Advertisement


79°F
Severe



News


CLASSIFIEDS

Advertisement


Free Ad

Place an ad
in print and online, 24/7 for free, select the Clean Sweep option. Unable to submit Real Estate, Services, and Business Investements at this time.

Get a Subscription


Map the Valley


Subscriber/
Reader Services

Subscribe Now
Contact Customer Service



Academic growth, not API scores, concerns Kings County educators

HANFORD - With the release of the California 2006 Base Academic Performance Index report this week, Kings County Office of Education officials say they are more concerned about the academic growth of schools in the county than the state's designated API rankings.

Under the grading scale, the 9,400 schools are placed into categories of the top 10, the bottom one - and everything in between.

The API Base report also compares individual schools with all of those in the state and with schools having a similar student population.

Kings County schools continue to show steady progress toward reaching the statewide performance target, but it may not be reflected with the state ranking system.Jim Shaver, director of curriculum and instruction for the county office of education, said he is most concerned about the value of the information released on Tuesday.

"The problem with the decile ranking, somebody is always at the bottom of the list," he said, adding that the ranking "doesn't tell how much growth" any school had.

"I could make an incredible growth and still have a decile one," Shaver said.

When looking at the state statistics on student performance, Shaver said, the county's office of education puts "more value on how an individual school has raised the API score over time."

Giving an example, Shaver said he has been doing some work with Reef-Sunset Unified School District and in the last three years, schools in this district have raised their API score from 400 to 600 but some are still on decile one.

"So when you look at the decile ranking they are not growing, but when you look at their score they are making incredible growth," Shaver said. "That is what is wrong with a decile ranking."

Shaver said the state used the decile ranking as a way to select schools for state recognition.

"If you only look at the decile ranking, the schools in Kings County are not doing good," Shaver said, "but that is not an accurate picture of what is going on."

"We look (to see) if our school had exceeded their growth target, then we are successful," Shaver said, adding schools in the county are on the right track. "The schools in Kings County continue to make sure their curriculum is implemented correctly."

Shaver said schools in the county also look at their subgroups and how they can meet the needs of the subgroups that are struggling.

When compared to schools statewide, only 17 percent of Kings County schools rank in the bottom 10 percent, showing an improvement of three percent from last year.

In 2005, 21 percent of schools were ranked in the bottom 10 percent while in 2004, 25.6 percent of schools were ranked in the bottom 10 percent, and in 2003, 27.9 percent of schools were ranked in the bottom 10 percent.

When compared to schools with a similar population, Kings County schools continue to show some improvement, with only 8.5 percent of schools ranking in the lowest category. In 2005, only 16.3 percent of schools ranked in the lowest category and in 2004, only 18.6 percent of schools ranked in the bottom 10 percent, while in 2003 the figure was 27.9 percent.

However, out of the 47 county schools only six - Akers Elementary, Neutra Elementary, Kings River-Hardwick Elementary, Lemoore University Elementary Charter, Lemoore Middle College High and Pioneer Elementary - achieved an API score of at least 800, the state's target for adequate progress.

According to state statistics, the percentage of the state's elementary schools at or above 800 is 34.6 percent, up from 31.8 percent a year ago. However, in Kings County only 12.7 percent of the elementary schools are at or above 800.

According to API base reports from 1999 to present, Akers, Pioneer, Kings River-Hardwick, and Neutra have been the only four county schools to reach the state's target at least four times during that time period.

According to state statistics, the percentage of the state's high schools at or above 800 this year is 13.6 percent, up from 11.9 percent from 2005 and almost double from 2004's 7.0 percent.

Kings County high schools at Corcoran, Hanford, Hanford West, Lemoore and Avenal continue to show steady progress but are still far from reaching the state's target of at least 800.

This year's results show that Hanford High School has an API base score of 687 with a statewide rank of five while it received a rank of two when compared to similar schools.

Hanford West High School has an API base score of 668 with a fourth decile ranking for both state and similar schools.

In 2005, Hanford High got a rank of four and Hanford West got a third decile ranking.

Leslie Steffen, director of curriculum, assessment and student services for Hanford Joint Union High School District, said, "Both Hanford West High and Hanford High moved a decile higher in similar schools with the results of the 2006 API."

Statewide the median score on API base for high schools this year is 700, a gain of seven points from the 2005's API media score of 693.

"We are pleased with the continued growth in our API and we believe it can be attributed to the professional development, curriculum work and data analysis of our teachers," Steffen said. "Teachers examine the results of the STAR, CAHSEE and district tests to determine where our focus is needed and discussions lead us to changes in instructional strategies."

She added, "With the increase in academic support classes, we are seeing a narrowing of the gap in the academic achievement of our subgroups."

While Avenal High was ranked statewide in the bottom 20 percent, when compared to similar schools, Avenal had a seventh decile ranking. Avenal moved a decile higher in the statewide ranking and two deciles higher in similar schools ranking from the 2005 API base report.

Lemoore High School was two points short of the state median with an API base score of 698 and a fifth decile ranking for both state and similar schools.

The reporter can be reached at 582-0471 ext. 3054

(March 31, 2007)

POST A COMMENT

 

Hanfordsentinel.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed, particularly if they are posted after normal office hours.

We reserve the right to remove comments in total that violate our code of conduct. If you want to report a violation, please e-mail editor@HanfordSentinel.com

For more information please read our Terms of use, and Rules of the Road.

 

(optional)
Current Word Count:
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Hanford Sentinel

Mike Spicer wrote on Mar 31, 2007 6:47 PM:

" I see with great interest that the Hanford Elementary School District failed to make the distinguished list of top API scores in the county. Maybe the HESD board and Superintendent Presley should take short drive down the road and see what’s happening at Akers Elementary, Neutra Elementary, Kings River-Hardwick Elementary, Lemoore University Elementary Charter, Lemoore Middle College High and Pioneer Elementary instead of the big apple! Ever notice that these boondoggles are strategically planned with weekends? There’s much to see in NYC especially when your on the taxpayer’s dime. There is no way one could learn anything of value in such a short duration of time. No, this was definitely an abuse of a Trustee’s position. Presley’s on her way out but it’s time that Trustees Revious, Hill, Garcia, Hill and Garner resign their positions for obvious misuse of of the public money. "

Spicer needs to run wrote on Mar 31, 2007 11:33 PM:

" MIke, you have succinctly stated what the problem with school administration and school boards. Administration is not concerned about the "best interests of the kids" who need new books, supplies, and teaching material etc; the problem is administration is more concerned with their own benefits, hiring more administrators (top heavy), big offices, spending money for trips, and their "tax payer" paid boondoggles. No wonder public education in Kings is in the bottom. "




Advertisement


HOT TOPICS

> More Hot Topics


SENTINEL BLOGS

Signposts by Seth Nidever

Stray thoughts on Mormonism, with something to offend everybody

I spent a few hours this week interviewing a couple of Mormon missionaries who just came home to Hanford. It has been an occasion to reflect on Mormonism, orthodox Christianity and a lot of other things that don’t often come up. So here goes with a few stray thoughts, written with full knowledge that I am walking [...]

The Project by Jeremy Luchau

Project 3 to be delayed

A good friend once told me that there are bigger battles to be fought outside of the ring or cage. I guess this is one of those times in my life. As I stated to make my final push for a September 7 bout with Butch Whittington, I was informed with some pretty bad news — my wife [...]

Signposts by Seth Nidever

Savoring Weird Al

The screaming was out of control. It was disturbing nearby parents, who clutched their children close and tried to ignore the guy who had apparently just been released from Charter Mental Health. The screamer was me. The venue was the State Fair in Sacramento last week. The occasion: Weird Al Yankovic, a man known for hit songs like [...]

Going All-in by Richard de Give

TEAM REDEEMED!

For the next couple of days, I don’t want to hear how lousy the economy is, or how dirty the air is, or how the President looks at the Giants’ team batting average and wishes his popularity rating was that high. Just give me the score in the gold medal men’s basketball game again … and [...]

Sentinel Online by Josh Parrish

Ask your candidate here

We are working on putting together a question and answer form for our city candidates in the upcoming election and we’d like your input.  Do you have a question you’d like to ask the candidates?  Post it here and we’ll try and get it into our Q and A.  We’ll be posting the questions along with the candidates’ answers [...]

> More Blogs


MORE LOCAL NEWS

Lemoore:

Selma:

Kingsburg:



EMAIL UPDATES

Sign up today to get all your local headlines delivered to your home or work e-mail address, so you don't miss the latest in breaking and local news.
E-Mail:
Daily News Updates
Breaking News Alerts