Today the California Department of Education, CDE, released the public school rankings and the Base Academic Performance Index (API) report. While the schools in the Los Alamitos Unified School District generally rank very high when compared to all other schools in the state, that does not give the full story.
There are two components to the state’s ranking system—a statewide rank and a similar schools rank. The ranks are 1 to 10, with 10 being the top 10 percent of schools. A school’s statewide rank is based on the school’s Base API and is calculated separately for three types of schools: elementary, middle, and high schools. Ranks are established by deciles. Each decile contains 10 percent of all schools of each type.
There will always be schools ranked 1 and schools ranked 10 because of the nature of the decile system. Ten percent of schools will always be in each decile. Schools raked 10 are in the top ten percent of schools, schools ranked 1, are in the bottom ten percent, and schools ranked 5 are in the middle of the pack.
The similar schools rank is like the statewide rank, except that each school is ranked relative to a group of 100 schools determined to be similar to the comparison school based on certain school, student, and teacher characteristics. The school’s similar schools rank is the decile where that school’s Base API falls compared with the Base APIs of the 100 other similar schools in the comparison group.
“How a school is faring in comparison to all schools in the state or to those similar in nature is of vital importance to parents, teachers, education advocates, and the business community who are all interested in student performance,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell. “This information gives the public additional knowledge about how their schools compare to other schools in their region and statewide.”
School personnel frequently explain any lower than expected API numbers by claiming their student body is different. Even when comparing the scores between the six elementary schools within the Los Alamitos Unified School District, we have been told that “our students have disadvantages.”
The similar schools ranking is designed to adjust for differences in schools and students. Thus, where a school ranks against similar schools is the state’s attempt to give the fairest representation of that school’s performance. When considered over time, the similar school rankings become an even better barometer of how well a school is doing. Thus, if last year a school received a similar school ranking of 7, and this year, the similar school ranking is a 6, it means that even if the school’s API went up, the school lost ground against the 100 schools deemed to be similar to that school.
So, how did the Los Alamitos Unified School District schools do when compared to the other schools?
Los Alamitos High School
With an API of 871, Los Al has maintained both its statewide rank of 10 and a similar schools ranking of 7 for the last three years.
Oak Middle School
Oak’s API of 873 was good enough to earn a statewide rank of 9, but it only got them a 4 on the similar schools rankings. This means that 60% of schools which are similar to Oak did better on their scores. Both of Oak’s rankings are the same as the prior year and down one rank from two years ago.
McAuliffe Middle School
Not much change here. McAuliffe’s API of 917 got them a statewide 10, which they have had forever. Their similar schools rank was 7, same as last year and down one rank from two years ago.
Rossmoor Elementary School
Rossmoor has been in the top 10percent of statewide schools for a long time, but this year, their API of 922 was good enough to earn them a similar schools ranking of 8, up from 5 last year.
Lee Elementary School
Lee has been in the top 10 percent of statewide schools for three years, but even though their API of 918 is just a few points below Rossmoor’s, Lee’s similar schools ranking drops to 7. This is down from 9 last year.
Los Alamitos Elementary
Things did not go so well for LAE. Their API, at 865, is the lowest elementary in the district, their similar schools ranking is the lowest of any district school, and their similar school rank declined by more than any other district school. LAE’s similar school rank fell by 4 ranks, from 7 last year, to 3 this year. Thus, even though their statewide rank only fell from 9 to 8, 70 percent of similar schools did better than LAE this year.
Hopkinson Elementary School
It is almost hard to imagine, but at Hopkinson, while a long time statewide 10, their API of 943 was only good enough for a similar schools ranking of 8. Nevertheless, that was an improvement of one rank from last year when they were ranked a 7 against similar schools.
McGaugh Elementary School
McGaugh scores have been good enough to get them a statewide rank of 9 for years, but this year, their similar schools ranking fell significantly. McGaugh’s API is 884 and this earned them a similar schools ranking of 4, down from 7 last year.
Weaver Elementary
The consistent star of the Los Alamitos Unified School District—not just because our grandson goes there—is Weaver. The only trouble for Weaver is that it is hard to move up when you are a consistent 10 in both the statewide and the similar schools ranking. Weaver’s API is an amazing 980. See below for our related article on Weaver.
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About Dolores Barr, Publisher
Dolores Barr has lived in Rossmoor since 1992 and has created this site to provide local news for the people of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Rossmoor, Leisure World, Sunset Beach, and Surfside, California. My husband and I have had two students graduate from the Los Alamitos Unified School District and currently our Grandson, Ricky Apodaca, grade 3 at Weaver Elementary, is actively involved in youth baseball through LAYB and youth football through FNL.
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