API Scores: How Do San Mateo-Foster City K-8 Schools Measure Up?

Obviously, every parent out there wants many things for their children - including a quality education.

Where a family sets down roots often has to do with the quality of the schools in the area - and one criteria they often look at is a school's Academic Performance Index, or API score.

The 2011 API scores for all public schools in California have just been released - and Patch has the low-down for you on how schools in San Mateo and Foster City measured up.

Below are the scores for all K-8 schools in the San Mateo-Foster City School District, in alphabetical order.

But first, a little background info.

What is an API score?

The independent research organization EdData describes APIs as follows:

“The Academic Performance Index (API) is an annual measure of test score performance of schools and districts. The California Department of Education (CDE) calculates the API and disseminates the results directly to schools and districts as well as posting them on the CDE website.

“The API is a single number on a scale of 200 to 1,000 that indicates how well students in a school or district performed on the previous spring’s tests. An API is calculated for the whole school, plus its ‘numerically significant subgroups,’ including socioeconomically disadvantaged students, English learners, and students with disabilities.”

What do all these rankings/scores mean?

2012 API Target - Typically, if a school’s API score falls below the state’s minimum target score – which, in California, is 800 – the state will set a goal target for the following year of last year’s score, plus 5 points. If a school’s 2012 target is ‘A,’ that means the school is already scoring at or above the state’s minimum target, and therefore does not have a growth target, other than to remain at or above 800.

2011 Statewide Rank - How a school ranks within a grouping of schools equaling 10 percent of schools statewide of a similar type, with 1 the lowest and 10 the highest.

2011 Similar Schools Rank – How a school ranks within a grouping of 100 similar schools from throughout the state, with 1 the lowest and 10 the highest.

2011 API Students Included – How many students from a particular school took the API tests in 2011.

2011 API SCORES FOR THE SAN MATEO-FOSTER CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT:

: 

• 2011 Base API: 783
• 2012 API Target = 788
• 2011 Statewide Rank = 6th
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank = 2
• 2011 API Students Included = 740

:

• 2011 Base API: 729
• 2012 API Target: 734
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 2
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 2
• 2011 API Students Included = 286

:

• 2011 Base API: 900
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 9
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 1
• 2011 API Students Included = 402

:

• 2011 Base API: 932
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 10
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 4
• 2011 API Students Included = 358

:

• 2011 Base API: 829
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 6
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 3
• 2011 API Students Included = 149

:

• 2011 Base API: 829
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 7
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 5
• 2011 API Students Included = 879

:

• 2011 Base API: 909
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 10
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 3
• 2011 API Students Included = 911

:

• 2011 Base API: 951
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 10
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 3
• 2011 API Students Included = 423

:

• 2011 Base API: 825
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 6
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 1
• 2011 API Students Included = 181

:

• 2011 Base API: 753
• 2012 API Target: 758
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 3
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 1
• 2011 API Students Included = 285

:

• 2011 Base API: 936
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 10
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 1
• 2011 API Students Included = 492

:

• 2011 Base API: 834
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 7
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 6
• 2011 API Students Included = 246

HIGHLANDS ELEMENTARY:

• 2011 Base API: 873
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 8
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 1
• 2011 API Students Included = 323

:

• 2011 Base API: 858
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 8
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 5
• 2011 API Students Included = 267

:

• 2011 Base API: 859
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 8
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 3
• 2011 API Students Included = 213

(K-8): 

• 2011 Base API: 865
• 2012 API Target: A
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 8
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 7
• 2011 API Students Included = 250

:

• 2011 Base API: 747
• 2012 API Target: 752
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 2
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 1
• 2011 API Students Included = 290

:

• 2011 Base API: 786
• 2012 API Target: 791
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 4
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 5
• 2011 API Students Included = 254

:

• 2011 Base API: 788
• 2012 API Target: 793
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 4
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 3
• 2011 API Students Included = 309

:

• 2011 Base API: 719
• 2012 API Target: 724
• 2011 Statewide Rank: 3
• 2011 Similar Schools Rank: 5
• 2011 API Students Included = 485

Tune in to Patch later this week, when we will publish the API scores for the San Mateo Union High School District.

PATCH WANTS TO KNOW - What do you think of these scores? What are your opinion of the K-8 schools in San Mateo/Foster City? Tell us in the comments below.

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