Students’ performance on state assessments provides valuable insight into how well they are learning their subjects, but more useful data can be gained by comparing it against that of academic peers across the state – this is exactly what the data SGP report does.
The Data SGP Tool’s purpose is to make it easier for educators to access and utilize student outcomes data to improve student success. It includes both a tutorial and sample analyses that are offered free to educators. The tutorial offers guidance for using this software properly while samples showcase its different tools while outlining any unfamiliar features or functions within it that might otherwise remain hidden from view.
The tool can handle both wide and long formats of data; however, for most operational analyses it is best to work with the long data format as this allows higher level functions to take advantage of additional meta-data, including embedded SGPstateData that contains state specific information. Furthermore, long formatted data makes analyzing and updating much simpler than using wide sets.
For each student to generate an SGP, the model compares their scores on individual assessments to the scores of academic peers enrolled in their school/district. Their performance is measured using MCAS results taken in grades 8 (and 7, when applicable), 9 and most commonly 10th grade.
Thus, an SGP represents two years of growth for any student since finishing grade 8. A teacher’s mSGP measures their performance over two consecutive years.
Thus it is essential for educators and administrators to comprehend the limitations of School Growth Plans (SGPs) as well as their context for development. While SGPs provide valuable information for all parties involved, those using them must know what information to look out for and how interpret the reports properly.
Example: These students earned equal scaled scores on this year’s MCAS in one subject area. Although this may be seen as encouraging, it’s equally essential to note that Student A experienced faster growth – scoring as or higher than 70% of academic peers while Student B experienced more moderate gains.
DESE has released several resources on the MCAS Growth web page to aid all stakeholders in understanding and interpreting the growth data that they will be receiving from DESE, such as an SGP Guide for Administrators, Teachers, and Families; plus DESE has produced a video explaining its SGP model as well as reporting information this year – these can all be found there.