The Data SGP tool is an open source analytics platform used to assess student growth percentiles and generate teacher level SGP reports. Districts should utilize this tool in order to become familiar with new data before its high stakes implementation in educator evaluations. Designed as user friendly tools, Data SGP aims to make its use easy for educators across their districts.
Student growth percentiles are calculated by comparing a student’s current test score with that of other students with similar academic histories, then weighting these comparisons for an individual student rank between 1-99 among their cohort. A higher number indicates greater growth compared with average.
Policymakers often prefer SGPs over another popular statistical measurement of teacher effectiveness – value-added models (VAMs). SGPs provide more interpretable results. Ranking students with comparable baseline academic performance against their current achievement is straightforward for educators and the general public alike; SGPs also present growth percentage terms that are easy to grasp by most teachers and parents.
Though it remains to be seen how effectively the new data sgp will perform in practice, early signs point towards its effectiveness. Initial tests seem promising as it seems to produce reasonable results with minimal error and stability over time.
Preparing data for Data SGP analysis requires careful attention. You can either do it by hand, or use one of the many free and open source software packages available – we suggest sgpData as it contains functions and wrappers specifically tailored for use with this new technique. See our Analysis Vignette for further details.
Start off by downloading and importing the sgpData from the BAA Secure Site into one of the data sgp tools. This data contains new SGPs for students from 4th through 11th grades with full test history and demographic details; furthermore it is divided into 7 required variables that include valid_CASE, CONTENT_AREA, YEAR, ID, SCALE_SCORE GRADE ACHIEVEMENT_LEVEL
While Michigan Department of Education anticipates using SGPs this year in educator evaluations, their use in high-stakes applications won’t begin until 2018/19 to give enough time for stabilization of data before its use for high-stakes purposes.
Macomb and Clare-Gladwin school districts are currently using SGPs as an aid in helping their educators better comprehend data, its implications, and how best to apply it in instruction. While not a perfect measure of teacher performance, evidence suggests they could provide useful data for district leaders and educators when planning instruction or making instructional decisions. Listen to one of the podcasts below to gain more knowledge of this tool as well as hear some initial research findings –