Data SGP is the collective of aggregated student performance data collected over time that teachers and administrators use to make decisions about instruction and assessment. It includes individual-level measures like test scores and growth percentiles, as well as aggregated measures at the school and district levels such as class size and attendance rates. Data SGP is important because it can help us better understand how students are learning and growing, inform classroom practices, evaluate schools/districts, and support broader research initiatives.
SGPs describe the amount of growth students demonstrate relative to academically-similar students (i.e., students with a similar achievement history). The scale ranges from 1 to 99 and is interpreted as percentageile ranks, with lower percentiles indicating lower growth and higher percentiles indicating higher growth.
Educators can access SGP information for their students by selecting them in the BAA Secure Site and clicking on the “SGP Data” tab. The first column, ID, provides a unique student identifier; the next five columns, SS_2013, SS_2014, SS_2015, and SS_2016, provide each student’s assessment score for each of the past five years in WIDE format.
To understand SGPs, think about a sixth grader who scored a 300 on this year’s English language arts (ELA) statewide assessment. This is a significant increase in scale score from her fifth grade assessment, but how does this compare to the growth of all students in sixth grade? A simple comparison ignores the fact that each student began with a different starting score on each assessment and therefore faced a different degree of difficulty in increasing their score. SGPs solve this problem by providing a more accurate and meaningful measure of growth.
In order to calculate SGPs, educators must have an understanding of how to prepare and analyze data. Luckily, the analysis process is relatively straightforward and does not require advanced statistical software or knowledge of complex data structures. The bulk of the work involves data preparation, and most analyses that we conduct for our clients follow a two step process.
SGP data is available for all students in grades 4 – 8 and 10 (in ELA and math). The SGP reports are generated by comparing the student’s current test score to the student’s test score from the previous grade level. SGPs are not calculated for grades 3 or 10 because there is only one test administered in those grades.
SGPs are released early each year to allow educators to become familiar with the new information prior to high-stakes use in educator evaluations. The Macomb and Clare-Gladwin ISDs have created interactive data tools that are available for educators to use and learn more about SGPs. These tools are designed to be as user-friendly as possible and provide helpful information about the data. We encourage all districts to begin using these tools now and explore the data to further their understanding of how to interpret and use SGP information in their classrooms. For more information, please see the following podcasts: