Newly released statewide testing data show continued, sustained gains by Riverside County schools in their efforts to lift student scores and close the achievement gap, according to Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Kenneth M. Young.

“We’re gratified that these new results show the county’s schools have continued to find ways to lift student performance in spite of the worst education budget climate in living memory,” Young said. “That’s a real accomplishment, and our students, educators, parents and communities all deserve a share in the credit.”

Young added: “We’re particularly proud of the improvements Riverside County’s schools are showing in comparable-school rankings, and in the gains some of our districts have made with lower-performing subgroups.”

Among the revelations in the new report: Riverside County led the state’s 16 largest counties in the change, from 2007 to 2010, in the percentage of schools meeting the state’s performance target of 800. Riverside County’s increase was 20 percent. (View chart) The statewide average, meanwhile, was 14 percent. That gain coincided with Young’s 2007 pledge, made when he became Riverside County’s Superintendent of Schools, to increase the college- and workforce-readiness of the county’s graduates.

Those gains place Riverside County eighth among the 16 large counties in percentage of schools now meeting the target. (View chart) That’s one slim notch below the state average.

The 2010 Base Report on the state’s API (Academic Performance Index), released today (May 5, 2011) by the California Department of Education (CDE 2010 Base API Report), creates the new baseline against which current-year test scores will be measured next August. The data also include public school rankings that enable parents to match the performance of their child’s school against schools of similar type, size and economic profile up and down the state.

Among other findings in the data:

• Every traditionally low-performing student subgroup registered year-over-year gains in Riverside County in 2010. The average API score for African-American students jumped 32 points. Hispanic students gained 4 points, English Learners gained 8 points, and socioeconomically disadvantaged students were up 10. Most dramatically, Students with Disabilities in the county were up 74 points. At the same time, the achievement gap between these subgroups and all students has continued to shrink. (View chart)

• The percentage of all Riverside County schools reaching the 800-point goal has increased 43 percentage points since testing began in 1999. (View chart) That reflects gains across the board, from elementary through high school, and is also the top mark among the state’s 16 large counties. (View chart)

• In similar-school rankings, based on statewide comparisons, Riverside County schools make a particularly strong showing. Three-fourths of the county’s schools now score in the top half of all schools (Deciles 6-10). That’s an increase of 34 percentage points since 1999. (View chart)

The release of the fresh state data marked the second time in two weeks that Riverside County’s drive to close the achievement gap was validated by outside review.

Last week, the Oakland-based Education Trust-West issued “A Report Card on District Achievement.” In that report, a significant group of Riverside County districts were singled out as having “far exceeded the norm in California” for improving performance among educational subgroups.

That list included Lake Elsinore, Coachella Valley, Val Verde and Desert Sands unified school districts. Education-Trust West pointed out that another top-achieving district, Sanger Unified of Fresno County, had done much of its achievement training with the Riverside County Office of Education. RCOE is a leading California provider of training in such fields as data-use and Professional Learning Communities.

Complete report for 2010 Base Academic Performance Index (API) - Riverside County Office of Education

For information contact:
Rick Peoples, Public Information Officer
Telephone: (951) 826-6642
Fax: (951) 826-6199
rpeoples@rcoe.us