How does the API relate to the federal policy “No Child Left Behind”?
The API is an index calculated by educators in Sacramento. It has nothing to do with President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” federal policies, directed from Washington D.C. What does it mean if my school’s score improved on the API, but it did not meet the AYP? This is where politicians have made it very confusing. The AYP — Adequate Yearly Progress index — is like the API, except the AYP is set by a formula that’s largely written in Washington, D.C. It provides a growth target — but one that’s very sensitive to whether your school serves kids from poor or affluent families. It most often penalizes schools that serve many children from lower-income families, since it’s not very sensitive to growth in these schools. The state’s API index, set by Sacramento officials, is more sound that the federal AYP benchmark. Will my kid’s individual scores be recorded on his academic record? Will high schools or colleges see his scores? Yep, it goes in the “cumulative folder” although this doesn’
