Academic Performance Index
up 60 points at Yosemite High
“We are extremely pleased with our strong showing on the API this year ...”
YHS Principal Steve Raupp

MALISSA TRENHOLM

Four years ago, Yosemite High School and other California schools administered the Stanford Achieve-ment Test, Ninth Edition (SAT 9). The SAT 9 was an “off the shelf test,” explains Yosemite High School Principal Steve Raupp. It was a test the state of California bought straight “off the shelf” that didn’t match up with the curriculum teachers taught to students.
Now, Yosemite and other schools test with the California Standards Test This test is aligned with the curriculum of what teachers are teaching to students. Ninety percent of California’s public schools improved their test scores last year.

Based on test scores, schools are assigned an Academic Performance Index (API). The API includes the scores from student assessments that are a part of the California’s Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program as well as the results from the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), which Yosemite scored very strongly on last year, comments Raupp. The API scores can range from 200 to 1000, and the state wide performance target is 800.

The YHS API for 2002-03 was 764, an increase of 60 points from last year’s 704. Yosemite is also in the top 20 percent of schools state wide for its achievements.

Neighboring schools like Sierra High School scored 747, Mariposa County High, a similar school to Yosemite in size and demographics, says Raupp, scored 740 along with Bullard High School in Fresno.

In the next few years the API will continue to add more areas to test such as Standards-based Science tests and the California Alternate Performance Assessment. It will even factor in graduation and attendance rates.

When asked how Raupp felt about Yosemite’s job well done, he replied, smiling, “we are extremely pleased with our strong showing on the API this year, and we attribute an outstanding performance to all of the hard work that teachers and students had put into the educational process, and we particularly appreciate the serious attitude our students have had about the testing program.”

This year Raupp says he will try to keep the focus level up, work with the staff to continue trying to work in the curriculum area, and will make sure what the teachers teach is aligned to what the students need to know.