Yesterday, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell released California’s 2008-09 Accountability Progress Report (APR), stating “For the seventh year in a row schools at every level have made real progress toward the statewide API target of 800, and almost half of our elementary schools have met or exceeded this goal. The API results also show a slight narrowing of the achievement gap that historically has left Hispanic or Latino and African American students trailing behind their peers who are white or Asian.”

The report shows that more than half of California’s schools have yet to reach the state’s benchmark for english and math proficiency while forty-two percent are now at or above the overall statewide target API of 800, up six percentage points from the year before. This includes 48 percent of elementary schools, 36 percent of middle schools, and 21 percent of high schools.

The APR provides results for state’s the Academic Performance Index (API), a numeric index that measures year-to-year improvement and provides incentives to educators to support students at all performance levels; the federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which focuses solely on whether or not students are scoring at the proficient level or above on state assessments; and the federal Program Improvement (PI). Both the API and AYP are based upon results from the state’s Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program and from the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE).

Schools, school districts, and county offices of education that receive federal Title I funds and do not make AYP criteria for two consecutive years are subject to Program Improvement (PI). For the 2009-10 school year, 675 schools were newly identified for PI two and one-half times the number newly identified in 2008-09. Fifty-four schools exited from PI after making AYP for two consecutive years. Schools in PI must provide interventions, such as tutoring and other supplemental education services, to eligible students.