By Joani Gillam
News Editor
The administration announced on Sept. 1 that Mira Costa’s 2011 Academic Performance Index score increased by 12 points to 911.
With an API score of 911, Mira Costa surpasses California’s requirement of 800 or more points, thereby ranking Mira Costa in the top 2.5% of all California high schools and among the top 10 high schools in California.
“This score is fantastic,” Mira Costa Principal Ben Dale said. “It shows that Costa has high-quality teaching and dedicated students.”
API rankings highlight the growth of California’s schools based on state tests like the California High School Exit Exam and STAR tests. Mira Costa showed great improvement in its scores, with every subgroup that was tested improving and an even smaller number of students scoring below proficient on their STAR tests than last year.
“We are constantly improving here at Costa,” Dale said. “We had better scores on the STAR tests this year, which helped our API , and I hope we’ll continue to increase our scores every year.”
Based on information gathered from the California Department of Education, schools similar to Mira Costa are achieving on average 883 API scores. Because Mira Costa is ranked 28 points higher than these other schools, the California Department of Education classifies Mira Costa as a high-performing school.
College admission departments take API scores into consideration in the admission process, giving students an advantage if they go to a school that is classified as top-performing, like Mira Costa.
“When I was choosing a high school, I picked Costa because I wanted to go to a school that colleges saw as high-achieving,” freshman Tyler Summers said.
Dale and other administrators feel that changing the dates of standardized testing to a few weeks after Advanced Placement tests was a major factor in Costa’s increased API score.
“Moving the standardized tests after AP tests was a very smart move because students had the time to recover from the stress of the AP tests and could focus and pay attention to the STAR test,” Dale said.
For Costa teachers, the API score demonstrates the quality of their teaching, as well as how effectively and efficiently they prepared students for the California standardized tests.
“Our API score should truly be celebrated,” said Costa math teacher Tim Kelley. “I am really proud of all the students, and also happy about the fact that they really cared about the STAR tests this year. It makes me proud of all of my hard work, and happy to be a teacher at Costa.”
Despite being ranked as a top-performing school, the Costa administration and staff members continue to look for ways to improve the API ranking for next year, so that the community, colleges, and other institutions will see Mira Costa as a place of academic excellence.
“The goal for our API score is 1000–a perfect score,” Dale said. “Here at Mira Costa, we want to set our standards high, and if we find the right combination of excellent teachers and dedicated students, I have no doubt that we continue raising our API. We have work to do, but right now we are at a great place.”
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