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.
Find out what's happening in Lamorindawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
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:
Find out what's happening in Lamorindawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
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
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.