Update on Virginia’s Growth MeasureDeborah L. Jonas, Ph.D.Executive Director for Research and Strategic PlanningVirginia Department of Education

July-August 2011

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Federal Requirements• The State Fiscal Stabilization Act (SFSF) of the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) requires Virginia to:▫ Develop a student growth measure.▫ Provide student growth data to reading and

mathematics teachers in tested grades.▫ Provide data to both previous and current teachers.

• The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) established the Master Schedule Data Collection to meet this and other federal data collection and reporting requirements.

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Federal Requirement: Student-level Growth Data(b)(2)

• Data must be provided to two groups of teachers:▫ Teachers who taught students previously

Example: growth data from tests administered in spring 2011 must be provided to teachers who taught students in the 2010-2011 school year.

▫ Teachers who are currently teaching students Growth data from tests administered in spring 2011

must be provided to teachers working with these students in the fall of 2011.

• The state must be capable of providing student-level data to teachers no later than September 30, 2011.

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Federal Requirement: Teacher Impact Data, Indicator (b)(3)

• As part of SFSF requirements, Virginia is required to:▫ Provide teachers of reading/language arts and mathematics

… with reports of individual teacher impact on student achievement on state assessments.

• Virginia’s approach to comply with indicator (b)(3)▫ Use the student-level growth data to provide teachers with

context for understanding their impact on student achievement as measured by statewide assessments.

▫ As multiple years of data become available, VDOE will create reports that enable teachers to consider trends in student growth data.

▫ When tests measuring the same SOL are available over multiple years, trend data can be used in aggregate.

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Student Growth Percentiles (SPGs)• SOL scores measure whether students met a

particular standard.

• SGPs describe how much progress students made relative to students with similar achievement histories on SOL tests.

• SGPs provide an understanding of how much progress students made recognizing that students start at different levels of achievement.

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•At least two years of data are necessary to report a student growth percentile.

•Student growth percentiles will be calculated for most students participating in the following SOL tests:▫Mathematics, grades 4-8 & Algebra I through

grade 9▫Reading, grades 4-8

Student Growth Percentiles

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• SGPs range from 1 to 99, and represent the percent of students who had similar prior academic achievement (based on SOL tests) and who earned lower scores on the SOL test.

• Example: a student who earns an SGP of 65 scored better than 65 percent of students who had the same prior achievement as measured by SOL tests.

• Example: a student who earns an SGP of 15 scored better than 15 percent of students who had the same prior achievement as measured by SOL tests.

Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs)

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Grade 3 reading scores

Student D

Student C

Student B

Student A

0 200 400 600

Grade 3 reading

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Grade 3 and 4 reading scores

Student D

Student C

Student B

Student A

0 200 400 600

Grade 3 readingGrade 4 reading

15

48

66

91

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Grade 3 mathematics scores

Student D

Student C

Student B

Student A

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Grade 3 mathemat-ics

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Grade 3 and 4 mathematics scores

Student D

Student C

Student B

Student A

0 200 400 600

Grade 3 mathemat-icsGrade 4 mathemat-ics

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33

58

92

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Conceptual view of student cohorts

3rd grade

4th grade

5th grade

6th grade

300320340360380400420440460480500520540560580600

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Conceptual view of student cohorts

3rd grade

4th grade

5th grade

6th grade

300320340360380400420440460480500520540560580600 99th

percentile80th percentile75th percentile60th percentile50th percentile40th percentile25th percentile20th percentile1st percentile

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Student Growth Percentiles and SOL Scaled Scores

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Student Growth Percentiles and SOL Scaled Scores

SGP Grade 6

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Reports

• VDOE will provide reports with student-level data in the fall of 2011.

• VDOE is developing reports that will summarize student-level data.

• Reports will provide information on the percent of students achieving low, moderate, and high growth.

• Summary reports are anticipated no earlier than spring 2012.

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Growth Levels

•To support interpretation of growth data, VDOE will define categories/levels of student growth.Growth Level Student Growth

Percentile Range

Low 1-34

Moderate 35-65

High 66-99

Growth levels defined as of April 2011.

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Growth Data Limitations• Growth percentile data will not be available for some

students who have taken the grades 4-8 reading tests and/or the mathematics tests for grades 4-8 or Algebra I.

• Three primary student groups will not have student growth percentiles available from the state:▫ Students with only one year of assessment data available.▫ Students who participated in Virginia’s alternative assessment

programs (VGLA, VSEP, VAAP) in the year of, or year prior to, the reporting year.

▫ Students who have two consecutive years of advanced proficient achievement (to be reevaluated after new tests are in place).

• As Virginia’s assessments change, VDOE anticipates that more students will have student growth percentiles available in reading and mathematics.

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Data availability• VDOE will provide data to school divisions’ central

offices, via the SSWS system (Fall 2011 only; changes may take place in future years).

• School divisions are responsible for providing student-level data to teachers consistent with requirements of indicator (b)(2):▫ Teachers who previously taught students▫ Teachers who currently teach students

• Teacher impact data (b)(3) will be comprised of student-level data and, when available and appropriate, aggregate and trend data.

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Training on Growth Percentile Data and its Uses

• VDOE has established an agreement with The Center for Educational Partnerships (TCEP) at Old Dominion University to develop and deliver professional development (PD) on the growth measure.

• Workshops are being designed to increase division leadership teams’ knowledge of the student growth measure and how it can be used as a tool to inform decision making.

• Four regional one-day trainings for central office administrators will be held in October 2011 (see Superintendent’s memo, June 24, 2011).

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Potential Uses for Student Growth Percentiles

• School improvement and program evaluation

• Intervention and remediation

• Planning professional development

• One component of comprehensive performance evaluation ▫ Consistent with the Code of Virginia requirement to incorporate

measures of student academic progress in evaluations (§ 22.1-295).

▫ Growth percentiles may form the basis of one of multiple measures of student progress, when available and appropriate.

• Communications with students and parents

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Implications for Teacher Performance Evaluation

For more information, see http://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching/performance_evaluation/index.shtml.

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Background: Code of Virginia

• § 22.1-253.13:5. Standard 5. Quality of classroom instruction and educational leadership.

…B. Consistent with the finding that leadership is essential for the advancement of public education in the Commonwealth, teacher, administrator, and superintendent evaluations shall be consistent with the performance objectives included in the Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers, Administrators, and Superintendents….

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Background: Code of Virginia

•§ 22.1-295. Employment of teachers.

…C. School boards shall develop a procedure for use by division superintendents and principals in evaluating instructional personnel that is appropriate to the tasks performed and addresses, among other things, student academic progress and the skills and knowledge of instructional personnel, including, but not limited to, instructional methodology, classroom management, and subject matter knowledge….

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SGPs as One Measure of Progress in Teacher Performance Evaluation

• The Board of Education’s Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers recommend the inclusion of SGPs as one of multiple measures of student academic progress, when available and appropriate.

• Use of student growth percentiles in teacher performance evaluation is a local decision. Use of growth percentiles in evaluation is not required by law or regulation.

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Recommended Minimum Conditions for Using SGPs in Performance Evaluation

• Growth percentiles may form the basis of one of multiple measures of student progress when:▫ Data from at least 40 students are available; and▫ Students with growth data are representative of students

taught; and

▫ Growth data for at least two years are available for each teacher; three years should be reviewed whenever possible.

• At least one other measure of academic progress is included in the evaluation.

• Individuals being evaluated understand the measures being used.

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Examples of aggregated data

Percent of Students by Growth Category SOL Proficiency Data

High growth

Moderate growth

Low growth

No growth

data available Pass rate

Advanced proficient

Group AEnglish 43% 26% 24% 7% 99% 72%

Mathematics 71% 19% 6% 4% 99% 83%

Examples only

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Examples of aggregated dataPercent of Students by Growth Category SOL Proficiency Data

High growth

Moderate growth

Low growth

No growth

data available Pass rate

Advanced proficient

Group AEnglish 43% 26% 24% 7% 99% 72%

Mathematics 71% 19% 6% 4% 99% 83%

Group BEnglish 30% 29% 40% 1% 82% 34%

Mathematics 34% 27% 33% 6% 89% 47%

Examples only

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Examples of aggregated dataPercent of Students by Growth Category SOL Proficiency Data

High growth

Moderate growth

Low growth

No growth

data available Pass rate

Advanced proficient

Group AEnglish 43% 26% 24% 7% 99% 72%

Mathematics 71% 19% 6% 4% 99% 83%

Group BEnglish 30% 29% 40% 1% 82% 34%

Mathematics 34% 27% 33% 6% 89% 47%

Group CEnglish 17% 19% 62% 3% 65% 21%

Mathematics 18% 20% 55% 7% 75% 32%

Examples only

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Growth, achievement, and economically disadvantaged status in Colorado

0 25 50 75 100

ForR_Pct

0

25

50

75

100

MedSGP

School achievement is correlated with economic status (R=-.759)

Median growth percentile is not correlated with economic status

(R=-.124)

Adapted from: Schmitz, D. (2010). Utility of Growth Percentiles. Presented November 2010, Virginia stakeholders. Full presentation is available at: http://www.cit.org/programs/cit-connect/vdoe-gm.

0 25 50 75 100

ForR_Pct

500

550

600

650

MeanScaleScore

Percent economically disadvantaged

Mean

Sca

le S

core

Percent economically disadvantaged

Med

an

Gro

wth

Perc

en

tile

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Downloaded from: https://edx.cde.state.co.us/growth_model/public/index.htm#/year-2010/district-1420/schools. July 2010.

Math

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Key Points (data)

• Student growth percentiles will be available in the fall for teachers of reading and mathematics, grades 4-8 and Algebra I though grade 9.

• Data linking teachers to tests will be based on data provided via Master Schedule Collection.

• Not all students (or teachers) will have SGPs available.

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Key Points (evaluation)

• Divisions are required to include measures of student academic progress in performance evaluations.

• The Board recommends that all teachers be evaluated with multiple measures of student academic progress.

• SGPs are recommended as one measure of student academic progress when sufficient data are available and data are representative of students taught.

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Common questions: SGP and performance evaluation

• Are divisions required to include SGPs in teacher performance evaluation?

• How should I summarize my growth percentile data?

• Can I meet the “multiple measures of student academic progress” recommendation by using growth percentiles in mathematics and reading in teachers’ evaluations?

• What other measures are available from the state?

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Contact information

Assessment and questions about growth calculations: student_assessment@doe.virginia.gov

Teacher performance evaluations: licensure@doe.virginia.gov

Data/master schedule collection: resultshelp@doe.virginia.gov