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# Student achievement gap closing at local schools
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/student-achievement-gap-closing-at-local-schools/
- Published: 2004-09-03T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:00:42.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Malibu, #archive-import

*Not all schools achieve*

*By PAM WIGHT Special to the Daily Press*

DISTRICT HDQTRS.— Evidence released Wednesday shows that being poor in Santa Monica doesn’t have to impede academic progress.

While most California students affected by poverty have suffered under continued educational budget cutbacks, those living in Santa Monica and Malibu have shown significant improvements in performance, according to recent test scores.

Schools Superintendent John Deasy announced this week the results of the district’s scores from the Academic Performance Index (API) and the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) tests. The low income demographic group improved 32 points on a scale in which gaining points becomes more difficult as improvements are made.

The SMMUSD’s overall API score rose 12 points — from 780 to 792\. But the district still falls short on state standards, which is at least 800\. Until a school reaches the targeted 800, it must meet a minimum increase of 5 percent of the difference between the base score and the 800 level. Tests are usually administered in the spring of each school year.

“An increase in 12 points at the level where SMMUSD operates requires significantly greater effort than the levels of the county or the state,” Deasy said. “These gains are remarkable, especially at schools which serve large numbers of impacted youth.”

All Santa Monica and Malibu schools have APIs over 700, and nine of the 14 schools that report data have API scores over 800\. Pt. Dume Marine Science Academy scored 912 out of a possible 1,000\. Five elementary schools, Cabrillo, Edison, Grant, Pt. Dume and Roosevelt; one middle school, John Adams, and both comprehensive high schools — Santa Monica and Malibu High Schools — made double-digit gains in the last year. Especially noteworthy were the gains of Edison, Samohi, John Adams and Malibu because they all serve large populations of underprivileged students, Deasy said.

Not all schools experienced growth. Six schools had declines, ranging from three points to 20 points. Four of the schools remain well above 800\. Each of the schools that experienced a decline, however, had been growing consistently in previous years, Deasy said.

“The long-term trend indicates steady and outstanding growth,” he said. “Moreover, the district looks forward to each additional piece of data we receive from the state as it helps us refine our efforts to help all students achieve at high levels.”

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 established accountability requirements, which is the AYP. The AYP appraises all schools independently by the same standards. It also measures the growth of each school and district in the nation to determine if it is progressing at an acceptable course.

There are up to 46 different criteria for schools and districts to meet in order to make AYP targets. Most of the criteria fall into one of two umbrellas: Proficiency, which measures student achievement, and participation, which measures the number of students who take the test. In Santa Monica and Malibu, there are 34 criteria to be met, and this year the district met 33 of them. The district didn’t meet a component of the participation criteria relating to special education students who took the state assessment in mathematics.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 3, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090304.pdf?ref=smdp.com)