Point Reyes Light - October 30, 2003
Students here above average on tests
By Ivan Gale
Students at five West Marin schools scored above the state average on the standardized test used to rate public schools. The state’s Academic Performance Index (API) was released last Thursday by the Department of Education. The scores rank schools based on the results of the 2003 STAR test.
The API scale ranges from 200 to 1,000 points, with a statewide "performance target," or goal of 800. Schools that hit the target, or reduce the gap between their previous overall score and 800 by five percent annually have, in the past, been eligible for extra funding.
No financial rewards
"Given the current state budget, there are no financial rewards [this year]," County Supt. Mary Jane Burke said.
The four-year-old Public Schools Accountability Act requires the Department of Education to rank schools countywide based on test scores.
The Bush Administration’s "No Child Left Behind Act" compares test results nationally and makes it possible to allocate federal funding based on test scores.
Schools with 100 students or less, including those in Nicasio, Lincoln, Union, and Lagunitas districts, were not included in the API rankings, though some participated in last year’s testing.
Mary Buttler, superintendent for Lagunitas School District, said the law was written to exclude the smaller schools because they provide "too small of a sample to compete."
The 2003 API report showed:
• Bolinas-Stinson School exceeded the state goal of 800 with a score of 826 and improved 17 points from the year before.
• Lagunitas School’s Montessori students barely missed the state goal by scoring 783, but still performed well above the state average of 729 for elementary schools.
• Tomales Elementary scored 768, also just missing the state goal. The school’s students improved their score from the year before by 29 points.
• West Marin Elementary scored 745, raising last year’s totals by a whopping 54 points.
• Tomales High School received a score of 735, an improvement of 42 points from a year before.
• Sir Francis Drake, Tamalpais, and Redwood High Schools fared poorly this year. A combined score of 690 dropped 117 points from last year’s score of 807.
• Laguna, Nicasio, and Union schools are all considered small schools with too few students for the results to be considered by the state to be reliable. Nonetheless, they participated in the tests. Laguna Elementary exceeded the state goal with a score of 858, as did the 62-student Nicasio Elementary, which scored 850. Union Elementary, on the border with Sonoma County, had a score of 717 – down 11 points from the year before.
The one-room Lincoln Elementary in Hick’s Valley did not produce any scores.
Overall, Supt. Burke was pleased with the scores.
"As we look at this information, for the last four and a half years Marin county has reflected the highest scores in the state, at every grade level," she said.
Bolinas-Stinson School Supt. Larry Enos said he was happy students made "great gains." However, he is concerned by the scores being tied to the "No Child Left Behind Act."
"There were a fair number of parents who [made their students] opt out this year," Enos said.
New federal requirements
New federal requirements from the act means "there is the potential for us to be penalized next year."
West Marin School Principal Jim Patterson, meanwhile, said he was pleased with the results from his district.
"It’s nice when the data actually agrees with what you know is happening [in the classrooms]," Patterson said.
Shoreline Supt. Steve Rosenthal said testing progress was not only being made in his district, but "system-wide."
The superintendent said he was pleased because all four schools in the Shoreline School District, Tomales High, Tomales Elementary, West Marin School, and Bodega Bay Elementary, made gains in the last four years.
At Lagunitas School District, Supt. Buttler said students "learn the skills tested in their normal curriculum" while other districts spend a "good deal" of class time preparing specifically for the test.