API Scores Released: LEUSD Shines

Academic Performance Index scores for the 2010-11 schoolyear were released today by the California Department of Education, and the Lake Elsinore Unified School District showed continued progress.

The Riverside County school districts with the highest aggregate API scores were:
   -- Temecula Valley Unified (859);
   -- Menifee Union Elementary (843);
   -- Murrieta Valley Unified (843);
   -- (833); and
   -- Corona-Norco Unified (815).

API reflects growth in student achievement from one year to the next. It's determined by results on the California Standards Tests in English, math, history/social science and science, and the California High School Exit Exam.

The LEUSD was plus-21 for 2010-11 as compared to the 2009-10 schoolyear in which the district scored 812.

Most impressive in the LEUSD, however, were the elementary and K-8 API scores, which showed eight schools scoring in the 900s, including at 959; at 932; at 920; Luiseno at 919; at 918; at 910; at 907; and at 901.

(Click here to see the results of how your child’s school scored.)

The 900s were out of a possible 1,000 score. All other schools were in the 800s except for the Wildomar-based charter , which was down 20 from the prior year to a score of 784.

showed the greatest progress, raising its API score 48 points.

Lake Elsinore-based API score was the highest recorded in Riverside County.

The high schools were all in the 800s, and showed the greatest improvement with a plus-45 over the prior year.

According to the Riverside County Office of Education, 48 percent of the county's schools met or beat the state's performance target of 800 on the API. That compares to 1 percent a dozen years ago.

"Year in and year out, Riverside County's students are improving faster than most other students in the state,'' said county Superintendent of Schools Kenneth Young. "Among the state's 16 largest counties, our students scored the fourth-largest gain on this year's API.

"As the federal No Child Left Behind standards continue to rise, we'll be like other counties, and more of our schools will be challenged to hit those moving targets," Young continued. "But Riverside County's students continue to gain ground on the rest of the state's largest counties. That's because Riverside County's schools are sustaining a culture of improvement." --City News Service contributed to this report.