API test scores improve

Its students made modest gains in math and English this year, but the Los Angeles Unified School District still lags behind the state average and remains on a watch list for falling short of federal goals, according to state exam results released Thursday. George Sanchez in the Daily News.

LAUSD's score on the Academic Performance Index - the state's academic benchmark - rose by 21 points to 683 for the 2007-08 school year. The statewide average was 742, up from 728 in 2006-07.

"We did well," LAUSD Superintendent David L. Brewer III said at a news conference in Sun Valley. "We still have a long way to go."

The API scale ranges from 200 to 1,000, with a statewide target of 800. The score is one of several used to measure a district's progress toward federal targets spelled out in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.