Requesting Academic Performance Data from SDUSD

I have requested academic performance data from SDUSD for several purposes. Many parents, teachers, and administrative staff have expressed concern and curiosity regarding academic performance. In particular:

• How sites in the Mission Bay cluster compare with other clusters?
• How well students in the cluster are prepared for Mission Bay?
• How well students that select Mission Bay after attending other clusters are prepared?
• How well students from the region do in other clusters?

These and many other questions are on the minds of our community.


The request made to SDUSD is as follows:


Adel,
 I have been directed to make my request for data to your office (see below).  I am requesting data on SDUSD students (specifically test data) to better understand and communicate student performance trends.  I request a database of the following information:

*  Test score data [actual scores, not ranking or proficiency levels; all subjects; all grade levels]
    o  STAR CST
    o  NAEP
    o  CAHSEE
 *  Student attendance zone indicating the elementary, middle school, or high school where the student is nominally assigned based upon residence
 *  Site of attendance for the student
 *  Grade level
 *  Ethnicity
 *  Title 1 status (Yes/No)
 *  EL (Yes/No)
 *  GATE status (Non-identified/GATE/Seminar)
 *  Military (Yes/No)
 *  IEP (Yes/No)

 This data includes all SDUSD students (all grade levels, all sites) from academic years beginning in 2000/01 and up to and including 2010/11.  The database should include a key or identifier which can be used to track a student from year to year, but which cannot be used to easily determine the identification of an individual student.  Acceptable database formats include MySQL and CSV files.  Other file formats can be discussed with the appropriate individual.

 Please bear in mind that similar data was released from LAUSD to the LA Times based upon the California Public Information Act.    See the following:  http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/15/local/la-me-teachers-value-about-20100815

 "Students take the California Standards Tests in math and English every year beginning in second grade. The Times obtained scores for the academic years 2002-03 through 2008-09 from LAUSD under the California Public Records Act. Included were 1.5 million scores from 603,500 students. Students' names were not included, but their teachers' names were."

 Thank you for your cooperation.

 Sincerely,
 Brian Catanzaro, PhD