San Carlos schools shine in 2009 API testing.

September 16, 2009

Improvement Across the Board..

A well deserved congratulations is in order for the San Carlos School District. The California Department of Education released the 2009 API scores to the public yesterday, and the San Carlos School District absolutely shined.  Not only did each and every school in the District show growth from 2008, but the growth in each case was in excess of 10 basis points.    Now that's what I call making a statement.  I can't remember the last time I saw that significant level of increase across the board for all of our schools.

Below are the total results for the district, as well as for each school.  If I did my job correctly creating this table, you should be able to see the in-depth results for each school by simply by clicking the name of the school.

2009 San Carlos API Scores

2009
2008
'08-'09 Growth
Elementary Schools
Arundel Elementary 917 891 +26
Brittan Acres Elementary 907 894 +13
Heather Elementary 861 814 +47
San Carlos Charter Learning Center 900 887 +13
White Oaks Elementary 913 899 +14
Middle Schools
Central Middle 881 871 +10
Tierra Linda Middle 921 906 +15
Total 900 882 +18

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7 Comments

  1. Teresa on September 16, 2009 at 9:07 pm

    Hopefully, Heather can progress such that it’s equal to the other schools. 861 isn’t shabby, but it’s a good 40 points behind. When that happens, more White Oaks parents will gladly drive up the hill.



  2. Chuck on September 16, 2009 at 10:14 pm

    Heather’s 47 point increase in just one year is remarkable. I have only been casually tracking the API numbers for the past few years, and I don’t recall ever seeing a school with this significant of an improvement. I also don’t recall a year when every school in the district had positive gains. There was always one or two that was down or remained flat.

    It’s pretty good when you can say that the lowest score in your entire district is 861 — in some districts, that would be their high score. No wonder SC schools are such a big draw.

    CG



  3. BA Mom on September 18, 2009 at 12:05 am

    “When that happens, more White Oaks parents will gladly drive up the hill.”

    This is exactly the kind of snobbish sentiment that makes for controversial and oppositional school board meetings. 861 is a fantastic score.

    Beyond a certain API score (certainly lower than 861) the school’s score takes a backseat to parenting.



  4. Heathermom on September 18, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    I suspect the influx of families from White Oaks into Heather will bear some influence on API scores in years to come; whether or not it will be statistically relevant remains to be seen. My child entered Heather for kindergarten this year and so far I’ve been very impressed with the school community and the high level of parental involvement through volunteer time and financial support. So to the point made in #3 above, test scores alone do not an education make and Heather parents are answering the faculty’s call for support. And it’s going to be a great year.



  5. Seth on October 20, 2009 at 11:47 pm

    I haven’t checked all the numbers, but historically Heather has the highest numbers and ratio of these categories: Socioeconomically Disadvantaged, English Learners, Students with Disabilities. On purpose, too…Heather has one of the most developed programs for ESL and Pam Jasso the principal believes strongly in the value of diversity, supporting around 20 kids from East Palo Alto to attend. As I understand how it works, the API scores factor in all scores including ESL, disabled, etc. All that considered, Heather’s scores are very impressive. And perhaps a better overall environment for your kid to develop.



  6. san carlos mom on December 7, 2009 at 11:32 pm

    Seth brings up a good point. A couple of the schools do an amazing job, esp if you look at the rates of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged, English Learners, Students with Disabilities and then at their API scores. One of those schools has a much higher rate of those and still beats the API score of White Oaks!



  7. arundel parent on December 8, 2009 at 2:06 am

    Arundel 🙂 !



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