Grades for schools arrive next week

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- School officials are anxiously awaiting their “grades”

from the state, which will tell them how schools here compare to others

across California.

Every public school in the state will receive a numerical ranking Tuesday

under the new Academic Performance Index, which will allow for

comparisons between similar schools.

The index is a new system that was mandated by the Public Schools

Accountability Act of 1999, which ranks each public school based on

student performance.

Although school districts knew this new grade was coming, the details

went unreleased until Wednesday, said Peggy Anatol, director of

assessment for Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

The ranking will be a number between 200 and 1,000 and for now will be

based solely upon the Stanford 9 Achievement Test scores from 1999.

Once other performance indicators -- such as attendance, graduation rates

and high school exit exams -- become available, they will be incorporated

into the rating system, state education officials said Wednesday.

The state has set a target score of 800. Schools ranked below 800 will be

required to improve their score by a fixed percentage each year until

they reach 800. Schools that receive a score 800 or higher are expected

to maintain or improve upon that level each year.

The index measures students’ performance in four or five content areas.

For students in grades second through eighth, 40% is based on

mathematics, 30% on reading, 15% on language and 15% on spelling.

For ninth, 10th and 11th graders, performance is based evenly on all five

areas: math, reading, science, language history and social science.

Along with the ranking, school officials will receive a score breakdown

that will help them determine which subject areas need the most work.

This is the first time schools will have a measure of this kind. Schools

are ranked first by type -- elementary, middle, high school. Each

school’s score is then compared with the score of a school with similar

characteristics, including socioeconomic status and ethnicity.

The purpose of the index system is to determine which schools are doing

well and deserve rewards. For example, schools that exceed the target

grade will be eligible for up to $150 per student and other recognition

awards from the state.

Schools found not to be meeting students’ academic needs are eligible to

participate in the intervention program.

Whittier Elementary School in Costa Mesa was one of 430 campuses in the

state to volunteer for the $96-million state intervention program this

past year. By volunteering, schools admitted to low student achievement

in exchange for gaining financial help to improve test scores.

But the downside is that schools face strict penalties if they do not

improve. Schools in the intervention program -- along with any school

that does not increase its score annually -- will face serious

consequences, including school closure, education officials said.

Schools are expected to take the information from the index and come up

with a plan that will be a districtwide effort, Anatol said.

“The assessment office will help them add it into their school

improvement plan,” she said. “They have 24 months to reach that goal,

but in 12 months we’ll see where they are and help them if they’re

lagging behind.”