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San Diego Magazine /  September 2007 /  Making the Grade /  Beyond the Acronyms: What are API and AYP?

Beyond the Acronyms: What are API and AYP?

THE ACADEMIC Performance Index (API), calculated on a scale of 200 to 1,000, is the foundation of California’s Public Schools Accountability Act. It’s a system that rates a school based on how students score on California standards tests in English, science, math and social studies. The State Board of Education has set the performance target at 800. The base score is reported in the spring, and schools with API scores of 800 or more are expected to maintain that number.

The state then sets API growth targets, including targets for certain ethnic and socioeconomic subgroups. The target goal is determined by calculating 5 percent of the difference between the base API and 800, or a minimum of one point growth. A school’s API growth score is reported each August.

In addition to the API score, a statewide ranking assigns each school a rank of 1 to 10 to show how it compares to all schools in the state. If a school ranks 10, its test scores are in the top 10 percent of all schools. If the rank is 1, the school is in the bottom 10 percent. Typically, elementary and middle schools score higher than high schools. The similar-schools ranking compares each school to 100 most like it in student ethnicity, percentage of non-English-speaking students and other characteristics.

Schools must also meet federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals established by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The intent of NCLB is to hold schools accountable for academic progress. Students must meet benchmarks schoolwide but also among various subgroups such as non-native English- speaking, low-income and special-education students.

Four specific areas are measured: graduation rates, participation on statewide tests, proficiency in language arts and math, and performance in the state’s accountability program. Schools must have an API of at least 590 or improve by at least one growth point.

The AYP requires elementary and middle schools to score at or exceed proficient levels on California Standards Tests, meet all API growth targets and demonstrate 95 percent participation on standardized tests. The percentage of students scoring proficient must advance to 100 percent by 2013-14. The law applies to schools that receive Title I money from the federal government (typically schools in which roughly 35 percent of the students are from low-income families).

Parents can check to see whether schools met API growth and AYP goals this month at the California Department of Education Web site (cde.ca.gov). The No Child Left Behind Act is up for a five-year reauthorization this year and should come to a vote in Congress by fall.
—M.M.