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Schools

Rankings of Local Schools Show Wide Spread

API derived school rankings released this morning show that El Cerrito and Kensington schools, when compared to statewide and similar schools, range from the highest decile, for Madera, to the lowest, for Portola Middle and El Cerrito High schools.

In comparison to other schools in the state, El Cerrito and Kensington schools’ rankings range from the highest possible to the lowest.

In rankings released Thursday by the state, schools were given two scores ranging from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. One ranking shows the comparison with other schools in the state, and the second a comparison only with schools with similar demographics. Schools are only compared with others at the same level – elementary to elementary, middle to middle, and high school to high school.

The newly released rankings are based on the three-digit Academic Performance Index (API) scores  which in turn are based on student performance on standardized tests given in 2011. The August data showed gains for all El Cerrito and Kensington schools with the exception of Harding, which experienced a small drop.

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Madera Elementary School ranked 10 in both its statewide ranking and its similar-schools ranking (Madera report), while Kensington Elementary  (Kensington report) ranked 10 statewide and 7 in the similar-schools ranking.

Fairmont Elementary ranked 5 in both the statewide and similar schools comparisons (Fairmont report), while Harding Elementary ranked 5 statewide and 4 in the similar-schoolsranking (Harding report).

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Portola Middle and El Cerrito High both ranked 2 in statewide comparison and 1 against similar schools. (Portola report, El Cerrito High report)

Also released were the 2011 Base API and Growth Target. These are ways of representing the school’s 2011 performance and the growth it was expected to make, under the state’s accountability system, in 2012. Once results from the 2012 testing are available, the Base and Growth numbers will be part of the calculation used to determine whether a school met its goal for improvement

More information is availabe on the state's API website.

For El Cerrito Patch’s report on school rankings released a year ago, see

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