Schools

County School Performance Improves, But Not Enough for the Feds

State education data released Wednesday shows higher student performance on tests, but not enough to escape federal labels for struggling schools.

Despite improved performance, fewer San Diego County schools are meeting escalating federal education standards characterized as “unfair and arbitrary” by the state schools chief, according to data released Wednesday.

“We have serious concerns about the federal government’s program for measuring success,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said Wednesday as officials released student performance data that determines compliance with federal No Child Left Behind education standards.

A record 49 percent of California schools have now reached the target 800-point threshold on the Academic Performance Index scale, which measures performance on English and math tests on a scale of 200-1,000. But for many, that isn’t enough to escape federal designation as a struggling school.

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The scored a 775 API for 2011, up 15 points from 2010.

“It’s just plain wrong for the federal government to have a system that labels them a failure,” Torlakson said.

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More than half of San Diego County school districts are in Program Improvement, the federal designation for districts and their schools that haven’t made sufficient progress in student testing performance for at least two consecutive years. Lemon Grove schools are currently designated as PI status.

Only schools that receive funding for low-income students, called Title I funding, are subject to this standard. They can “exit” PI after two consecutive years of meeting progress targets for how many students score proficient or better on standardized tests. Statewide, 63 percent of Title I schools are in PI.

Seven county school districts are now entering the first year of PI, including the Ramona City Unified and Santee Elementary districts.

Still, more than half of San Diego County schools (54 percent) have an API above that 800-point threshold, and many have even exceeded the 900 mark. Several schools in the Poway Unified, Encinitas Union Elementary and Coronado Unified districts have APIs of 900 or above. The San Diego Unified School District has a score of 798, up from 785 last year.

The seeming contradiction between the number of schools who appear to be increasing performance—shown through higher API scores—but who yet qualify for Program Improvement has sharpened calls for relief from No Child Left Behind requirements.

“We’re calling for Washington to do a timeout,” said Torlakson, who said he has sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan asking for changes with no response yet.

The requirements aim to have 100 percent of students scoring proficient or higher on standardized tests by 2014. The targets until then rise each year, in amounts that many education officials say is unfair, such as the 11 percent increase between 2009-10 and 2010-11.

“We need to let Washington know that they need to return the control of public education back to the state and the local level and stop this nonsense of providing mandates that are unfunded,” said Bill Habermehl, superintendent of schools for Orange County, on a teleconference Wednesday.

Torlakson, too, said California has its own financial crisis and can’t afford to be pushed to meet requirements from Washington, which “did not send the money to help us meet the goals.”

Academic Performance Index for Lemon Grove Schools

School 2011 API 2010 API 813 804 806 830 784 746 801   770 775 775 763 758 743 728

Associate Local Editor Tom Roebuck contributed to this report.


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