Good Marks (Again) For Albany Schools in Statewide Testing

In a , a bit of good news came Thursday for Albany schools.

The state Department of Education released its annual school rankings, and Albany’s five main public schools received very good marks, scoring in the top 10 or 20 percent in statewide comparisons.

The rankings are based on a school’s Academic Performance Index, or API, which is derived from several tests, including the STAR program (Standardized Testing and Reporting), which most Albany students have been sweating through in recent weeks.

In state rankings, and elementary schools placed in the top 10 percent, with an API rank of 10.

,  and  were in the top 20 percent (API rank of 9). 

Only saw its ranking slip compared with data released last spring, from a 10 to a 9.

(MacGregor High School is held to a different set of standards because it's an alternative school.)

The Department of Education warns against tracking scores year to year; the more revealing question is whether a school consistently meets its growth targets, or if the amount of growth from one fall to the next is significant. Growth is determined by comparing spring results with scores released the following fall.

That said, the largest variation in the most recent average test scores was at Albany High, where they jumped from 806, as reported last spring, to 846. API scores range from 200 to 1,000.  

The statewide average API score was 768, according to the Department of Education. For elementary schools it was 800, while it was 765 for middle schools and 729 for high schools. The target API score set by the state is 800.

In high performing districts, API scores often change only by a slim margin because of the way scores are calculated. (Schools with more improvements to make can achieve much larger jumps in API points.) 

But even in schools with top rankings, the scores are helpful in tracking, and attempting to diminish, achievement gaps related to race and other demographic categories.

Thursday's numbers are baseline results from testing last spring. In the fall, the state will release data, based on recent tests, on how well schools are meeting targets for improvement.

As , Marin, Albany Middle School and Albany High School succeeded in raising their growth API scores in fall 2010. But Cornell's API score fell by 11 points, and Ocean View's by 4 points. The middle school failed to meet a key state-defined goal measure due to less-than-necessary growth in scores by students with disabilities, English language learners and socio-economically disadvantaged students.

For details about the May 5 API score release, check the state database. See a fall 2010 news release on district API growth attached as a PDF to this story. Learn more about API scores here.

Albany Patch editor Emilie Raguso contributed to this report.

Everybody makes mistakes ... ! If there's something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, call Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email her at emilier@patch.com. 

CORRECTION: There was an inaccurate measurement increment noted in the final paragraph of the story, regarding Cornell's API score, which fell by 11 points last fall, and Ocean View's, which fell by 4 points. The story has been corrected.