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District Value-Added

Understanding the Data

Overview of "Growth" and "Achievement"

This report enables you to assess trends in growth and achievement in the districts that you have access to.

Growth is the difference between students' entering and exiting achievement. You have two options for how to display growth data, and you can view both at once, if you prefer.

The growth indicator is the color-coded bar that plots the growth index in the context of expected growth.
The columns of Growth data include key metrics related to students' growth, such as the growth measure, its standard error, and the growth index.

Achievement is student performance at a single point in time. Achievement metrics, which are described by columns of achievement data, are helpful when interpreting growth metrics and understanding student learning in context.

Additional information about how these measures are calculated can be found in the Statistical Models and Business Rules. For more information about growth and achievement, see Concept of Growth.

Growth Indicator

Each growth index is plotted on a color-coded growth indicator bar to indicate the amount of statistical evidence we have that the district meets, exceeds, or falls short of Expected Growth.

Expected Growth

Expected Growth indicates the amount of growth the group of students must make to maintain their entering achievement. For more information, see Understanding Growth.

Figure: Sample report. The colors might be different in your reports.

Definitions of Column Headings

Growth columns

Growth Columns

Use growth data to:

Make fair comparisons across subjects, grades, courses, and years
Find areas of strength and areas that need improvement

The table below gives general information about the growth columns and links to more in-depth information.

Column Name	Glossary Definition	Where to Find More Information
Growth Index	An indicator of the certainty that the group of students met, exceeded, or fell short of expected growth.	Understanding the Growth Index

Growth Measure	A conservative estimate of the growth that students made, on average, in a grade and subject or course.	Growth Measures And Standard Errors
Standard Error	A measurement that establishes a confidence band around the growth measure and describes the certainty that the group of students met, exceeded, or fell short of expected growth.	Growth Measures And Standard Errors

Growth Measure Distribution

A value that represents where the growth measure for the group of students falls in the distribution for this assessment.

Understanding the Growth Measure Distribution

Student Count

The number of students included in the analysis.

Understanding the Student Count

Achievement columns

Achievement Columns

Use achievement data to:

Observe shifts in entering achievement for different groups of students over the years
Identify patterns of effectiveness with students at differing levels of entering achievement
Support vertical conversations with feeder schools or teachers of prerequisite courses

The table below gives general information about the achievement columns and links to more in-depth information.

Column Name	Glossary Definition	Where to Find More Information
Entering Achievement and Exiting Achievement	Depending on the assessment, achievement is reported in Normal Curve Equivalents (NCEs) or scale scores. Entering achievement is either the average of the students' NCEs from the most recent prior year available or the average of the students' expected scale scores. Exiting achievement is either the average of the students' current year NCEs or the average of the students' actual scale scores.	Understanding Entering Achievement and Exiting Achievement

Column Name

Glossary Definition

Where to Find More Information

Entering Achievement and Exiting Achievement

Depending on the assessment, achievement is reported in Normal Curve Equivalents (NCEs) or scale scores.

Entering achievement is either the average of the students' NCEs from the most recent prior year available or the average of the students' expected scale scores.
Exiting achievement is either the average of the students' current year NCEs or the average of the students' actual scale scores.

Understanding Entering Achievement and Exiting Achievement

Entering Achievement Percentile

The entering achievement for the group of students relative to the overall distribution for this assessment.

Understanding Entering Achievement Percentile

Student Count

The number of students included in the analysis.

Understanding the Student Count

How the Colors Are Assigned

The model generates growth measures and standard errors. You can see rounded versions of these numbers by selecting the Growth Measure and Standard Error columns under Data to Display. We calculate each growth index by dividing the unrounded growth measure by the unrounded standard error. We assign colors to growth indexes based on how far the indexes are from expected growth.

Color	Growth Index Compared to Expected Growth	Interpretation
Exceeds Expected Growth	At least 2 standard errors above	Significant evidence that students made more growth than expected.
Meets Expected Growth	Between 1 and 2 standard errors above	Moderate evidence that students made more growth than expected.
Meets Expected Growth	Between 1 standard error above and 1 standard error below	Evidence that students made growth as expected.
Meets Expected Growth	Between 1 and 2 standard errors below	Moderate evidence that students made less growth than expected.
Does Not Meet Expected Growth	More than 2 standard errors below	Significant evidence that students made less growth than expected.

When a growth index falls exactly on the boundary between two colors, the higher growth indicator is assigned.