High API scores and score growth may be providing a false picture of the district's status.
Some years ago the California State Department of Education created a taskforce to determine what made successful schools successful. After lengthy and comprehensive study, they identified a list of factors that consistently existed in schools that were successful. Though the Westside School District has realized high API scores, that data can be misleading. Both the high socio-economic profile of the district and an apparent super-emphasis on test preparation may account for the scores. The only reliable way to create a foundation for long-term and comprehensive success is to set up an education infastructure, along the lines of the factors identified in the state report. This needs to be done immediately. This, however, is good only for measuring the academic output of the district, and does not address the 'life-skills' portion of the educational experience that a child must also receive from the schools.
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