APR, CAHSEE show progress, but federal measures lag
Published: October 1, 2011
California’s public schools set a new record for academic achievement in the state’s 2010-11 Accountability Progress Report and the number of students passing the California High School Exit Examination—but unprecedented numbers of schools are also facing federal Program Improvement restrictions.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson used the conflicting data to support his call for the federal government to suspend enforcement of its No Child Left Behind Act sanctions in California. (See related story on page 1.) “At school, after school, and among every significant ethnic group, California’s students are performing better than ever. The failure here is in our politics, not our public schools,” Torlakson said when he released the APR results Aug. 31.
The APR combines results of state and federal school accountability systems, which are based on Standardized Testing and Reporting Program tests, and the CAHSEE. Half of California’s public schools met or surpassed their targets on the state’s Academic Performance Index, including 55 percent of elementary schools, 43 percent of middle schools and 28 percent of high schools.
However, just 35 percent of elementary schools, 18 percent of middle schools and 41 percent of high schools met the federal measure of “adequate yearly progress.” Of the 6,157 schools that received Title 1 funds in 2010-11, 3,892 schools—or 63 percent—are in Program Improvement under NCLB, and another 913 California schools would move into PI status this year.
On CAHSEE, the percentage of students in the class of 2011 who passed the exit exam in time to graduate with their classmates rose to 94.6 percent this year, according to California Department of Education figures. That’s a 4.2 percent rise overall since the CAHSEE was first administered in 2006.
CDE press releases detail how both the APR and CAHSEE results show progress in narrowing the gaps in academic achievement that separate various ethnic, racial and socioeconomic groups.