The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon

The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon

The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon

API score announced today

The school’s 2009 API score has improved by 30 points, reaching 825. The score is the highest in school history.

The score was announced today, Tuesday, September 15 by the Mountain View-Los Altos (MVLA) district.

API, also known as the Accountability Performance Index, is used by California schools as a basis for measuring educational development in English, mathematics, social studies and science. It is administered by the state and assessed based on results of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program, the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) and the California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA).

“It was a total team effort on behalf of the school,” Principal Wynne Satterwhite said in a press release. “We remain focused on efforts to ensure that all students are successful; especially those who need more time to master the material. …There is a great deal of hard work by staff and students behind these impressive gains.”

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The school’s Latino students improved by 34 points, while the English Language Development (ELD) students improved by 64 points. According to ELD teacher Lydia Zele, the class participated in two programs that may have contributed to the score increase.

“One of the main differences was SLI, which was basically a reading-strategy initiative program,” Zele said. “It really pushed the students to learn. The whole school will be using it this year. We held two tutorial classes as well.”

The MVLA district as a whole gained 19 points on the state performance index, marking the 10th year in a row of district-wide improvement. MVHS gained 10 points, advancing to a score of 865. Alta Vista Continuation High School fell back 3 points to a score of 698.

The average California high school score is 713 points.

According to Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Brigitte Sarraf, district scores rose in assessments such as the MVLA Advanced Placement testing, the California High School Exit Exam and the SAT Reasoning Test.

“This is the strongest showing by our students on the API in district history,” Sarraf said in the press release. “Last year proved to be an exemplary period for student academics in the MVHS district.”

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