Explanatory Notes for 2003-04 API Growth Report

These Explanatory Notes are designed to assist educators and other interested parties in interpreting the 2003-04 Academic Performance Index Growth Report. The Explanatory Notes provide details with respect to the Academic Performance Index (API) and growth calculations beyond the explanations and footnotes that appear on the report.

The Public Schools Accountability Act

The API is the centerpiece of the statewide accountability system in California public education. The Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA) of 1999 (Chapter 3, Statutes of 1999) requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to calculate APIs annually for California public schools, including charter schools, and publish school rankings based on these APIs. The PSAA also requires the establishment of a minimum five-percent annual API growth target for each school as well as an overall statewide API performance target for all schools. A school that meets API growth targets may be eligible for awards under the following programs:

• The Governor's Performance Award program
• The Certificated Staff Performance Incentive Act (Chapter 52, Statutes of 1999)

• Adopted a 1999 base-year API
• Defined the five-percent annual API growth target
• Established a statewide API performance target of 800

In 2003 the SBE identified the API as an additional indicator for measuring Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under Title I of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. To demonstrate progress on the API in 2004, a school must have a 2004 API Growth of at least 560 or make at least one point of growth from the 2003 API Base.

API Reporting Cycle

Each annual API reporting cycle includes two reports: a base report, which appears after the first of the calendar year, and a growth report, which appears after school starts in the fall. This pair of reports is based on APIs calculated in the same fashion with the same indicators but using test results from two different years. The 2003-04 API Growth Report represents the completion of the fifth API reporting cycle.

The Development of the API

The API reflects a school's performance on student assessments that are part of California's Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program plus results from the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE). The 2004 API Growth consists of exactly the same components as the 2003 API Base, which was released in February 2004. The elements that remain the same are:

• The California English-Language Arts (ELA) Standards Test for grades two through eleven
• The California Mathematics Standards Test for grades two through eleven
• The California History/Social Science Standards Test for grades ten through eleven
• The CAHSEE for high schools
• The California Achievement Test, Sixth Edition Survey (CAT/6)
• The California Science Standards Test for grades nine through eleven

Tables of final indicator weights are available in the 2003 Academic Performance Index Base Report Information Guide http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/documents/infoguide03b.pdf (PDF, 710KB; 54pp.).

The final element of the 2004 API Growth is a Scale Calibration Factor (SCF). The SCF is a numerical constant that is calculated by grade span and then added to each school's API according to the school's grade span. The SCF for the 2004 API Growth is unchanged from the 2003 API Base. The SCF for grades two through six is 37.50, for grades seven and eight is 43.77, and for grades nine through eleven is 19.12.

The SCF may be a positive or negative number. The purpose of the SCF is to enhance the stability and interpretability of the API by ensuring that the statewide average API does not fluctuate solely as the result of adding new API components.

Mobile Students Excluded from the API

California law excludes from a school's API the scores of students who have not been continually enrolled in a school in the same school district since the preceding California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS) date. This is the date in October on which local educational agencies (LEAs) submit data to the CBEDS.

It is anticipated that the definition of mobile students will change with the publication of the 2004 API Base. This is as a result of an alignment of state law with the requirements of NCLB. The new definition would hold schools accountable only for the performance of those students continuously enrolled in the school, not in the school district, since the preceding CBEDS date.

Inclusions/Exclusions

Besides student mobility, there are a number of other circumstances under which the CDE excludes student test results from the API. In determining when this occurs, the CDE employs the rules summarized in the appendix of the 2003 Academic Performance Index Base Report Information Guide http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/documents/infoguide03b.pdf (PDF, 710KB; 54pp.).

Core Elements of the Report

Certain core elements appear throughout the 2003-04 Growth Report. They include:

• STAR 2004 Percent Tested
• 2004 API Growth
• 2003 API Base
• 2003-04 Growth Target
• 2003-04 Growth
• Met Growth Target
  • Schoolwide
  • Comparable Improvement (CI)
  • Both Schoolwide and CI
• Awards Eligible

STAR 2004 Percent Tested

This percentage is calculated by dividing the number of students tested, including those students who took the California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA), by the number of students enrolled on the first day of testing in the grades tested. The total enrollment is adjusted by subtracting the number of students exempted from testing due to parent/guardian written request. The total enrollment on the first day of testing and the number of students tested is derived from STAR student records. The number is rounded down to the preceding whole number (e.g., 94.9=94).

2004 API Growth

The 2004 API Growth summarizes a school district's or a school's performance on the 2004 STAR and CAHSEE. The API scores are on a scale of 200 to 1000. It is based on the performance of individual pupils on the CAT/6 (all content areas) as measured through national percentile rankings (NPRs) and on the California standard tests as measured through performance levels in ELA, mathematics, science, and history/social science. CAHSEE results are summarized on a pass/no-pass basis.

In some instances, APIs are also calculated for student subgroups at a school in order to ascertain whether the school meets the "comparable improvement" criterion.

This 2004 API Growth was calculated in the same manner as the 2003 API Base. For details on the calculation of the 2003 API Base, please consult the 2003 Academic Performance Index Base Report Information Guide http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/documents/infoguide03b.pdf (PDF, 710KB; 54pp.).

The API for school districts or schools with grade configurations that include grade spans six through seven or eight through nine is the weighted average of the APIs for the grade configuration segments weighted by the number of pupils with valid scores in the segments. For example, for a grade seven through twelve school, the API is the weighted average of the APIs for grades seven through eight and for grades nine through eleven. This procedure is necessary because the structure of the test varies between grades seven through eight and nine through eleven.

2003 API Base

The 2003 API Base summarizes a school district's or a school's performance on the 2003 STAR and CAHSEE.

2003-04 Schoolwide Growth Target

A school's growth target is calculated by taking five percent of the distance between a school's 2003 API Base and the statewide performance target of 800. For any school with a 2003 API Base of 781 to 799, the annual growth target is one point. Any school with an API of 800 or more must maintain an API of at least 800. School districts do not receive growth targets.

2003-04 Growth

The 2003-04 API Growth is calculated by subtracting the 2003 API Base from the 2004 API Growth.

Met Growth Target

A school met its growth target if it:

• Met its schoolwide 2003-04 growth target, and
• All numerically significant subgroups at the school demonstrated comparable improvement

Schools meet the comparable improvement target if all numerically significant subgroups meet their API subgroup targets, which in most cases are 80 percent of the 2003-04 schoolwide growth target. For a full discussion, see the section on "Subgroups".

Awards Eligible

To be eligible for the Governor's Performance Awards (GPA) program, schools must meet the following criteria:

• The schools must meet the schoolwide five percent annual growth target.
• All numerically significant ethnic and socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroups at the schools demonstrated comparable improvement.
• The schools demonstrated a minimum of five points growth.
• All numerically significant ethnic and socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroups at the schools demonstrated a minimum of four points growth.
• Elementary and middle schools had at least 95 percent participation rates in the 2004 STAR; high schools had at least 90 percent participation in the 2004 STAR.

The GPA is not funded for the 2003-04 fiscal year.

Median 2004 API Growth of Similar Schools

This is the median value 2004 API Growth of all 100 schools in this school's 2003 similar schools group. This comparison group was based on the following characteristics:

• Pupil mobility
• Pupil ethnicity
• Pupil socioeconomic status
• Percentage of teachers who are fully credentialed
• Percentage of teachers who hold emergency credentials
• Percentage of pupils who are English learners
• Average class size per grade level
• Whether the schools operate multitrack year-round educational programs

To derive a complete listing of these schools, along with the 2004 API Growth, click on the link in the median score heading.

Structure of the Report

The 2003-04 API Growth Report is composed of:

1. County and District Lists of Schools
2. District Reports
3. School Reports

List of Schools

These lists include all public schools in a school district or county office of education for which the CDE has calculated an API. The schools are listed alphabetically by type: elementary, middle, high, small, and schools participating in the Alternative Schools Accountability Model (ASAM). For more information about ASAM schools please consult ASAM General Information [http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/am/].

APIs for small schools, i.e., with between 11 and 99 valid STAR scores in either 2003 or 2004, are asterisked. APIs based on small numbers of students are less reliable and therefore should be carefully interpreted.

APIs for ASAM schools are listed to meet the federal requirements of NCLB. However, because these schools serve an alternative student population, ASAM schools have no growth targets.

Schools on the Lists without APIs

Some schools appear on the list of schools without APIs because they have had their 2004 API Growth invalidated. Under regulations adopted by the SBE, this may have occurred for one of several reasons:

• Adult testing irregularities in excess of 5 percent of the students have occurred at the school.
• The rate of students who have been excused from STAR testing by parent request is equal to or greater than 10 percent (schools with rates between 10 percent and 20 percent have had their APIs reevaluated through standard statistical tests to check the representativeness of the tested population).
• The school failed to test 85 percent of its students in a particular content area (either norm-referenced or standards tests).
• The school has unresolved problems with STAR demographic data.
• The school has less than 11 valid scores.

Schools without a 2003 API Base and Schools with Population Changes

In order to meet federal requirements of NCLB, a 2004 API Growth is posted even if a school had no 2003 API Base or if a school had significant population changes from 2003 to 2004. However, the presentation of growth targets and actual growth would not be appropriate and, therefore, the targets and actual growth are omitted.

District Report

These reports are generated in order to comply with the state's accountability plan under NCLB. School district reports include subgroup information but not growth target information.

School Report

A School Report is generated for each school that has API information displayed on the List of Schools. In addition to the common core elements, the School Report includes:

• Data on subgroups
• School demographic characteristics

Subgroups

The PSAA defines a "numerically significant ethnic or socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroup" as a subgroup "that constitutes at least 15 percent of a school's total pupil population and consists of at least 30 pupils." Also, under the law, if a subgroup, defined by ethnicity or socioeconomic disadvantage, constitutes at least 100 pupils, i.e., at least 100 pupils with valid STAR scores, that subgroup is "numerically significant" and required to demonstrate comparable improvement, even if it does not constitute 15 percent of the school population.

These numerical criteria (15 percent and 30 pupils, or 100 pupils) are calculated on the basis of the number of pupils with valid STAR scores for that subgroup.

The school is responsible for demonstrating comparable improvement only for those subgroups that are numerically significant for both the 2003 API Base and the 2004 API Growth.

Ethnic/racial subgroups include:

• African American (not of Hispanic origin)
• American Indian or Alaska Native
• Asian
• Hispanic or Latino
• Pacific Islander
• Filipino
• White (not of Hispanic origin)

1. Neither of the pupil's parents has received a high school diploma
   
   OR
   
   
2. The pupil is eligible for the free- or reduced-price lunch program.
   Information from the 2004 STAR or CAHSEE student answer document determines whether a student meets either criterion

Information from the 2004 STAR or CAHSEE student answer document determines whether a student meets either criterion.

A pupil who is a member of the socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroup is also a member of one of the racial/ethnic subgroups. Therefore, it is possible that the total percentage of students in all numerically significant subgroups at a school may exceed 100.

By regulation, "comparable improvement" requires that each numerically significant subgroup must meet or exceed 80 percent of the 2003-04 schoolwide growth target.

The 2003-04 subgroup target is calculated by first multiplying the schoolwide target by .8 and then rounding the product to the nearest whole number.

There are four minor exceptions to this rule:

1. For subgroups within schools with schoolwide APIs between 790 and 799, i.e., approaching the statewide interim performance target of 800, the annual growth target is one point.
2. Regardless of the schoolwide API, subgroups already at or above 800 must continue to meet the statewide performance target of 800.
3. In schools with 2004 APIs of 800 or more, subgroups with an API of less than 800 must make growth of at least one point.
4. In instances where 80 percent of the schoolwide target results in a subgroup target that would exceed the distance from the subgroup API to 800, the subgroup target equals the distance to 800.

School Demographic Characteristics

Along with general subgroup and schoolwide demographic data, the School Report includes the demographic characteristics on which the school characteristics index for the 2003 API Base similar schools rankings is based. The data for the percentages and rates were collected from these sources:

1. October 2003 CBEDS data collection (information on teacher credentials, multi-track year round participation, and average class size)
   
   • It is possible for one teacher to be in both the fully credentialed and emergency credential categories; therefore, the total of the percentages for "Fully credentialed teachers" and "Teachers with emergency credentials" may exceed 100.
   • Average class sizes were derived from the enrollment data reported on the Professional Assignment Information Form (PAIF).
   • The item "core academic courses in departmentalized programs" reflects average class size in the following subject areas: English, foreign languages, mathematics, science, and social science.
     
2. 2004 STAR student answer document (information on ethnic/racial distribution, parental education level, participation in free- or reduced-price lunch program, district mobility, school mobility, the number of English learners, the total number of students tested as well as the number of students excused from testing at the request of their parents)
   
   • School Mobility, Prior Year, is the percentage of students who have continuously enrolled in the school since the preceding school year. Currently, it is used as a background characteristic only.
   • School and District Mobility, CBEDS Date, is the percentage of students who have been continuously enrolled in the school or school district since the CBEDS date of the preceding calendar year. Students who have not been continuously enrolled in the school district since CBEDS date of the preceding calendar year are excluded from a school's API.

Some of the School Demographic Characteristics that appear on this report will be used in the formation of the similar schools comparison groups for the similar schools ranking on the 2004 API Base Report.

ASAM school reports do not contain all demographic data because they are not included in the calculation of similar school ranks.