EDITORIAL PROOF POSITIVE SOMETHING IS WRONG AT THE LAUSD -- AND IT ISN'T STUDENTS.

THE modest rise in API test scores in recent years has been used as evidence by Los Angeles school officials that, despite critics' contentions, their efforts to improve academic achievement are paying off.

Funny then, that now that Academic Performance Index scores have tanked -- at least where it counts, in high school -- school officials no longer hail them as an accurate measure of educational achievement.

While the API scores released Tuesday show some continued gains in lower grades in the Los Angeles Unified School District, high-school scores plunged 20 points.

What's worse is that Superintendent David Brewer III places blame on the district's black and Latino students. But the ethnic makeup of the LAUSD hasn't suddenly shifted. So this excuse rings hollow, as do the two other excuses offered up: Results are analyzed differently, or the numbers are skewed by the opening of two new high schools.

Baloney. Something's wrong at the LAUSD, but it isn't the students. What's wrong is that failure is met with excuses, and the fundamental dysfunction of the school district is ignored.

The failure of the gains among the youngest students to show up as they reach high school ought to be alarming, particularly since one of the district's worst failings is its dropout rate, estimated to be as high as 50 percent. Without the kids who presumably are among the worst learners, shouldn't high schools have higher performance marks?

The fact is the district is still failing students, and we need real reform -- not excuses. The API scores may not tell us much, but they do lend support to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's sense of urgency about changing things at the LAUSD. Maybe his reform school board candidates won't be the saviors of the district, but they could be a start.