Tuscany Hills Elementary Ranked Among Top 10 Percent Statewide

The California Department of Education on Thursday released its latest round of public school rankings, and Tuscany Hills Elementary in Lake Elsinore was at the top.

The rankings -- from one to 10 -- compare schools based on the Academic Performance Index, or API, which is centered on state tests.

Thursday’s report shows that Tuscany Hills achieved the highest possible ranking, a 10, which represents the top 10 percent of elementary schools statewide.

In Riverside County, only six elementary schools ranked in the top 10: Eastvale Elementary and Temescal Valley Elementary, both in the Corona-Norco Unified School District; George Washington Charter in the Desert Sands Unified District; Tuscany Hills Elementary in Lake Elsinore; John F. Kennedy in Riverside; and Alamos Elementary in Temecula.

In addition to the rankings, API scores for 2011 were revised in Thursday’s report. The 2011 scores were released last summer; Thursday’s update simply reflects the latest changes to the state formula.

The revised scores are designed to allow school officials to make a more valid comparison between last year's scores and new data expected to come out at the end of the summer.

The API scores range from a low of 200 to a high of 1,000. The statewide base API was 778, according to Thursday’s results. The base for elementary schools was 808.

Tuscany Hills received a revised API score of 919 on Thursday. As a district, the LEUSD received a revised API of 791.