Making sense of API test scores

By Luis Zaragoza

Poring over test scores in hopes of figuring out whether your child's school is doing a good job can be like staring into a murky, bottomless bowl of alphabet soup without a spoon.

The swirling mass of acronyms can leave parents hungry for a simpler way to gauge things. For today, at least, the spoon is optional. The state has ladled out a fresh batch of one of its easier-to-digest scores, the Academic Performance Index, or API.

These scores are not focused on individual students. The API is about summing up the performance of entire schools using one number. You can compare scores over a number of years to see whether your school is improving. You can use it to compare your elementary school with the one across town or with any similar campus from among California's more than 9,000 public schools.

The API is ultimately a good indicator ``of what you need to do next to do better,'' said Joel Herrera, an assistant principal at James Lick High in East San Jose.

And understanding the API puts parents in a much better position to insist on changes -- at home and at school -- that will improve a school's performance, educators say.

Bottom line: Students must score increasingly well on a variety of individual tests that are part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program, or STAR, for API scores to rise. Higher scores give schools bragging rights and can even cause home prices to climb. Lower scores can mean sanctions against a school -- worst case, a state takeover.

But many parents have no idea that this is the case.

``All parents want their kids to be successful,'' said Susan Cassens, a member of the site council at Independence High in San Jose. But some parents ``just shut down when they're given a bunch of scores and no explanation -- unless they're like me and like figuring out what all those acronyms mean.''

Raw scores might be publicized, but there's ``nothing communicated to parents about why they should care,'' Cassens said. Schools and districts should do a better job of informing parents about how to interpret API and other scores, she said.

``If more parents understood what the scores are about,'' she said, ``more of them would step up and ask how they could help change things.''

So if you seek out your school's API scores in Friday's paper or online, here are some questions that might come to mind:

Q What is the API supposed to tell me about my child's school?

A Two things -- whether your school is improving over time and how it compares with other schools.

Q My school's score is 575. Is that good?

A If the new score is higher than last year's, that's good. If the score meets or exceeds the goals set earlier this year by the state, that's good. But viewed comparatively, the score falls below the statewide goal for all schools -- 800 on a scale that ranges from 200 to 1,000.

Q What is the score based on?

A API scores reflect schoolwide results from a battery of tests in math, English, and other subjects, depending on grade levels, collectively known as STAR. These tests account for most of the API score in elementary and middle schools. The California High School Exit Exam, or CAHSEE, figures into high school API scores. Because STAR and CAHSEE scores form the basis of the API score, it's important for students to take the tests seriously, educators say. In the case of CAHSEE, students need to pass to receive a diploma.

Q Don't schools just teach to the test and hope for the best? Who can help me figure out what the API is all about?

A Teachers should be good spokespersons for the API, but sometimes they get defensive because of the pressure they're under, said Dale Russell, director of standards and assessment for the Santa Clara County Office of Education. People in leadership roles at the school and district level should head up efforts to promote the test and explain its meaning, he said.

Cassens said administrators could begin spreading the word about API by visiting parent groups such as the PTA. They won't reach all parents that way, she said, but information could spread by word-of-mouth.

Q I didn't complete my education, so I find it difficult to help my kids with homework. What else can I do to help them succeed?

A ``You don't need to be highly educated to listen,'' Herrera said. ``It's important for parents to engage students in discussions about what they were taught at school.'' Having students recount classroom lessons helps them retain information. And parents are likely to learn something during the discussion, Herrera said.

Then there are the basics, Herrera said. Students ought to have a quiet place at home to do homework. They should come to school rested and well-fed. And parents should push students to take advantage of the resources available to them. James Lick High benefits from being near a new branch library, Herrera pointed out.

Contact Luis Zaragoza at lzaragoza@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5803.