GROSSMONT UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT POSTS SIGNIFICANT GAINS IN 2013 API TEST SCORES

District Records an Overall Gain of 14 Points

On August 29, 2013, the California Department of Education (CDE) released the 2013 Growth API for schools and districts in California. For high schools, the API measures how well students are performing on both the California Standards Tests (CSTs) as well as the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).

The Grossmont District’s API increased by 14 points to 769, marking the tenth consecutive year of growth.

In addition to significant growth at the District level, two of GUHSD’s high schools demonstrated dramatic improvements. El Cajon Valley High School increased its API by 73 points and Monte Vista posted a gain of 29 points.  Below are additional highlights.

Highlights:

• At the subgroup level, the District realized dramatic growth among students with disabilities (+28 points), socioeconomically disadvantaged (+38 points), and Hispanic/Latino students (+30 points).

• Performance in the core academic areas continued to improve with an overall increase in the percentage of students scoring at the Advanced or Proficient levels of 1.5 points. The strongest growth at the District level was in Social Science (+2.7 percentage points) and English Language Arts (ELA) (+2.0 percentage points).

• The largest specific areas of improved performance include: Grade 10 ELA (+4.0 percentage points), Geometry (+3.5 percentage points), and US History (+3.7 percentage points).

Individual School Highlights:

• El Cajon Valley demonstrated outstanding achievement in 2012-13. In addition to the school’s 73 point growth on the 2013 Growth API, these gains were matched in each of the school’s significant subgroups. African Americans were up by 79 points, socioeconomically disadvantaged students went up by 78 points, Hispanic/Latino students increased by 76 points, English Learners had a 47 point increase, and students with disabilities went up by 43 points. The school exceeded all of its API growth targets. The results from CST testing reflect improvement in all subject areas.

• Monte Vista made substantial gains on both the CST tests as well as the California High School Exit Exam where the percentage of students passing increased by 8 percentage points. The 2013 Growth API shows a 29 point increase with dramatic improvements in the Special Education, English Learner, and Caucasian subgroups. The school was one among very few high schools Statewide to have met all of its targets under No Child Left Behind accountability rules. The largest gains were in English Language Arts, Science, and Social Science. Monte Vista's achievement is particularly noteworthy for its similar schools ranking. With a similar schools rank of 9, Monte Vista is outperforming 90 percent of high schools Statewide that have comparable student demographics.

• Santana continued to show improved scores, and its 2013 Growth API of 814 exceeds the State target. The school showed large gains in its Hispanic/Latino subgroup with a growth of 29 points. CST scores increased in all subject areas with the largest gains in Geometry (+16.0), Algebra I (+8.3), and Integrated Science (+18.3). Santana continues to score well above the State's established target of 800.

• Valhalla increased the percentage of students scoring at the Advanced or Proficient levels on the CST tests schoolwide, with the largest increases in High School Math (+4.0), Integrated Science (+5.6), and US History (+4.6). The school’s API went up by 7 points with significant growth among the Hispanic/Latino subgroup (+26) and the socioeconomic subgroup (+14). Valhalla continues to score well above the State's established target of 800.

• West Hills continued to exceed the State API target with a 2013 Growth API of 807 and demonstrated significant growth among its Special Education (+31) and Hispanic/Latino (+14) subgroups. Schoolwide increases in the percentage of students scoring Advanced or Proficient were most pronounced in Physics (+11.5), High School Math (+6.4), and 10^th Grade English Language Arts (+4.7). West Hills continues to score well above the State's established target of 800.

• Grossmont improved at all grade levels in English Language Arts (ELA) and realized significant improvement in the areas of Integrated Science (+29.0), Physics (+14.9), and US History (+4.8).

• Mount Miguel made gains in Geometry (+4.9), Algebra II (+6.8), and US History (+7.0) and showed significant improvement among its African American, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and English Learner subgroups.

• El Capitan posted a 10 point increase in the 2013 Growth API and showed significant growth among its Hispanic/Latino (+28), socioeconomically disadvantaged (+19), and English Learner subgroups (+22). The largest CST improvements were among the 9^th Grade ELA (+12.0), Chemistry (+11.0), and Physics (+14.0) CST tests.

• Granite Hills realized large gains on the Earth Science (+8.8), High School Math (+16.2), and Geometry (+6.7) CST tests. Overall, the school met its API growth target while showing significant improvement among students with disabilities (+27 point growth on the 2013 Growth API).

• The District’s charter schools Helix Charter and Steele Canyon scored at 804 and 798 respectively.  More detailed information may be obtained directly from the schools.