Subgroups
To ensure that schools address the achievement gap, the current California accountability system requires subgroup reporting on the STAR tests and on the Academic Performance Index (API). The California system predated No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements for improved scores for each subgroup, and, in the Base API 2006 reporting, strengthened targets for each group.
California law defines a subgroup as being “at least 50 students who make up 15 percent or more of the school’s total population with valid test scores, or at least 100 students with valid test scores.”1
Under the accountability system, the subgroups include:
- African American (not of Hispanic origin)
- American Indian or Alaska Native
- Asian
- Filipino
- Hispanic or Latino
- Pacific Islander
- White (not of Hispanic origin)
- Socioeconomically disadvantaged
- English learners
- Students with disabilities
Both NCLB and the California accountability system focus on subgroups to avoid the unintentional obscuring of inequities in subgroup performance.
Many a school problem has been hidden under a blanket of ‘average’ scores. That can be especially easy in schools where most students are high achievers because underachieving subgroups tend to get submerged in schoolwide numbers. That . . . is why NCLB insists on making sure that each subgroup, and not just the overall student body, makes adequate yearly progress.2
It may be necessary for accountability calculations to look at statistically significant subgroups, but high-performing schools must look at all student populations—even those that are calculated as statistically insignificant—for accountability purposes. Although the numbers of a group such as English learners or Native Americans may not reach statistical significance, social equity means public schools have an ethical responsibility to teach those students even if the group consists of a few students.
Report Examines Educational Progress of Students by Race/Ethnicity
A report from the U. S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics examines current and trending student achievement by race/ethnicity. Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups delves into demographic information; preprimary, elementary, and secondary education participation; achievement (including advanced placement classes and college entrance exams); persistence (such as absences and drop out rates); student behaviors; postsecondary education; and educational outcomes.
Related Links
- 2009-10 APR Glossary-Demographic Characteristics, California Department of Education.
- American Indian, California Department of Education.
- English Learner Subgroup Self Assessment (ELSSA) (XLS; 264KB; 33pp.), California Department of Education.
- English Learners, California Department of Education.
- Migrant Education Resources, California Department of Education.
- Migrant Student Information Network (MSIN) (Outside Source), WestEd.
- No Child Left Behind, California Department of Education.
- PALMS . . . College Within Their Grasp: Postsecondary Access for Latino Middle-Grades Students (Outside Source)
- Race
and Ethnicity (Outside Source), U.S. Census Bureau.
- Recommendation 11—Accountability, TCSII.
- Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups (PDF; Outside Source)
- Title III Immigrant Students, California Department of Education.
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Footnotes
1 California Education Code Section 52052 (a)(3) .
2 William Raspberry, Now We Don’t Have Any Underperforming Subgroups (Outside Source), The Washington Post, June 7, 2004.
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