Las Virgenes API Scores Rise

Test scores released by the state Monday delivered good news for Las Virgenes Unified schools, with all 15 meeting the state-set goal.

The Academic Performance Index (API) assigns every school in the state a score between 200 and 1,000 based on the performance of students grades 2 through 11 on standardized tests taken in the spring. The target score is 800 or better. Las Virgenes scored 882, up from 874 last year.

Although all schools in Calabasas scored above 800, Chaparral Elementary and Calabasas High experienced a small dip in their scores compared with 2009, slipping from 916 to 915 and 850 to 848, respectively.

A.C. Stelle Middle School had the highest score among Calabasas schools with 917. Chaparral Elementary came in second despite its small decline. A.E. Wright Middle School scored 905, up from 887, and Lupin Hill Elementary scored 893, up from 874.

Bay Laurel Elementary scored 902, up from 897, and Round Meadow Elementary scored 875, up a point from last year.

"We have incredibly talented teachers. Kids come ready to learn. There are super supportive parents," said Supterintendent Don Zimring. "We are always pleased and gratified when we see high scores, but we try to stress, it's not about how high our scores are; it is about how far we bring our students each year."

Statewide, the 2010 Growth API report showed that 46 percent of all California schools are now at or above the overall statewide target API of 800, up four percentage points from the year before, according to a news release by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. 

"When we set the target 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," O'Connell said. "California schools are made great by hardworking students, teachers, administrators, paraeducators, school board members and parents."