April 28, 2011

Dear County and District Accountability Coordinators and Charter School Administrators:

CHANGES TO THE 2010 BASE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE INDEX

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of actions taken at the February 2011 State Board of Education (SBE) meeting concerning changes to the methodology for calculating the 2010 Base Academic Performance Index (API). The 2010 Base API is tentatively scheduled for public release on May 5, 2011. The SBE adopted the following changes to the 2010 Base API:

• Include results from the California Modified Assessment (CMA) for English–language arts (ELA) in grade nine; Algebra I in grades seven through eleven; and Life Science in grade ten.
  
  
• Adjust the 2010 Base API for local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools that administer the CMA for ELA in grades ten and eleven and CMA Geometry in grades eight through eleven in 2011.

Inclusion of the California Modified Assessment for Grades Nine and Ten

CMA results for grade nine ELA, Algebra I, and Life Science will be included in the 2010 Base API. The SBE adopted performance levels for these assessments at its March 2011 meeting.

Adjust the 2010 Base Academic Performance Index for the California Modified Assessment in 2011 (Additional Grades and Content Area)

In 2011, the CMA will be expanded to include ELA in grades ten and eleven, and Geometry. It is anticipated that the SBE will adopt performance levels for these assessments in November 2011. Consequently, CMA results from these assessments will not be available to include in the 2011 Growth API that will be released in the fall of 2011.

To accommodate this situation, the 2010 Base API results are adjusted to account for the absence of CMA results in 2011 for schools with students that could potentially take the new CMA assessments.

Tentative Timeline for 2010 Base Academic Performance Index Activities

The key dates for the release of the 2010 Base API are:

• April 28, 2011 – 2010 Base API LEA pre-release
  
  
• May 5, 2011 – 2010 Base API public release

Contact

If you have any questions regarding this subject, please contact the Academic Accountability and Psychometrics Unit at 916-319-0863 or by e-mail at aau@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

/s/

Rachel L. Perry, Director
Assessment and Accountability Division

RP:ez