District Receives Academic Performance Index of 807

Press Release

Surpasses State Target of 800

October 11, 2012 (San Francisco) – The California Department of Education announced scores today that show the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) has surpassed the state target of 800 with a Growth Academic Performance Index (API) score of 807. SFUSD is now 11 API points higher than its 2011 Base API of 796.

“Surpassing the 800 API mark is a huge milestone for our city and our schools,” says Superintendent Richard A. Carranza. “San Francisco can count itself among only a few large urban school districts in the State that have exceeded the 800 target for academic performance. This achievement is the result of the collective efforts of many, including teachers, students and parents as well as community organizations that support children and families and SF residents, who time and again vote to support public schools.” 

“Our public schools have set the bar high today, and this is an incredible accomplishment that shows our commitment to San Francisco's youth," said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.  "I am proud of our strong partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District, which has contributed to these exciting academic achievement gains for our City's children."  

Over half of the district’s schools (52 percent or 51/98 reported schools) have an API score of 800 and above.   School-wide API growth targets were met by 84 percent of reported schools, up ten percentage points from last year.

In addition to measuring whether or not a school meets its overall targets, the state progress report looks at whether or not subgroups at every school are meeting growth targets. Over half of the schools (55 percent or 54/98) met both their school-wide and subgroup API targets. 

For English language learners, over two-thirds (68 percent) of schools met their subgroup growth targets. Of the district schools with statistically significant African-American enrollment, 11 out of 16 (69 percent) met their subgroup targets. For Latinos, 55 percent (28/51) of schools met their subgroup growth targets. 

However, as the district did not meet federal “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP) targets for all subgroups, it remains in Program Improvement. In AYP, the federal government measures what percentage of students are scoring at proficient and above; and the percentage required goes up each year by about ten percent. The required percentage of students proficient or above for unified school districts in 2012 is 78 percent in English Language arts and 78.2 percent in mathematics.

California’s Accountability Progress Reporting
California’s Accountability Progress Reporting (APR) system measures and reports the academic success of the state’s nearly 10,000 public schools in over 1,000 school districts and local educational agencies. The system includes three major components: The Academic Performance Index (API) Report, the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Report, and the Program Improvement (PI) Report.

The API is a numeric index that ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1000. The previous year’s results establish the baseline and academic growth targets for each school's academic performance for the next year. A school's annual growth target is set at five percent of the difference between the school's base API and the statewide performance target of 800 with a minimum target of five points. By law, numerically significant student subgroups within a school must also make improvement for a school to meet its API targets.

Both the API and AYP are based on statewide assessment results, which were released last month. These assessments include the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program and California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE).

School API Highlights
The table below highlights some of the SFUSD elementary, middle and high schools with notable growth and performance this year.

* Superintendent’s Zone schools

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Page updated on 10/11/12