Students in Hermosa’s two public schools continued to score in the top 10 percent statewide, according to the latest comprehensive measure of standardized academic testing.
Students at the second-through-eighth grade Hermosa Valley School earned 937 out of a possible 1,000 points in the Academic Performance Index, or API, which is the state Department of Education’s main measure of how the schools are doing.
Students at the kindergarten-through-second grade Hermosa View School scored 938 out of 1,000 on the index.
Among California schools with similar demographic profiles, educators ranked Valley School in the top 10 percent and View school in the top 30 percent.
State officials arrive at the “similar school” rankings by comparing schools with similar characteristics including pupil mobility, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, percentage of teachers who are fully credentialed, percentage of teachers who hold emergency credentials, and percentage of pupils who are English language learners.
Other factors include average class size per grade level, percentage of students in gifted and talented education programs, percentage of students with disabilities, percentage of reclassified fluent-English-proficient students, and percentage of migrant education students.
The Academic Performance Index is designed to measure student achievement in areas such as English-language arts, mathematics, science, and history.
State educators compile the index using the “STAR” Standardized Testing and Reporting tests, high school exit exams (which are not taken in Hermosa), and the California Modified Assessment, which is administered to some students with disabilities in third through fifth grades. ER
