RANKING THE SCHOOLS : Measuring The Health of Valley Schools

For the first time, the California Department of Education has ranked high schools according to a number of performance benchmarks, including dropout rates, the completion of college preparatory courses, Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) results, Advance Placement (AP) test results and percentage of students who go on four-year college attendance.

The school’s “Average Performance Value” is a summary statistic that provides a way to measure the general health of the educational program at a particular school. It is not a hard-and-fast measure of school success.

Theoretically, the highest possible Average Performance Value is 100. But, in reality schools are not expected to have 100% of their students meeting all quality indicators. For example, not every high schools graduate is expected to attend a four-year California university.

The “Statewide Average” is the average of all schools in the state. A similar statistic has been provided for each school district.

The “Comparison Group Average” shows how a particular campus compares with 100 other schools in the state with similar demographics. The four comparison factors are: The number of students who speak little or no English, the percentage of students whose families receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the average socio-economic status of students and their transiency rate.

Copies of individual school reports will soon be available to the public at each campus.

State Value: 1992-93 Rate: 42.5

1992-93 Rate Comparison Group Avg. Antelope Valley Union 35.6 Antelope Valley High 35.2 40.1 Desert Winds Continuation 12.8 37.1 Palmdale 34.7 40.6 Quartz Hill 39.7 42.8 Highland 34.9 40.7 Little Rock 34.0 39.7 Burbank Unified 44.4 Burbank High 46.1 44.8 Burroughs 45.7 43.3 Glendale Unified 43.0 Crescenta Valley 53.5 53.3 Daily 14.3 38.0 Glendale 41.3 38.6 Hoover 44.0 39.2 Las Virgenes Unified 55.6 Agoura 55.1 55.7 Calabasas 58.5 58.5 Los Angeles Unified 36.4 Birmingham (Van Nuys) 50.9 41.1 Canoga Park 36.2 39.3 Chatsworth 48.1 45.9 Cleveland (Reseda) 45.0 42.5 El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) 53.0 46.5 Francis Polytechnic (Sun Valley) 31.0 36.7 Granada Hills 50.6 47.7 Grant (Van Nuys 38.1 39.2 Kennedy (Granada Hills) 39.1 40.4 Monroe (North Hills) 36.0 39.3 North Hollywood 40.7 38.5 Reseda 42.3 40.1 San Fernando 34.0 36.3 Sylmar 29.2 36.7 Taft 47.6 45.1 Van Nuys 43.1 41.7 Verdugo Hills (Tuijunga) 35.6 42.0 Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies (Reseda) 43.8 46.4 Valley Alternative (Van Nuys0 38.1 45.9 William S. Hart Union 47.9 Canyon 45.7 44.6 Saugus 46.4 49.0 Hart 56.6 52.3 Bowman 12.6 31.2

Source: California Department of Education