Data Center: 2012 Base API school scores and rankings
Posted: 05/24/2013 01:42:19 PM PDT
Updated: 05/24/2013 02:31:42 PM PDT
Database by Daniel J. Willis
State school API rankings show middle school can be tough, but some excel
Posted: 05/24/2013 11:06:39 AM PDT
Updated: 05/24/2013 04:06:25 PM PDT
Middle school -- where the minds of newly minted teenagers are suddenly hijacked by hormones and stop-and-start growth -- is a challenging level to teach.
And yet at Milpitas Unified's two middle schools defy the trend and have propelled its seventh- and eighth-graders to the top when compared with schools of similar diversity.
As California's Academic Performance Index scores released Friday indicate, even districts with high-scoring elementary schools falter in grades 6, 7 and 8. And while some high-performing schools in the South Bay and Peninsula excel on middle-school standardized tests, more falter. The 1-to-10 rankings that compare schools statewide and with similar schools showed wide variation in area schools. The rankings are based on results of tests taken in spring of 2012.
The school rankings released Friday comparing schools of similar demographics illustrate the middle-school challenge. In the Burlingame, Millbrae, Jefferson in Daly City and Mountain View-Whisman districts, elementary schools average above 5 on the 1-to-10 scale. But their middle schools ranked only a 4.
The drop is even more pronounced in other districts. Campbell Union's 10 elementary schools average 5.1 on their similar school ranking, but its two middle schools rank an average of 1.5. Ravenswood elementary schools, in East
