of the 2013-14 school year. Last fall, Education Secretary Arne Duncan publicly acknowledged what teachers and administrators have known foryears: There’s no chance of reaching that goal.

via California seeks to dump Adequate Yearly Progress – by Kathryn Baron.

The Educated Guess: First pass at school inspections

By John Fensterwald – Educated Guess

The State Board of Education on Wednesday waded into what’s expected to be a yearlong process of revising the state’s standardized-test-heavy school accountability system. First up: discussing whether to reshape an existing tool, the School Accountability Report Card, or SARC, an annual data dump that every school collects and is supposed to post online, and whether to consider adding a new dimension – school inspections.

via First pass at school inspections – by John Fensterwald – Educated Guess.

Ed Source Extra!: Education leaders call for overhaul of state’s school accountability system

By Louis Freedberg

As state education leaders consider whether to seek a waiver from the  most onerous provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind, they are also proposing a “comprehensive review”  of the state’s accountability system put in place in 1999.

The State Board of Education will start discussing what an updated state accountability system might look like  at its meeting in Sacramento today.

via Education leaders call for overhaul of state’s school accountability system.

The Educated Guess: SIGnificant improvementS

By Kathryn Baron

John Fensterwald contributed to this report.

California received a double dose of good news this week about the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced yesterday that a $63 million check is in the mail to cover the second-year funding for schools awarded SIG grants in round two. And, perhaps more promising, a new study found that student test scores in SIG schools showed significant improvement in the first year.

via SIGnificant improvementS – by Kathryn Baron.

The Educated Guess: Click and post – California Standards Test security breach

By John Fensterwald – Educated Guess

The Age of Instagramis creating headaches for the state Department of Education and ETS, the contractor for the state’s standardized tests. At least 100 students from 34 school districts had posted images on social media of materials from various state tests they took, according to Paul Hefner, spokesman for Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torakson.

via Click and post: CST security breach – by John Fensterwald – Educated Guess.

Sacramento Bee Editorial: State leaders must meld on K-12 standards

This year may finally be the time to get a major overhaul in education – simpler, fairer, more flexible and accountable.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/23/4433991/state-leaders-must-meld-on-k-12.html#mi_rss=Editorials#storylink=cpy

via Editorial: State leaders must meld on K-12 standards.