The California Department of Education released new data on school performances last week, including the 2011 Base Academic Performance Index and two metrics designed to rank schools based on the similiarties to others in the state.
The API is a number between 200 and 1000 that reflects performance level of a school, sub group and district, based on statewide testing. Its purpose is to measure the academic performance and growth of schools. The state target is 800.
As a whole, Pasadena Unified School District students scored 758, below the state target.
The figures released Tuesday are slight revisions of . They are shown below under '2011 Base API' and will be used to set goals for next year's test scores. Though according to a report in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune some districts showed significant differences in the revised figures, PUSD's districtwide number did not change.
The second figure below is the statewide rank, which compares schools on their academic performance, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest mark. The mark refers to the percentage of like schools the school surpassed, so a '9' for example, would mean the school that received that score surpassed at least 80 percent of other schools.
The similar schools rank is similar, but uses demographic information such as race, percent of low-income and percent of English language learners to sort out the schools.
Among Altadena schools, Altadena Elementary had the best rank on the 'similar schools' metric and Aveson School of Leaders had the worst. Altadena and Aveson tied for the best ranking in the 'statewide rank' category while Franklin, the now-defunct Loma Alta Elementary, Jackson Elementary and Charles Eliot Middle School all scored the worst, at '2.'
The score for the all of the district's schools are listed below.
Elementary Schools 2011 Base API Statewide Rank Similar Schools Rank Altadena Elementary 818 6 9 Aveson School of Leaders 816 6 1 Burbank Elementary 789 4 5 Cleveland Elementary 769 3 7 Daniel Webster 866 8 10 Don Benito Fundamental 895 9 6 Field (Eugene) Elementary 810 6 3 Franklin Elementary 748 2 3 Hamilton Elementary 865 8 8 Jackson Elementary 737 2 3 Jefferson Elementary 727 2 1 Loma Alta Elementary 746 2 2 Longfellow (Henry W.) Elementary 847 7 9 Madison Elementary 734 2 4 McKinley 827 6 4 Norma Coombs Alternative 853 7 9 Roosevelt Elementary 888 9 10 San Rafael Elementary 745 2 1 Sierra Madre Elementary 908 9 5 Washington Accelerated Elementary 761 3 7 Willard Elementary 863 8 10 Middle Schools 2011 Base API Statewide Rank Similar Schools Rank Aveson Global Leadership Academy 741 4 2 Charles W. Eliot Middle 692 2 3 Washington Middle 667 1 2 Woodrow Wilson Middle 718 3 1 High Schools 2011 Base API Statewide Rank Similar Schools Rank Blair High 716 4 6 John Muir High 646 2 7 Marshall Fundamental 763 6 4 Pasadena High 757 6 6Editor's note: The original version of this story said that schools were compared based on their size for the 'statewide rank' figure. In addition, the article said a score of 9 would mean a school is better than 90 percent of other schools - the correct figure is 80 percent.
