Data SGP is a tool that compares student assessment scores against students with similar academic histories to reveal insights into a student’s relative performance and potential for improvement. This information can be used by educators to formulate plans to enhance a student’s learning. It also helps parents better understand their child’s progress in school. However, it is important to note that the results of SGP can be misleading for students who already possess superior academic abilities. In such cases, a low score on one test section may indicate difficulty with the subject matter or an absence of effort on behalf of the student.
The SGP system uses the student’s prior year test scores and the most recent assessment to calculate a percentile rank within their cohort from 1-99, with higher numbers signifying greater relative growth. Teachers’ scores are then averaged together to give them a mean growth percentile, which is an indicator of their performance compared to similar teachers. The SGP results can be used to assess the effectiveness of teachers and school districts.
Unlike the WKCE and Forward Exams, which have multiple years of historical test score data, the Badger Exam only has a single year’s worth of data. This presented a number of challenges for the data analysis used to produce SGPs. The result is that SGP reports for the 2014-15 school year do not include any data from the Badger Exam.
As a result, some educators’ SGPs will look very different than those of their peers because the Badger Exam was not designed to be comparable to either of the previous assessments. This can cause confusion and frustration amongst educators. The good news is that the MDE has recommended that SGPs not be used for educator evaluations until 2018-19, giving time for the state to stabilize the data.
The current SGP data can be viewed on the MDE’s Teacher Evaluation website. There are two types of reports available: Window Specific SGP, which focuses on measuring and reporting student growth between different windows, and Current SGP, which provides the most recent SGP for each student. The results are displayed as percentages and can be sorted by grade level, subject area, and school.
While the SGP data is helpful, it is important to remember that it does not tell us what students did or why they did it. SGP results can be impacted by factors such as classroom environment, instructional practices, and student demographics. Educators should always view these results with caution and use them to guide their decision-making. It is also important to note that SGP analyses are only as accurate as the data that is inputted into them. Therefore, the accuracy of SGP calculations is dependent upon the quality and completeness of the student data inputted into the model. This is why the MDE recommends that only qualified professionals should conduct these analyses. This article outlines several ways to use SGP data to inform decision-making and improve instruction.