I can count myself as someone who attended a school with an API of 1, and later went on to be valedictorian of an middle class school, followed by the Ivy League!
Here is my story:
I moved from the Midwest to San Diego with my family in 1986. In the Midwest, I had attended an elemetary school with only 1 classroom per grade, so we had learning disabled kids in with gifted kids, etc. I was in the gifted program so I spent Friday afternoons in a pullout program with a resource teacher. For reading, those of us who were ahead went up to the next grade’s classroom and did reading group with them. So in 5th grade, I did reading group with the 6th graders.
This is an aside, but I made it to 5th grade in my Midwest school and had NEVER had even a single worksheet of homework. [I probably was supposed to read, but I did that voluntarily. I didn’t need to study for spelling or math tests because those were easy for me.] As I recall, actual written homework with worksheets and the like started in 6th grade.
Anyway, we moved to San Diego, and somehow we ended up in Normal Heights (WAY before it was cool). I attended Adams Elementary for about 5 months in Spring 1986. That school is API rank 1, and similar schools rank 2. I don’t think it was any better back in 1986. I was stunned to realize that I had to use the reading book that I had already completed in 4th grade. And the school was targeted for some sort of federal program for low-performing schools. I will never forget the fact that we had a vocabulary worksheet and one of the words — for FIFTH grade — was CLOCK!!
Incidentally, at Adams I had a very good teacher who was really interested in world events and had us read the newspaper, etc. We discussed not only the Challenger disaster, but events in Libya and the Philippines as well. The school also had a program in which those of us who were “ahead” took a bus over to Hoover HS and took a computer class (Basic, LOGO, Print Shop, etc)! And suddenly, I had a few hours of homework every night… math, spelling/vocabulary, etc etc.
The next year I enrolled in Wilson Middle School and a girl named Tijuana (seriously) threatened to “jump” me on the way home. Also, another 6th grader claimed that she might be pregnant. There were huge fights outside every single day — before school, at lunchtime, and after.
SO…about 7 weeks into the school year I switched schools. I was lucky to have qualified for the seminar program and to have a mom who was willing to transport me there every morning. In the afternoon, I took the city bus home. I stayed in the seminar program thru 9th grade and then attended a middle class HS (using AP classes to justify my intradistrict transfer), and went on to attend an Ivy League school.
So, it does sometimes happen that someone goes on from an API 1 school and leads a successful life. However, I kinda wonder what would have happened if I would have been in that school system for my entire schoolage life (K-12)?
