Four local school districts saw gains in a key measure of their academic performance last year, while one district's score fell and another's score stayed exactly the same, according to results released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.

The Guadalupe Union School District improved the most, with its base Academic Performance Index (API) score rising a full 13 points, while Lompoc Unified School District's overall score did not budge from last year's, and Orcutt Union School District's score dropped four points.

Nipomo High School in the Lucia Mar district had the biggest gain for an individual school, with a 76-point improvement from last year.

Even with the four-point drop, Orcutt still had the highest API score of the six districts, though district officials called the drop “concerning.”

“I don't want to make any excuses. There's no excuses,” said Orcutt Director of Educational Services Bob Bush. “We have to roll up our sleeves and keep working.”

The API measures the performance and growth of schools and districts based on the test scores of students in second through 12th grade. The base scores for each academic year are released in the academic year that follows the testing.

For instance, the results released Wednesday are from exams students undertook during the spring of the 2006-2007 school year.

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Possible scores range from 200 to a perfect 1,000, with the state target score set at 800.

Statewide, the 2007 base API shows that the percentage of elementary schools at or above the statewide performance target of 800 is 36.7 percent, up from 34.6 percent in 2006; middle schools are at 24.6 percent, up from 23.9 percent; and high schools are at 14.5 percent, up from 13.6 percent, according to the Department of Education.

Though Guadalupe's API score hasn't yet met the “magic” 800-point target, the district's score rose 13 points to 667, up from 654 in 2006.

McKenzie Junior High School's score was 639, a 13-point improvement over last year, while Mary Buren School's score was 696, an 11-point improvement.

“I really want to give credit to the hard work of the classroom teachers, because that's really where it happens,” Superintendent Hugo Lara said, adding that the district has implemented a number of reforms in the past year or two.

Lucia Mar's score went from 775 in 2006 to 782 in 2007, a seven-point gain.

Individual schools in the Lucia Mar district saw some of the biggest gains and losses of the six districts.

While Nipomo High's scores rose 76 points, from 705 to 781 - getting close to the 800-point target - Oceano Elementary School's scores dropped 31 points, from 737 to 706.

Shell Beach Elementary School had the highest score in the district at 880, though that was a seven-point drop from 887 in 2006.

The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District saw an 11-point growth in its API scores, from 669 in 2006 to 680 in 2007.

Within the district, Pioneer Valley High School's score improved the most, from 661 to 687, a 26-point increase.

Santa Maria High School was the only school within the district whose scores took a dip, going from 632 to 626

Pioneer Valley Principal Dee Ringstead was out of the office and could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Santa Maria High School Principal Craig Huseth also could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, in Orcutt, district officials said they would take a hard look at what may have caused their score to dip from 828 in 2006 to 824.

However, three of its elementary schools - Patterson Road, Pine Grove and Alice Shaw - did see slight improvements.

Orcutt Junior High's score took the biggest dip in the district, from 828 to 817.

Santa Maria-Bonita and Lompoc's scores stayed relatively stable.

While the Santa Maria-Bonita School District's API score improved one point overall, from 700 to 701, individual school results were more mixed, with schools generally seeing big rises or significant falls in their scores.

“It's important for us to take a real hard look at ourselves,” Superintendent David Francis said. “We're going to look at every single school and have a conversation about what it is that contributed to your results, whatever they were. It's a short-term and a long-term and an immediate process.”

Natalie Ragus can be reached at 347-4580 or nragus@santamaria times.com. Staff reporter

Amanda Brooks contributed to this report.

May 22, 2008