Data SGP allows students to compare themselves against their academic peers across the state. Peers are defined as all statewide students in a particular grade and assessment subject who had similar scores from prior years; these scores are then placed onto a normative scale that displays percentile ranks which indicate how far each student has progressed over time. It provides an effective means of comparing students and pinpointing areas for improvement.
Data SGP can be an extremely helpful tool for school districts and families, but it’s essential that users understand its limitations and interpretation correctly. For instance, differences in percentile rankings between years should not be taken at face value and differences of 10 points or less should not be considered significant.
Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs) serve to give parents and educators an idea of a student’s progress towards meeting state standards. Calculated using cumulative MCAS performance, SGPs also serve to measure proficiency levels within current courses a student is taking. SGPs have become a critical element of Washington assessment systems as well as being implemented successfully elsewhere.
Calculating Student Growth Parcel (SGP), requires teachers to input test scores and course grades of a student and compare these against academic peers of that same student to gauge how far he or she has progressed since a previous assessment was taken. This information then allows teachers to measure progress over time for individual pupils.
Contrary to many assessment systems, the Student Growth Profile isn’t directly tied to testing grade. Instead, this model uses all available test score data from across their career–spring and fall tests combined –to calculate an SGP that can be measured over time and compared against peers within different demographic groups and educational programs.
Additionally, the SGP model takes into account past performance and future expectations when measuring academic growth; providing more realistic assessments than other forms. For educators and school districts to maximize the value of SGPs, it’s vital that they use them effectively. To do so, they need to understand how the model operates as well as its limitations. School districts may find it challenging to devote the necessary resources and training time for SGP implementation, especially given other responsibilities and initiatives they must fulfill. But this model remains an integral component of accountability processes and should be used across schools – it helps determine whether students are making progress toward graduation; identify barriers to student learning; provide guidance for addressing these; as well as helping set improvement goals and assist schools with goal setting.