Two school districts barely miss federal targets

With students returning to class this week across Huntington Beach, data released by the state showed most schools made the cut, but two districts didn’t quite meet all state and federal targets.

The state released its Growth Academic Performance Index (API) and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports Thursday, a significant measure of school success. The reports measure whether schools and districts improved enough on standardized tests in a variety of areas to meet federal No Child Left Behind targets. Unlike the raw Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) test scores released last month, these processed scores are used by the state to judge school performance; schools that miss benchmarks enough years in a row can be sanctioned.

Huntington Beach school districts all improved their API scores, which are used to determine whether enough progress has been made. But two districts barely missed the AYP seal of approval, both by subpar test scores by a single group in one testing area.

Ocean View School District’s Growth API score rose 14 points to 845 this year from a base 831 in 2007, but did not make adequate yearly progress, according to the state. According to the state report, all subgroups scored well enough on standardized tests except for students with disabilities’ scores in English and language arts.

For the district’s schools in Huntington Beach, nine out of 13 met the state goals for yearly progress.

The Huntington Beach Union High School District’s score rose 30 points to 793, from 763 in 2007. But the district as a whole did not meet adequate yearly progress by one criterion out of 30, the language arts requirement. While all other goals were met, the English and Language Arts scores for English learners had not met government targets in the district as a whole.

Of the district’s four high schools in Huntington Beach, all but Ocean View High School met those goals — that school missing them, like the district, only in English among English learners. Fountain Valley High School also met the criteria for 2008.

The Huntington Beach City School District made progress in all areas required by the state, and its API scores overall rose by a single point, from 858 to 859. Out of its nine schools, seven met the government criteria.

Efforts to reach school and district officials were unsuccessful.

For more information, including on individual schools, go to http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes.com.