Are Beverly Hills Schools Making The Grade?

Amanda Peabody, Beverly Hills Courier:  Despite increasing Academic Performance Index (API) scores for most BHUSD school sites, the district has no eligible candidates for the 2010 California School Recognition Program. The program designates high performing schools in the state as a “distinguished” school, an award BHUSD has received in the past.

New guidelines implemented by the California Department of Education deem Beverly Hills Unified School District as “category 3,” or as containing schools with no numerically significant disadvantaged subgroups. Category 3 schools must have an API in the 75th (above 940) percentile school-wide to qualify. Hawthorne School earned the district’s highest API score in 2009 of 908, 32 points below the designation requirements. With increased diversity, the API requirement drops to 840.

Other criteria schools must meet are eligible grade levels, previous distinguished school status and intervention or sanction status. Schools must also adequately close the achievement gap and make adequate yearly progress as governed by No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

“The state’s new eligibility requirements does not in any way diminish the work of our teachers and administrators,” said Interim Superintendent for BHUSD, Jerry Gross. He further called the non-eligibility “disappointing” but ultimately motivating.

The award is given during alternate years. For the 2010 cycle, eligible elementary schools were invited to participate.

Area districts that did meet eligibility include La Canada Unified (La Canada Elementary and Palm Crest Elementary), Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified (Cornerstone at Pedregal Elementary, Montemalaga Elementary and Silver Spur Elementary) and Santa Monica-Malibu Unified (McKinley Elementary and Point Dume Elementary). Of these, only Santa Monica-Malibu Unified’s McKinley is not classified as a category 3 school. See chart for a comparison of API scores.

Thank you Amanda Peabody of the Beverly Hills Courier for this terrific information about BHUSD.

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