Poway Unified sees mixed results with latest test scores

By Emily Sorensen

The release of this year’s Academic Performance Index (API) offers a mixed bag of results for the Poway Unified School District.

This year marks the first time in 10 years that PUSD did not experience API growth overall, dropping one point from a score of 894 in 2012 to 893 in 2013. While not a drastic drop, it does mark the end of a successful run for the district.

“Overall, our performance was maintained at high levels, well above the state requirement of 800,” said Eric Lehew of Learning Support Services. “We had some mixed gains, many elementary and high schools saw improvement, but our middle schools saw some pulling back.”

To see chart of individual school results, click

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The API is based on student results on the California Standards Test given to students grades 2 - 11 in the spring of each year. The California High School Exit Exam results are also factored into student performance scores. API is also a component of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements and serves as the cornerstone of California’s State Testing, Accountability, and Reporting Program (STAR).

Overall, 75 percent of the district’s schools met their API targets, a much higher percentage than the state’s total targets met, which was only 42 percent of schools. The district also had two schools which saw their API score grow, but still not meet their target, and seven schools where the API score either remained the same, or declined, without meeting their target scores.

Every school in the district, excluding Abraxas, which is measured differently, exceeded the state target of 800 API. Schools that failed to reach their target did so because of failure within subgroups, including socioeconomically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities and students of various minority groups, including Hispanic or Latino students and African-American students.

“The exciting part [for the district] was closing the gap [for the subgroups,” said Lehew. “We saw a 21-point gain for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, a 9-point gain for students with disabilities, and a 6-point gain for African-American students. It’s encouraging. We’re working to close the achievement gap.”

Compared to the meteoric gains of last year, this year’s gains in API were slightly less, with Westwood Elementary School boasting the highest gain for elementary schools, with 14 points, raising them to an API score of 913. Del Sur Elementary gained 13 points, which made them the school with the highest API score in the entire district at 972, followed by Deer Canyon at 962, and Creekside Elementary at 959. Pomerado Elementary School also saw good API gains, rising 12 points to 882.

The highest gain in the district belonged to Del Norte High School, which gained 16 points this year, leaving their API score at 881, which was also the highest high school API score. Rancho Bernardo High School gained 15 points to reach an API of 865, and Mt. Carmel High School saw a 10-point gain from last year, making their API score 831, the lowest in the district.

None of PUSD’s middle schools saw any gains in points, with Meadowbrook dropping 13 points to 861, and Twin Peaks dropping 12 points to 885. Mesa Verde Middle School remains the highest-scoring of all the middle and high schools at an API score of 944, with Oak Valley sitting at 921 and Bernardo Heights at 900, with Black Mountain closely behind at 895.

The most significant drops in API score came from Tierra Bonita Elementary School, which dropped 22 points to an API score of 881, and Turtleback, which dropped 21 points to a score of 904, both of which are still higher than the lowest-scoring elementary school, Valley Elementary, which gained 5 points this year to raise up to an API score of 841. Adobe Bluffs Elementary dropped 17 points, down to an API of 915.

The schools that failed to reach their targets were Garden Road Elementary, Shoal Creek Elementary, Valley Elementary, Bernardo Heights Middle School, Meadowbrook Middle School, Mesa Verde Middle School, Twin Peaks Middle School, Rancho Bernardo High School, Westview High School, and Abraxas Continuation High School.

Later on this month, teachers and principals will sit down with the actual scores and data from the API results to see what needs to be improved and changed to improve the students’s education, and what is working.