Steady Growth for San Bruno Park School District

The has outpaced its goals, scoring 820 on state achievement tests two years ahead of its targeted date.

And one of its schools——ranks at the top of the 10th percentile of schools with a similar demographic with a score of 914.

The state Department of Education has released scores charting the progress California schools have made in meeting goals according to the Academic Performance Index, or API. Schools are ranked by how well their students tested in English, math, history and science.

The scores come in three types, revealing both how well schools met their own target goals and how they compare to others. The lowest score is 200, and the highest possible is 1,000, with a target goal of 800. Schools are also given a rank of 1 through 10, showing how they performed compared to schools with similar demographics. Finally, if a school performs at or above the state target, it wins an “A” grade.

San Bruno's growth has been steady, with a 32-point increase over last year.

"This is significant, because it means that we have achieved a rather significant milestone in student achievement two years earlier than what we had planned,” said superintendent David Hutt.

Three San Mateo County schools received a ranking of 10-10 in addition to San Bruno's Portola: The North, South and West elementary schools in the Hillsborough City School District.

“Our kids benefit from great parent support,” said Portola principal Charles Rohrbach. “They provide music, field trips, technology.

“We try to frontload resources to the early grades,” believing that if students score well by the second grade—the first year of standardized testing—they tend to succeed academically well into the later grades despite whatever personal or family challenges they may face, he said.

The school has had to turn away students over the past two years due to an insufficient number of teachers—the result of budget cuts.

California launched its most recent assessment tool in 1999. It how includes a student test, and a high school exit exam, and the API to chart progress.

___________________________________________________________________________________

How the schools fared

San Bruno Park Elementary School District   820

Elementary Schools

Decima Allen Elementary       821

Belle Air Elementary  758

Crestmoor Elementary            859

El Crystal Elementary 862

John Muir Elementary 884

Portola Elementary     914

Rollingwood Elementary        827

Middle Schools

Parkside Intermediate 782

Source: California State Department of Education