Schools

Report says Pleasanton Schools Top Tri-Valley

Pleasanton scores high but misses federal targets

Pleasanton Unified School District remains one of the top ranking school districts in the Tri-Valley but failed to meet federal goals in 2009-10, according to a report released by the California Department of Education.

California's 2009-10 Accountability Progress Report rates school districts based on standardized tests given to students and is made up of two parts: The state's accountability system known as the Academic Performance Index (API) and the federal accountability system made up of the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and Program Improvement (PI).

Pleasanton Unified scored well above the state's goal in API with a total of 906, which is five points higher than the district's score last year. The statewide target is 800.

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Dublin Unified and Livermore Valley Joint school districts both met API targets with the scores of 878 and 822, respectively. The closest district to Pleasanton that scored above 900 is San Ramon Valley Unified with an API score of 916.

As of this year, 46 percent of all California schools are at or above the statewide target, according to a press release from the state Department of Education.

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"When we set the goal of 800 on the API 10 years ago, it was ambitious and it challenged most California schools that had never been held accountable for improving academic achievement," State Superintendent Jack O'Connell said in a press release. "Now that nearly half of our schools are at or above this API target, it is time to have a serious conversation about raising the target goal."

Targets were raised this year for the federal accountability system. This resulted in fewer elementary and middle schools achieving Adequate Yearly Progress criteria, according to O'Connell, and Pleasanton was no exception.

The Adequate Yearly Progress report requires that a set percentage of students score proficient or above in English-language arts and mathematics. That district-wide goal is set at 56 percent in English-language arts and 56.4 percent in math.

Pleasanton met 36 of its 38 AYP criteria and failed to meet proficient percentages for math scores in two subgroups. Socioeconomically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities both scored below its targets, contributing to the district's inability to meet the federal AYP goal.

This year marks the first in which Pleasanton did not meet AYP criteria. AYP goals are set to increase every year until 2014, according to the state.

Schools, school districts and county offices of educations that do not meet AYP for two consecutive years and receive federal Title I funds fall into Program Improvement Status.

None of Pleasanton's 15 schools listed in the report are in Program Improvement. Two of the four schools that did not meet AYP criteria in Pleasanton are subject to Title I funds. Of those schools, only one, Valley View Elementary, did not make AYP goals this year.

Statewide, 567 schools fell into Program Improvement status for the first time, while 83 schools exited that status for meeting AYP for two consecutive years.

The accountability reports were formed as a result of the No Child Left Behind of 2001, which requires states to measure proficiency of students based on assessments developed by those states.

Data for California's 2009-10 Accountability Progress Report will be updated in November 2010 and February 2011. Β 

As of Sunday, the Pleasanton school board did not have plans to discuss the report at its Tuesday board meeting. For more information about the Accountability Progress Report and the state Department of Education, visit http://www.cde.ca.gov.


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