Today we often hear of “big data.” This term refers to datasets too large for traditional database applications and require special software tools and techniques for accessing and analysis. While our SGP research may not technically qualify as “big data”, we are dealing with significant volumes of information; when compared with an analysis of global Facebook interactions for example it represents a substantial step up in scale from prior SGP efforts.
The sgptData_LONG data set is an anonymized long format data set containing assessment results for three content areas (Early Literacy, Mathematics and Reading). It includes 7 required variables: VALID_CASE, CONTENT_AREA, YEAR, ID, SCALE_SCORE GRADE ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL with additional demographic/student categorization variables that can be used by summarizeSGP to create student aggregates.
The sgpData_INSTRUCTOR_NUMBER variable provides an instructor lookup table to associate teachers with student test records, enabling multiple teachers to be assigned multiple students at once in any given year of assessment and test records associated with multiple instructors in any given assessment year. With this data at hand, normative growth percentages for every student can be computed.
Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs) measure how well students perform on MCAS tests when compared to academic peers with similar MCAS score histories. Students are divided into academic peer groups according to their highest MCAS scores for any specific content area and then compared against others within that peer group to determine relative performance. This score does not take into account factors like race/ethnicity, special education needs or multilingual learning; thus it allows direct comparison across subgroups.
Q. What are the differences between a standard student assessment report and a Student Growth Percentile report? A:
A. Standard student assessment reports demonstrate a student’s achievement; while Student Growth Percentile reports reveal how much students have improved or advanced since last year. Additionally, these reports include lists of those who have performed below expectations as well as summaries for each content area studied by that child.
Answer: To participate in the mSGP, third grade teachers who possess valid MCAS data for their class and who are in their first testing year for that grade must have at least 60% of students enrolled in their teacher’s class throughout the school year in order to be included in it. The mSGP should not serve as a replacement for student progress reports that are already available to teachers and parents; rather, its primary function should be providing educators and parents with additional insight about a student’s efforts toward meeting academic standards. Educators can utilize the mSGP report to identify strengths and weaknesses in students’ educational progress and plan accordingly – helping ensure all graduates leave high school prepared for college or a career path.