The headline in last week's Press Democrat story about the API scores for Sonoma County schools was "Mixed marks for schools: How did your school do?"

The implication is that the API scores are a report card for a school and that schools with high API scores are better schools. It's tempting to scan the numbers and assume that schools with an API of 800 or above deserve an "A," schools with 750 to 800 get a "B," and schools scoring 700 to 750 only deserve a "C" grade. A school with an API score in the 600s-they must be failing at their job of educating their students.

But is that really the case? Does a school with relatively low API score mean that the quality of teaching isn't as good as at schools with high scores? And conversely, does a high API necessarily mean that students are getting a better education than if they attended a school with a lower API?

I don't think so. And that's the problem with assessing whether a school is doing a good job solely by a number that shows up in the newspaper once a year.

Cinnabar, the elementary school that my three children attended, is an example of a school that doesn't have high API scores yet I believe it did an excellent job of preparing my kids to move onto junior high. My kids' Star test scores were where I would have expected them to be which confirmed to me that the school was effectively teaching the material.

Cinnabar's API of 724 which is below the County median, has a lot more to do with the makeup of the school's population - 56% economically disadvantaged students and 43% English learners - than how the school is performing academically. The school is doing a good job teaching but not surprisingly, the students who are learning English as a second language have a more difficult time doing well on a standardized test.

A school's API score is a lot like a student's SAT score. You can certainly make some assumptions about a kid who gets a 2200 on the SAT; for one thing, it means that this particular student is really good at taking the SAT, but it certainly doesn't give the whole picture on who the person is.

Likewise, a high API means that a school has developed an effective system for teaching to the test. Good for them. But a school is a lot more than just a test score. Each school is a community with its own personality which plays a very important part in a student's education.

I would advise parents who are new to the area and trying to decide which school would be a good fit for their child to look beyond each school's API score. Visit the school and talk to the administration, talk to other parents about their experience at the school. A few questions I would want to ask are: What is the school environment like? Does the school take a more structured approach to learning or does it encourage individual discovery? What's the attitude of the school administration? Is there strong parental involvement?

And don't judge a school just by its score.