All four local schools receive high academic performance marks.
By Hans Laetz/Special to The Malibu Times
Student report cards arrived in Malibu mailboxes last week, and the schools themselves have some good marks to trumpet. State Academic Performance Index scores show good to excellent marks for the four local schools operated by the Santa Monica- Malibu Unified School District.
Malibu High School scored a perfect 10/10 in the rankings issued last week by the California Department of Education. The state has been measuring statewide test results since 2000, and Malibu’s schools have consistently scored high.
The first score indicates a school’s statewide rank on a 1-10 scale. The second score compares a school’s results with 99 other California schools that are similar in socioeconomic and other factors.
Webster Elementary was given a 9/5, Juan Cabrillo scored a 9/7 and Point Dume Marine Science earned a 10/8.
The district’s other schools in Santa Monica have all improved, and are nearing the Malibu campuses in achievement in the latest results.
Twelve of the district’s 14 schools either improved their scores or topped out at 10 and thus were unable to improve.
The district’s largest school, Santa Monica High, scored an 8/4. With 2,379 students, Samohi saw increases in both scores for its students, some of who come from lower-performing socioeconomic areas.
Malibu High is compared to public California schools with similar social and economic factors, including Beverly Hills, Granada Hills, Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and La Jolla high schools.
District Superintendent John Deasy credited hard work for the grades.
“The upward trajectory of student achievement in our district is continuous and it is tremendous,” he said in a statement. “It is a tribute to the extraordinary levels of commitment and achievement by the teachers, parents, community leaders and students of our community.”