Why measure student growth?
Student academic achievement, reported in the form of a test score or letter grade, conveys what students know and are able to do at a certain point in time. Achievement measures help us understand student learning relative to academic standards. Students’ scores when viewed in isolation, however, can’t tell us how much they have improved over time.
We need to supplement achievement with growth measures to understand if students are making relatively normal progress, making huge leaps forward, or losing ground compared to earlier points in time. Studying and monitoring students’ progress data helps educators learn more about how they are impacting student learning. By combining achievement and growth we have a more complete picture of student learning. This combination better assists us in ensuring that every child is a graduate ready for college and career.
How is growth measured?
Academic growth is the measure of a student’s progress between two points in time. Methods of measuring growth range from subtracting last year’s test score from this year’s test score (called a gain score) to complex statistical models, such as value-added and Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs) .
Value-added is a growth model that measures change in students' performance over a period of time while taking into consideration variables that are out of the control of the school or district, such as previous academic performance and student demographics. For more information about Wisconsin’s value-added model, please see the Value-Added Growth Guide on our Report Card Resources page.
SGPs compare a student’s growth to the growth made by students with similar score histories.
How is growth data used in accountability?
Academic growth measures are part of Wisconsin’s state and federal accountability systems. In the school and district report cards (the state accountability system) a value-added model is used. In federal ESSA accountability, Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs) are used.
History of Growth in State Accountability
From 2011-12 to 2013-14 SGPs were used in the Student Growth Priority Area in the School and District Report Cards. Starting with the 2015-16 school and district report cards, the Growth priority area calculates a school-wide or district-wide growth score, respectively, based on a value-added model. The change in measure was legislated in the 2015-17 biennial budget.
History of Growth in Federal Accountability
Starting in 2018-19, reporting under the federal accountability system required by the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, the reauthorized federal education law, includes a measure of student growth. SGPs are used to compute school and subgroup growth scores.
How can schools and districts further investigate growth?
Educators can use growth data to examine trends among their student population, grade levels, and content areas. Growth data can be an important piece of the data puzzle that aids instructional and local programmatic decisions. While growth data in the report card provides high-level information, there are other sources of growth data that are more beneficial for informing instructional and local programmatic decisions. All of these resources are discussed in greater detail below.
Additionally, just as achievement data should not be used alone, all growth data needs to be examined in context of other data sources and should not be used in isolation. Examine other types of evidence of students’ skills and knowledge to better understand student learning. Other types of evidence should come from a variety of sources - formative, interim, and summative data should be used in concert - and may include classroom projects, lab reports, journals, unit tests, homework, and teacher observations.