The county's public schools on the whole are getting better and continue to outpace the state average. But more than half of county schools are still not meeting the state's target for academic performance, California's latest report card shows.
In San Diego County, 269 public schools, or nearly 44 percent, achieved an Academic Performance Index score of 800 or higher, the target score for all schools. Another 346 schools in the county did not reach the target. Statewide, 2,742 schools achieved a score of 800 – about 36 percent.
Sage Canyon Elementary School in the Del Mar Union School District topped the county list, with an API score of 968.
But area schools that have struggled in the past also showed impressive performance.
The Chula Vista Elementary School District showed big gains, led by Harborside Elementary School, which rose 80 points to 781. The rating of the 44-school district rose above the state goal of 800 for the first time.
Superintendent Lowell Billings said the work of teachers, students and parents will make the Chula Vista district the first South County member of an exclusive club.
“It's the type of branding that you would associate with performance that is the club of Coronado, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Cardiff, San Dieguito, Poway, Rancho Santa Fe,” he said.
The educational data released this morning by the state Department of Education reflects performance on two systems of accountability: the state system and the federal system.
The state system sets targets for improvement on its Academic Performance Index, a numeric scale that ranges from 200 to 1,000 and is weighed heavily on standardized state exams. Schools and school districts are given annual targets for growth on their API score.
The federal system, mandated by No Child Left Behind, sets minimum levels of proficiency on the annual state exams. This year, for example, 35.2 percent of students in elementary and middle school were expected to reach proficiency in English, and 37 percent were expected to reach proficiency in math. Those proficiency targets are scheduled to go up about 11 percent each year leading up to 2014.
Schools that fail to reach the federal proficiency targets are placed on watch lists, and if they continue to fall short they can be taken over by the state.
In the Vista Unified School District, where large numbers of students are struggling to learn English, Bobier Elementary School made significant gains and is on track to escape potential sanctions under No Child Left Behind.
“We're turning kids into readers,” said Matt Doyle, in charge of English language development in Vista Unified.
In a media release this morning, state Supt. of Instruction Jack O'Connell said the large achievement gap between students who are white or Asian and their peers who are black, Hispanic or learning the English language is narrowing.
Blacks, Hispanics and English language learners in fact outpaced their white counterparts in terms of improvement on their API score this year. But white and Asian students overall have a significantly higher API score.
The 2008 API scores for blacks, Hispanics and English language learners statewide are 658, 683, and 661, respectively. For white and Asian students, they are 816 and 866, respectively.
“We know the achievement gap is still unacceptably wide, and we have a long way to go to reach our ambitious goal of all students becoming proficient in all of the subject areas we assess,” O'Connell said.
Statewide, 157 schools have more than doubled their targets for growth on their API score – for the past two years in a row. But under the federal system of accountability, those schools failed to meet federal targets for two years in a row.
“Clearly, these schools are on the right track, but are still labeled as failing under our federal system,” O'Connell said.
Bruce Lieberman: (760) 476-8205; bruce.lieberman@uniontrib.com
Staff writer Chris Moran contributed to this report.
