Santa Cruz County Schools Get a Mixed Report Card

Santa Cruz County schools have mixed grades in the latest round of statewide rankings of standardized test scores.

For high schools, Pacific Collegiate Charter School is on top of the county's schools. It is also in the top 10 nationwide as a college preparatory school. Pajaro Valley High had the lowest ranking among the county's high schools.

The newly released rankings are based on the Academic Performance Index (API) scores , which in turn are based on student performance on standardized tests given in 2011.

The API is a tool that the state uses in order to rate a school's performance on scale of 200 to 1,000. California's benchmark (expected average) is 800.

The tests rank schools by how well students did on standardized tests.

County high schools ranked:

• Pacific Collegiate Charter School: 935
• Scotts Valley High School: 844
• San Lorenzo Valley High School: 810
• Aptos High School: 802
• Harbor High School: 787
• Santa Cruz High School: 785
• Soquel High School: 764
• SLCUSD Charter: 743
• Pacific Coast Charter: 660
• Watsonville High: 660
• Pajaro Valley High: 653
• Santa Cruz County Community: 568

Junior High rankings include highs at Scotts Valley Middle School with a 902, Celba College Preparatory which had a score of 849, Aptos Junior High with an 806, Mission Hill Middle School with  an 838.

See the complete rankings of Santa Cruz County Schools here.