State legislation, the Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA) of 1999 (Chapter 3, Statutes of 1999), established the Academic Performance Index (API), which summarizes a school's or a local educational agency's (LEA) academic performance and progress on statewide assessments. (An LEA is a school district or county office of education.) The API also is used as an additional indicator for federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements.

The 2008 Base API summarizes a school's, an LEA's, or the state's performance on the spring 2008 Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program and 2008 California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE). It serves as the baseline score, or starting point, of performance.

The 2009 Growth API summarizes a school's, an LEA’s, or the state's performance on the spring 2009 STAR Program and 2009 CAHSEE. It is compared to the 2008 Base API to determine growth in the API from 2008 to 2009.

The 2008 Base API is subtracted from the 2009 Growth API to determine how much the school or LEA grew between 2008 and 2009 testing. This number is also referred to as 2008-09 API Growth and is included in the 2009 Growth API Report.

MLS School Code

to be updated by end of march 2010