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Schools

STAR Testing May Be a Pain, But It Pays Off For Lamorinda Schools

The annual report card is in, and Lamorinda schools excel.

If you hate STAR testing, you've got to love the result. On Thursday, while many of us were out celebrating Cinco de Mayo, the California Department of Education released the annual Academic Performance Index for all school districts. Parents and realtors alike can rightfully brag about how smart the local kids are.

Besides bragging rights, and the chance to closely evaluate neighboring school scores, APIs fulfill the national No Child Left Behind assessment requirement and enable administrators, parents and teachers to discern areas that require further attention.

The base API provides one measure of a school’s academic ability. The index is scored on a scale of 200 to 1,000. A strong API score may lead to a school being designated a California Distinguished School, a designation many local schools have received.

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Calculating the API is convoluted, but it’s largely based on annual Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) testing, which schools are conducting right now. STAR testing evaluates second through eighth grade students knowledge of language arts and math, with science knowledge also tested in fourth grade and above.Lamorinda schools all fall into the category of “excellent” – a designation reserved for schools that exceed the 800 target set by the state.

In the Moraga School District:

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Camino Pablo Elementary School

961

Los Perales Elementary School

953

Rheem Elementary School

971

Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School

934

In the Orinda Union School District:

Del Rey Elementary School

969

Glorietta Elementary School

966

Sleepy Hollow Elementary School

975

Wagner Ranch Elementary School

965

Orinda Intermediate School

938

In the Lafayette School District:

Burton Valley Elementary School

928

Happy Valley Elementary School

962

Lafayette Elementary School

940

Springhill Elementary School

917

Stanley Middle School

909

In the Acalanes Union High School District:

Acalanes High School

897

Campolindo high School

919

Las Lomas High School

862

Miramonte High School

929

For more details and data, check the district-level scores or the individual school scores.

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