TEACHERS AT 8 SCHOOLS ON TRACK FOR MERIT BONUSES.

Byline: Jennifer Hamm Staff Writer

GLENDALE - Teachers at eight Glendale schools could be eligible for bonuses of up to $25,000 each: the state's top financial reward for improving their students' test scores, district officials said Tuesday.

Glendale school officials released the latest Academic Performance Index results a day before state education officials planned to do so. A cornerstone of the state's schools accountability program, the API ranks public schools based on their Stanford 9 test scores using a numeric index ranging from 200 to 1,000. The state's target for all schools is 800.

The index differs in several ways from its predecessor. Unlike the first API, this index will not have the similar schools' growth ranks and the statewide school rankings. The similar schools' data will be released in December, and the statewide comparison will be released in January.

And for the first time, the index will indicate whether schools are eligible for bonuses, ranging from $150 per student to $25,000 per teacher.

Nearly all Glendale schools did well enough to merit the bonuses provided by the state under California's 1999 Public Schools Accountability Act. The eight schools that could receive the top award are Roosevelt Middle School and Cerritos, Edison, Franklin, Jefferson, Mann, Marshall and Muir elementary schools.

``We have some schools that made some fantastic gains,'' said Donald Empey, deputy superintendent for the Glendale Unified School District.

Despite those gains, none of the district's high schools except Clark Magnet improved enough to receive extra money. Crescenta Valley High dropped one point to 758. Wilson Middle School fell by six points to 717.

This year, the state is distributing $677 million in awards to the most improved schools. It also plans to shower $21.5 million on California's lowest-performing schools.

To qualify for the improvement bonuses, schools had to meet a target determined by the state Department of Education in several categories.

The eight schools in Glendale were among the bottom half of those in the state that doubled their improvement targets. Awards of $25,000 will be given to as many as 1,000 teachers statewide at schools that show the greatest improvement.

``Our interest is in seeing the students learn, but if the teachers are able to benefit, that's great, too,'' said Kim Bishop, principal at Cerritos, which boosted its API score from 558 to 594. ``We're waiting to hear from the state before we go out and spend the money.''

State officials will announce in December how much cash each school will be awarded.

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Box: GLENDALE API RESULTS