Same growth now required of all student groups 

The state Board of Education has approved a change in improvement goals for the Academic Performance Index that requires individual student subgroups to progress towards their targets at the same rate as their schools overall. Previously, student subgroups were required to make only 80 percent of the school’s target for growth.

For years the disparity in the growth targets has concerned educators, who realized that not requiring students in each subgroup to improve as much as their school as a whole essentially institutionalizes the academic achievement gap. The California School Boards Association testified in support of the changes, which have long been a priority for the association as districts work to close achievement gaps between groups of students.

When the accountability system and API index were designed in 1999, uncertainty about the effects of measuring the achievement of different groups led policy-makers to set the lower goal for student subgroups. The new policy will require the same growth from each subgroup: 5 percent of the difference between the group’s API and 800 or at least 5 points, whichever is greater.

“We need to set the same high expectations for all students within our accountability system,” said state Superintendent Jack O’Connell. “I know when you raise the bar, students and schools reach to meet it.”

Requiring more of all students could, however, cause a school to miss its overall state improvement goals. Calculations for the state Department of Education estimate that another 4 percent of schools may miss their API targets unless extra attention is paid to the needs of each student subgroup. High schools would be most affected, with 7.7 percent fewer meeting their targets. About 5.6 percent more middle schools and 3 percent more elementary schools would miss the mark, according to the simulation.

Nevertheless, educators supported the change, which brings the state’s API system into better alignment with the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind law. “While I still strongly believe that California’s API is a better instrument for measuring progress,” O’Connell noted, “I do give credit to the No Child Left Behind Act for highlighting the need to push schools to close the achievement gap between traditionally higher- and lower-scoring student subgroups.”