Introduction to the Georgia Student Growth Model

Introduction to the Georgia Student Growth ModelUnderstanding and Using SGPs to

Improve Student Performance

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Why focus on student growth?

• A growth model will allow educators to move beyond status-based questions to ask critical growth-related questions.– Status

• What percentage of students met the state standard?• Did more students meet the state standard this year compared to last year?

– Growth• Did this student grow more or less than academically-similar students?• Are students growing as much in math as in reading?• Are students on track to reach or exceed proficiency?

• The GSGM will provide student-level diagnostic information, improve teaching and learning, enhance accountability (CCRPI), and serve as one of multiple indicators of educator effectiveness (TKES and LKES).

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Growth Under NCLB

• How many students have made it over the proficiency bar (% Meets/Exceeds)?

• Inferences about growth are made longitudinally across different cohorts of students

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School 2008 2009 2010 2011

Acme ES 80 85 91 96

Clubhouse ES 75 79 86 90

Fraggle ES 73 75 74 71No growth?

Fast growth, different starting points

What do we know about student-level growth?

• All information about student test performance has been collapsed into 3 criterion-referenced levels

• We cannot compare scale scores as the tests are not vertically scaled

• Leaves many important questions about progress unanswered

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Grade 4 5 6 7 8Marvin M. Meets Meets DNM DNM DNMOlive O. Meets Meets Meets Meets MeetsDonald D. Meets Meets Meets Exceeds Exceeds

Understanding Percentiles

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A distribution, for example, of height, weight, or academic growth

50% 50%

50th percentile

The 50th percentile is the value below which 50% of the distribution lies.

Student Change in Status

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16% 50%

If a student goes from scoring better than 16% of all students in grade 4 to scoring better than 50% of students in grade 5, would this be evidence that growth had occurred?

What we miss if we focus on the proficiency bar…

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16% 50%

If the red line marks the cut point for “Meets,” this is a student who was below “Meets” each year. But there is clear evidence that great progress has been made.

What are Student Growth Percentiles?

• A student growth percentile (SGP) describes a student’s growth relative to other students statewide with similar prior achievement – Calculations based solely on achievement

• SGPs not only show how individual students are progressing, but they also can be aggregated to show how groups of students, schools, districts, and the state are progressing

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SGPs for Individual Students• Each student obtains an SGP, which indicates how much he or

she grew relative to his or her academic peers– Academic peers are other students statewide with a similar score

history– Priors are the historical assessment scores used to model growth

• Growth percentiles range from 1 to 99– Lower percentiles indicate lower academic growth and higher

percentiles indicate higher academic growth

• Students also receive growth projections and growth targets, which describe the amount of growth needed to reach or exceed proficiency in subsequent years

• All students, regardless of their achievement level, have the ability to demonstrate all levels of growth

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2012 SGP = 12011 4th Grade Math Scale Score = 9902012 5th Grade Math Scale Score = 847




All students can demonstrate all levels of growth – regardless of their achievement level

All students can demonstrate all levels of growth – regardless of their achievement level

Students with Disabilities (SWD)Economically Disadvantaged (ED)English Language Learners (ELL)

Achievement vs. Growth

• No ceiling or floor effects– This is not a gain score model

• Vertical alignment (but no vertical scale)– A top-scoring student (e.g., 990) may not have room to

show higher achievement on that scale (e.g., 1000), but she does have room to show growth from that grade to the next grade

– She has to grow to score high (or even the max) two years in a row

• Growth is independent of proficiency cuts

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Achievement vs. Growth

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650

950

Elmerand his academic peers

5th Grade Math

6th Grade Math

810 825

7th Grade

Elmer

Scale Score SGP

810 62

6th Grade

Priors• Priors are the historical assessment scores being

used to model growth• The immediate consecutive prior is required to

produce growth percentiles– For example, an 8th-grade student must have a 7th-grade

CRCT score in order to receive a growth percentile

• Two years of priors will be used (one year will be used when two years are not available)– For example, growth percentiles for an 8th-grade student

would have his or her 7th- and 6th-grade CRCT scores as priors

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EOCT Course Progressions

• For EOCTs, both prior achievement and test sequence (including year taken) must be considered.

• While most EOCT students will receive SGPs, those participating in uncommon sequences (small N) will not receive SGPs

• Most common sequences:– ELA: 8th grade CRCT reading/ELA → 9th Grade Lit → American Lit– Math: 7th or 8th grade CRCT math → Coordinate Algebra/Math I/GPS

Algebra → Analytic Geometry/Math II/GPS Geometry– Science: 7th or 8th grade CRCT science → Physical Science/Biology →

Biology/Physical Science– Social Studies: US History → Economics

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Growth Over Time• Because SGPs are normative, meaning growth percentiles

describe a student’s growth relative to other students in the state in a given year, how do we compare results over time?– A baseline is used as a reference point so change in overall

growth can be observed from year to year– Without using a baseline, the median SGP for the state would be

50 every year – absolute changes in a school’s growth could not be observed since the state as a whole is moving too

– The baseline utilizes multiple years of data in order to allow for a more stable comparison

– As of 2013, all CRCTs and all EOCTs except mathematics (Math I, Math II, GPS Algebra, GPS Geometry, Coordinate Algebra) are baseline-referenced.

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Growth Over Time

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State MedianThis year = 50Next year = 50Two years = 50etc.

Without setting a baseline…

…the state median will always be 50 with half of students below 50 and half above 50

Growth Over Time

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This year = 50

With setting a baseline…State Median

Baseline yearNext year = 55

Two years = 60

…the state median can change from year to year, representing statewide change in growth over time

Growth to Proficiency• How do we know if a student’s growth is enough to be

on track to reach or exceed proficiency?– SGPs analyze historical student assessment data to model how

students perform on and grow in between assessments– This information is used to create growth projections and

growth targets for each student– The growth projection tells us where on the assessment scale a

student may score next year for all levels of possible growth (1st-99th percentile)

– The growth target tells us, based on where students are now, how much they need to grow to reach or exceed proficiency in the future

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Growth Projections and Targets

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Exceeds

Meets

Does Not Meet

This Year Future

High

Typical

Low

“Meets” Target

“Exceeds” Target

Student Growth Levels

• Low (1-34), Typical (35-65), and High (66-99)• Levels were set using information about the

interaction between student growth and status-based achievement– A student who demonstrates low growth generally will

regress academically (i.e., not maintain his/her current level of achievement)

– A student who demonstrates typical growth generally will maintain or improve academically

– A student who demonstrates high growth generally will make greater improvement academically

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Transitioning To New Assessments

• What happens when we change assessments?– Until we have enough years of implementation,

we will produce cohort-referenced SGPs and will not have targets or projections.

• Will SGPs go down if the standards are higher and students perform poorly on the new assessment?– No because…

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Transitioning to New Assessments

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200

600


7th Grade Math

8th Grade Math

810 825

450

400

Math I

Elmer

Scale Score SGP

430 59

8th Grade

Transitioning to New Assessments

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200

600


7th Grade Math

8th Grade Math

810 825

450

400

Coordinate Algebra

Elmer

Scale Score SGP

390 59

8th Grade

How does growth differ from achievement?

• Example 2 (real data, fake names)– Clubhouse High School

• Urban• One of many high schools in district• Has 12 9th-Grade Literature teachers in 2012

– Ms. M. Mouse• Taught 9th Grade Literature in 2012• Taught 28 students in 3 classes

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How did Ms. Mouse’s students do on the 9th Grade Lit EOCT?

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18 scored Does Not

Meet

5 scored Meets

0 scored Exceeds

18% of students (5 of 23) met the state standard

But did these students grow?

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3 demonstrated low growth

11 demonstrated typical growth

14 demonstrated high growth

Yes – 89% demonstrated typical or high growth

MGP = 66

Was there a difference across Ms. Mouse’s classes?

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All students in Section A demonstrate typical or high growth

Some students in Sections B and C didn’t grow quite as much

What about the other 9th Grade Lit teachers in the school?

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Ms. Mouse – low proficiency (18%), high growth (MGP = 66)

9th G

rade

Lit

Pro

ficie

ncy

9th Grade Lit Growth

What if we consider where students started?

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Ms. Mouse – She taught most of the low-achieving students, but they still demonstrated high growth

8th G

rade

Pro

ficie

ncy


What if we consider where students started – across the district?

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Ms. Mouse – Had more student growth than most other teachers with students of similar prior achievement levels

All 9th Grade Lit teachers in this district

8th G

rade

Pro

ficie

ncy


Resources

• GSGM Visualization Tool– Accessible in SLDS– Information restricted based on role– Enhancements coming soon

• GaDOE Website– gsgm.gadoe.org

• Coming Soon– Student growth reports for parents– Public visualization tool (school- and district-level results only)– Videos and additional resources for educators and parents

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Student Learning Objectives• SLO’s• Measures of Educator Effectiveness• For teachers with no EOCT data- replaces Student

Growth Measure for TKES• a measureable, academic goal informed by available

data that districts set for teachers and students. • Are content-specific learning objectives that are

measureable, focused on growth in student learning, and aligned to curriculum standards.

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Purpose of SLO’s

• to improve student achievement in every classroom

• to provide evidence of each teacher’s instructional impact on student learning in non-tested areas

• to give educators, school systems, and state leaders an additional means by which to understand, value, and recognize each teacher’s effectiveness in classrooms.

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SLO’s Improve Practice

• SLO’s ensure that educators: Have an in-depth understanding of course standards Know what subject content and skills each student has at the beginning of the course Set goals for students Monitor student progress Examine outcomes to determine next steps

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State Guidelines

• Must be district-driven initiative• Must be based on specific data (such as a pre-test)• SLO statement includes the duration of the

instruction period, the focus of student learning, how growth will be measured, and specific growth targets which reflect each student’s target for meeting or exceeding SLO standards.

• SLO’s for each system will be submitted to the state DOE for audit review and approval.

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Timeline

• Waiting on guidance from our district office• DOE requires submission in June 2014 from

each district• More information will be shared as soon as we

receive it from the district office.

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Documents

Introduction to the Georgia Student Growth Model