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On Wednesday, when the State of California released its most recent report comparing schools there was joy in the Newhall School District. “Every school in the district was ranked ‘nine’ or ‘ten’ on either the statewide or similar schools comparisons,” said Dr. Marc Winger, superintendent. “Some schools were best in the state, and some were best in their comparison group. We are incredibly proud of the results.” Other school districts will have top schools among their group of schools, but Winger believes it is rare for a district to have every school in the nine or ten column on one or the other comparison. Schools in California are ranked by their Academic Performance Index (API) in two ways: a statewide ranking and a “similar schools” ranking. In the State’s decile-based system that is used for comparison, ranks of 9 or 10 are the highest possible ratings. Every public elementary school in the state is ranked and compared to all other elementary schools. In addition, similar schools are grouped and ranked for comparison based on factors such as student mobility, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. While the statewide metric ranks all schools from top to bottom, the similar schools ranking allows a fairer comparison with schools that enroll students with similar characteristics. The similar schools comparison ranking takes into account the background of the school’s students, such as socioeconomic status and the number of English language learners, which have a great effect on their academic achievement. May 21, 2008 RANKINGS FOR NSD SCHOOLS School Statewide Similar Schools McGrath 6 10 Meadows 9 8 Newhall 7 9 Oak Hills 10 6 Old Orchard 9 10 Peachland 9 10 Pico Canyon 10 8 Stevenson Ranch 10 10 Valencia Valley 9 6 Wiley Canyon 8 10 “A result like this can only come about when teachers, principals and support personnel are focused, dedicated, and putting their hearts and minds into meeting the needs of all of our students,” said Winger in a congratulatory note to his staff. “This is a great tribute to the district’s hard working teachers and administrators.” 
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