Why is This Important?

A good education provides a foundation for children to become productive members of society, obtain high-quality jobs, and contribute towards their  community's general welfare. By providing equal education for all children, schools can play a large role in increasing the overall social equity of a community.
Further, a highly skilled and educated work force will attract new businesses to the area along with new jobs and their associated economic benefits.

What is a Sustainable State?

A sustainable state is one where all children receive an education that equips them with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to fully reach their potential and become productive participants in society.

How Are We Doing?

API scores
The Academic Performance Index (API) is the cornerstone of California's Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999. While comparisons of API scores between school districts may be problematic because of differences in student populations, API scores can be an important measure of progress from year to
year within a district or a region.

To calculate the API for a school, student performance on standardized tests is aggregated at the school level and converted into a score between 200 and 1,000. The performance target for all California public schools is 800.
• For the school year ending in 2009, the median API score for all county schools was 791. Performance improved at all school levels and within all demographic subgroups including socioeconomically disadvantaged and English learners.
• Elementary schools had the highest median API of 821, while middle schools had a median API of 802, and the median API for high schools was 760. County schools at all levels had higher API scores than the comparable state averages.
• Using previous year's scores as a baseline, all schools are assigned an annual "growth target." The percentage of county schools meeting their growth target in 2009 was highest among elementary schools, with 80 percent of meeting those targets. High schools in the county, however, have seen reductions in the percentage of schools meeting their growth targets; only 50 percent of high schools met these targets in 2009.
• API scores can vary widely by socioeconomic status and language skills, a condition commonly known as the "achievement gap." In 2009, the median APIs for socioeconomically disadvantaged students was almost 100 points lower (697) and English learners was 706 compared with the countywide average of 791.

School resources
Each year, every school district in the state must calculate the "current expense of education," a measure of the value of direct educational services received annually by students.
• The county average expenditure per pupil for all school districts in 2007/08 was $9,194 compared with the statewide the average of $8,594.• There is wide variability in expenditures per student across school districts in the county. Per pupil spending in the Woodside Elementary and Portola Valley Elementary school districts is more than double that in South San Francisco. The availability of supplemental revenue sources, primarily elective parcel taxes, explain much of the variation between districts.

Preparation for higher education
In 2007/08, 52 percent of the San Mateo County high school graduating class met University of California (UC) and/or California State University (CSU) eligibility requirements, compared with 34 percent statewide. This is the fi rst year in the last six that more than half of graduating students met these eligibility requirements.

Career Technical Education
Career technical education, formerly known as vocational education, helps students explore future career options and gain specific skills to prepare for further training or work. Subject areas include computers and technology work, building and construction trades including home energy efficiency, and arts and graphic design.

The availability of these classes and enrollment in them is an indicator of the ability of the educational system to provide opportunities for a diverse mix of students. Unfortunately, both the number of classes available and total enrollment have fallen over the last seven years.