Eight school districts in the West San Gabriel Valley, including Arcadia Unified School District, showed year-to-year increases in Academic Performance Index (API) scores. The API measures student proficiency in English and math.
81 percent of area schools met their growth targets on the California state Academic Performance Index (API). However, 35 percent of West San Gabriel Valley schools failed to meet the federal accountability targets determined by Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. See chart on page A6 for Arcadia Unified School District progress.
A chart shows the API scores for West San Gabriel Valley schools for 2004 on page A4. 85 percent of schools in the West San Gabriel Valley maintained or increased their Academic Performance Index ranking compared to schools across the state.
Arcadia, Alhambra, Monrovia, Pasadena, South Pasadena, San Gabriel, San Marino and Temple City public schools all showed improvement on California state API testing that measures English and math performance. Duarte Unified showed a drop from the previous year.
The state Department of Education has revised its Academic Performance Index rankings. Arcadia Unified School District revisions were: Baldwin Stocker Elementary from 4 to 7; Highland Oaks Elementary from 7 to 8; and Holly Avenue Elementary from 8 to 7.
The California State Department of Education has released test scores and rankings. Every spring the state gives each public school two rankings from 1 to 10. A "statewide" rank compares each school in the state and the "similar schools" rank compares schools with similar demographics and populations. Oak Avenue Intermediate in Temple City Unified School District and Huntington Middle School and San Marino High School in San Marino Unified all got 10s in both categories. All schools in the Arcadia Unified School District earned a rank of 10 in the "statewide" category, but ranks varied in the "similar schools" category.
Three area schools will be heading to the state competition after earning high scores in this year's Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon. The Arcadia High School team is shown in a picture with its second place "Super Quiz" trophy.
Auntie Anne's Pretzels is giving away 20 grants to families nationwide who give back to their communities. Linda King Read owns 15 Auntie Anne's franchises, two of which are in the Westfield Santa Anita Shoppingtown.
Two local fire safe councils, the Sierra Madre and Big Santa Anita councils, each received $1000 of a grant from Farmers Insurance Group. The grant will help residents protect their homes.
Arcadia High School among top 16 finalists in National Science Bowl. It is a U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored academice competition. In photo are Chris Chi, Kevin Wang, Ray Fu, Bruce Xu. Also not pictured Allen Shum.
Cal Poly Pomona hosted the 20th annual Science Olympiad for the Southern California region. Six San Gabriel Valley schools were among the 48 schools that participated. Arcadia High School student Alanna Mori competed.