An increased focus on student strengths and teacher determination at Malcolm X Academy helped the small school reach proficiency on standardized testing, a trend 65 percent of San Francisco schools are following, according to data released by the California Department of Education.

The 118-student school in the Bayview district managed to jump 108 points to a score of 800, the minimum given to schools out of a possible 1,000 based on test scores to be considered “proficient.” The test is known as the Academic Performance Index.

State education officials noted the difficulty for small schools to make such a drastic gain, a statement San Francisco schools Superintendent Carlos Garcia disagreed with.

“For people to say a small school can’t be successful, that’s baloney,” Garcia said. “[Malcolm X] is a small school, but we can learn a lot from them.”

The state API and federal Adequate Yearly Progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act report progress in different ways, according to state education officials.

The API is an index model that measures year-to-year improvement and provides incentives to educators to focus on students at all performance levels.

The AYP system focuses solely on whether or not students are scoring at the proficient level or above on state assessments.

To reach the AYP benchmark, schools had to increase the share of students scoring at or above the proficient level on state tests by 11 percentage points from last year. As a result, only 48 percent of city schools met the federal standards.

San Francisco Unified School District scored 791 on its 2010 Growth API, which is 16 points more than the 2009 base of 775.

The state gained 13 points from 2009 to 2010, going from 754 to 767, respectively.

Statewide, 46 percent of schools reached the goal of 800, an increase of 4 percent. According to state Superintendent Jack O’Connell, with the increase in students meeting proficiency, it may be time to consider moving target API scores.

Garcia said the increases in test scores are something to celebrate, but all schools have a long way to go.

akoskey@sfexaminer.com

*=does not have 2009 base test
n/a= not available
Source: California Department of Education