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By Jason Islas
Lookout Staff

September 2, 2011 -- The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District's (SMMUSD's) showing in state standardized tests for 2011 may be cause for celebration, but by national standards, Santa Monica students are still falling short.

State Superintendent Tom Torkalson released data Wednesday that shows SMMUSD gained a record high score in their state Academic Performance Index (API) of 855.

According to an SMMUSD press release, that's an 11 point gain over 2010's scores. What's more, that is comfortably higher than California's target score of 800.

However, federal standards, set in place by the controversial “No Child Left Behind” act, paint a different picture. Torkalson referred to the federal model as a “flawed accounting system.”

The dissonance between the two testing systems comes partly from the fact that the state measures “continuous progress and gains” while the federal system only looks at whether or not a student is “proficient,” according to the SMMUSD statement.

Almost every school in the SMMUSD showed an increase in their state API, with Malibu High School gaining the most with 27 points, and Santa Monica High School following with an 18 point gain.

Franklin Elementary School has the highest API of all SMMUSD schools, a score of 957.

Olympic High School had the poorest showing at a loss of 89 API points, partly as a result of Olympic High School's use of a different measuring system, according to the press release.

The state API is compilation of several factors.

The primary source for measuring students' API are the California Standards Tests (CSTs) in English Language Arts, Math, Science and History.

Federal measurements look only at English and Math scores.

The state CST measures five different levels of achievement – far below, below, basic, proficient and advanced – whereas the federal accountability system measures only two: proficient or not.

According to No Child Left Behind data, only 75.9 percent of SMMUSD students are proficient in English while only 71.4 percent are in Math.

That's about a C minus on most teachers grading scales.

The demographic breakdown is even less heartening, with disabled students performing the lowest, slightly worse than English learners and African American students. Less than half of African American students showed proficiency in Math and 55 percent showed proficiency in English.

Though SMMUSD surpassed the Federal Annual Measurement Objective (AMO) of 70 percent, the federal system requires that all significant demographic groups within the district also meet the AMO to be in compliance with federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

All Title I schools are required to meet that Federal standard. Of the four Title I schools in SMMUSD, all of them missed at least one of their AYP marks.

According to the press release, the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has said that there are difficulties with the federal system and that he may waive some of the aspects that education officials like Torkalson find frustrating.