Academic Performance Index

Academic Performance Index (API) is a tool used by colleges and universities to measure the academic quality of their students. The API has three main components: the freshman retention rate, the completion rate, and the cumulative grade point average.

Academic Performance Index Explained

An academic performance index (API) is a measure of a school’s academic achievement. The API is calculated by dividing the number of students who achieved a certain level of achievement in math and/or reading on state exams by the total number of students in that grade. Schools with higher API scores tend to be more academically successful than schools with lower scores.

Because the API is based on state exams, it can be sensitive to changes in how those exams are administered. For this reason, many schools use other measures of academic success, such as the percentage of students who earn college degrees within six years, to supplement or even replace their API score.