Moorpark students score well on state API

Flory Academy of Sciences and Technology is the first school in Moorpark Unified School District to register a 900 on the Academic Performance Index; 800 is the statewide target and 1,000 is considered a perfect score.

The California Department of Education released the results of the latest API last week. The data, based on a series of proficiency tests administered in the spring, shows which schools and districts have met required benchmarks in a variety of subjects. California students have been required to take the tests every year since 2004.

Flory principal Mike Winters said he’s proud of his school’s accomplishment.

“It’s a testament to the hard work and dedication of our teachers and students here at Flory Academy,” he said.

Students at Mesa Verde Middle School attained the greatest yearover-year increase, improving their score 38 points, from 807 to 845. Campus Canyon Elementary saw the second biggest jump in the district, going from 790 to 818.

With every elementary and middle school in Moorpark scoring well above the state target of 800, the district’s overall average increased from 815 to 826. Moorpark High School students scored 789, a single-point decrease from 2008.

Oddly enough, three of Moorpark’s highest-achieving API schools, including Flory Academy, didn’t reach federal benchmarks for Title I schools, schools that qualify for federal money based on the number of students enrolled from low-income families.

To reach the benchmarks, every school subgroup with more than 100 students must reach a level of proficiency. The subgroups designated at Moorpark schools include Hispanics, English learners and children with disabilities. If even one of these subgroups fails to meet proficiency levels, a school can be put in a remedial category.

Such is the case for Flory, Arroyo West and Walnut Canyon elementaries, which have been put in a program improvement category and are required to take corrective action if they don’t improve within two years.

“This is one of the many contradictions and confusing elements of the federal accountability system,” Winters said.

“Until changes are made to the No Child Left Behind program, Flory will have to live with the ironies of being a very highachieving school and simultaneously being identified as needing to improve,” he said. Flory no longer qualifies as a Title I school, Winters said.

Flory was one of seven schools in the district to receive Title I funds from the federal government last year.

The program improvement label doesn’t always correlate with the API results, said Marilyn Green, director of grants, assessment and special projects for the district.

“API measures growth, but the federal accountability program only measures a specific stationary target. So a school can make tremendous growth and still not meet the stationary target,” Green said.

The district’s two middle schools, Mesa Verde and Chaparral, are still waiting to get the final results for the federal accountability system.

Mesa Verde was going to be placed in program improvement when scores were released Sept. 15, but the state withdrew the campus from the list this week because it is recalculating data for middle schools, Green said. Results were published prematurely.

MUSD is scheduled to get the final results for Chaparral and Mesa Verde middle schools in November.

While state and federal administrators are still settling scores, Mesa Verde principal Kelli Hays said she plans to stay focused on her main responsibility—helping all students achieve the best possible results.

“We know we’re doing a very effective job at educating our students—our test results support this—so our morale and motivation remain high,” she said.

Principals Susan Smith-Stein, head of Arroyo West, and Linda Bowe at Walnut Canyon, echoed Hays’ commitment.

“Of course, we’re not pleased that we’ve been identified for program improvement, however, I’m staying focused on and helping my teachers focus on all the good news that we find in the test results,” Smith-Stein said.

API scores fell from 852 to 826 at Arroyo West, but the elementary school is still scoring at the district average in spite of having a higher percentage of English learners and students who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds than most schools, the principal said.

As state and federal objectives continue to increase and schools are expected to deliver 100 percent proficiency by 2014, most schools, if not all of them, will eventually be classified as program improvement, Smith-Stein said.

For now, Moorpark schools will celebrate the good results and continue the upward climb, Bowe said.

“The staff at Walnut Canyon will continue to move students toward the bar and beyond. That’s what good teachers do every day,” she said.