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Haywood ranks at top of class
Believe it or not, the first semester of the 2009-2010 school year has only three weeks remaining. In the meantime, state Academic Performance Index results from the 2008-2009 school year have been posted on the Oklahoma Department of Education Web site.
“Our county is up there with the highest performing schools around, so we don’t want it to be just about us,” said Haywood Superintendent Chad Graham. Haywood enjoyed not only the highest API ranking in the county this past year, but the largest increase in improvement, as well. The small rural pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school just west of McAlester went from the lowest overall API in Pittsburg County in 2008 to the highest overall API in the county in 2009.
“Haywood’s a special place, with lots of good things happening,” Graham said, “but everybody in the county does a good job. Our county ought to be very proud of our educational opportunities.”
API scores are compiled by combining several factors.
“The total API is a score between 0 and 1500 that combines a variety of educational measures, including math, reading, Algebra I and English II (test) results, attendance rate, graduation rate, dropout rate, ACT participation and composite score, college remediation and advance placement courses offered,” said Oklahoma State Department of Education Assistant Superintendent of Accountability and Assessment Jennifer Stegman. “The formula breaks the educational measures into three components and weighs them depending on the school type. For elementary and middle schools the formula applies 90 percent to test results and 10 percent to school completion (attendance rate). For high schools and districts the API formula applies a weight of 80 percent to the test results, 10 percent to the school completion (attendance, graduation, drop out rate) and 10 percent to the academic excellence component,” which refers to ACT, college remediation and AP scores.
She added that the over-all district score is calculated by using all the tested grades at the district along with the school’s completion and academic excellence reports.
Contact Mandy Carter at mcarter@mcalesternews.
com.
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