Better test scores roll in; fewer truants sought

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On Thursday California’s school rankings were released. Rankings were based on test scores students took in the spring of 2009. Creative Commons photo by Flickr user ccarlstead.

California made progress in two ways this week to improve student achievement, with the passing of an anti-truancy bill and the release of a list with California’s lowest- and highest-ranking schools.

On Thursday KTVU via the Associated Press reported on the state Senate-approved bill, SB 1317, which gives prosecutors the power to charge parents of chronically truant kids from kindergarten through eighth grade with misdemeanors. Parents of kids who miss too much school could face up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
 
State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who proposed the measure, said SB1317 “is a public safety measure, because children who do poorly in school or drop out are more likely to commit crimes.” Leno also told the Associated Press: “Three-quarters of our state inmate population are high school dropouts.”
 
The measure passed the Senate by a 21-9 vote, even with several Republican senators changing their votes from yes to no.
 
On Friday the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the yearly release of California’s school rankings. State schools are ranked according the Academic Performance Index (API) and compared with all schools, including ones with similar demographics. The API scores are based on statewide tests students took last spring. From there schools are ranked 1 to 10. Rankings are added together within a district. The perfect score is 1,000 points, and anything over 800 is considered excellent.
 
San Francisco Unified School District was just short of “excellent,” receiving a collective API score of 775, compared with last year’s score of 772. The city’s schools had diverse rankings, with some of the lowest and highest within the state. Forty-five percent of San Francisco schools received a ranking of 7 or higher, while 37 percent attained a rank of 4 or lower. The city has eight of the state’s highest-ranking schools, yet 20 were at the bottom.
 

Arun Ramanathan, executive director of Education Trust West, told the Chronicle, “We’re seeing some improvement, but we’re seeing a lot of unfortunate failure to improve, particularly by the state’s lowest-performing schools.”

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