Using the Online Reporting Tool

How do I download Student Growth reports for my school?

  1. Click DOWNLOAD REPORTS on the top of the screen.
  2. Select your school from the list of schools on the left side of the screen, under SCHOOLS.
  3. Select the school year(s) for which you want reports in the second column, under YEARS. Only reports for the 2012-2013 school year are available. If a school year isn't listed, it means we have no data for that year.
  4. To see the report as a PDF file, click Download School Reports (PDFs). Or, to see the report as an Excel file, click Download Data File (CSV).
  5. Windows opens a dialog box asking you whether you want to open or save the file. Click Save, then navigate to the folder where you want to save the report. If you don't see a dialog box, your version of Windows might save the file automatically. In this case, use My Computer to navigate to the Downloads folder to find your report(s).

What do the colors mean on the graphs?

Blue - Far Above Average Growth: Student Growth Estimate is significantly more than 4.
Green - Above Average Growth: Student Growth Estimate is significantly above the Average Growth (3).
Gray - Within the Range of Average Growth: Student Growth Estimate is not significantly different from the Average Growth (3).
Yellow - Below Average Growth: Student Growth Estimate is significantly below Average Growth (3).
Red - Far Below District Average Growth: Student Growth Estimate is significantly less than 2.

Interpreting Student Growth Reports

What is Student Growth?

APS Growth Model Estimates are used to identify the individual impact of a school or grade-level team on student learning. The APS Growth Model compares the performance of students to that of similar students and is based on the Value-Added Research Center's work with student growth estimate. For more information about how these estimates, please visit the Oak Tree Analogy.

What is the difference between Student Growth and Proficiency?

Proficiency measures the achievement of the student. This number is calculated using the pre-test and measures how well the student did before the school year. Student Growth measures the impact of a school or grade-level team on student learning.

What are the benefits of Student Growth?

When assessing the effectiveness of schools, Student Growth is useful in that it tracks the progress of growth of individual students over time rather than the percentage of students that meet an absolute target or standard. This allows for true "apples to apples" comparisons of effectiveness.

Why does Student Growth control for certain factors and not others?

The APS Growth Model is designed to fairly measure the contribution of schools and grade-level teams to the academic growth of students. In order to accomplish this goal, the APS Growth Model uses students' standardized test scores in combination with student demographics to create growth predictions. The predictions are customized to the students served, which allows for a fair comparison of student growth for schools serving different student populations.

We can achieve fair comparisons by removing the effects of factors that are beyond the control of schools. In achievement models, high results are often more indicative of the type of student the school serves rather than the effectiveness of teaching at the school. To evaluate the effectiveness of instruction, we need to measure longitudinal student growth, which is the basis of Student Growth.

How does the APS Growth Model actually account for all of these control factors? Is there a set percentage for each factor?

We calculate control factors empirically, based on the actual test data of students across your district. There is no predeterm

ined percentage for each factor since we based these adjustments on the performance of your students for each grade level and time period.

For example, based on analyzing actual test scores, we might find that across your district, special education students grew more slowly than non-special education students during 4th grade for the 2012-2013 school year. VARC would calculate this difference in growth and use it to make predictions about how special education and non-special education students would score at any given school during this same grade and time period.

How does the APS Growth Model account for changes to curriculum?

The goal of the APS Growth Model is to remove the effects of non-school factors from student growth in order to give schools a fair comparison of their impact on the growth of students. After these non-school factors are accounted for, we are left with the effect of the school or classroom. Factors related to the school (like an individual school or teacher's curriculum) are not removed from the calculation, so the Student Growth result includes the effect of curriculum on student growth.

However, if there was a district-wide change in curriculum, all schools would have experienced this change. Since Student Growth results compare the growth of a school to the growth of students across the district, a change in curriculum that affects all students will not affect Student Growth estimates.

Why are there fewer students counted in our results than the number of students we tested and/or taught?

To be included in the analysis, a student needed to meet several criteria, such as having test scores for consecutive years. Students must also have a complete demographic profile. Student Growth results are suppressed if there are fewer than 10 students in a particular grade or group.

Do the Student Growth reports tell us why some schools, grade-level teams, and educators are having more success than others in producing positive student outcomes?

No. The reports help identify schools or grade levels that are achieving remarkable growth with particular student populations. To understand why these schools or grade levels are so successful, we must examine the particular policies and practices in those schools. The reports tell us where to look for examples of excellence and show us those areas most in need of greater support.

Why do the reports only provide results for some subjects and grade levels rather than results for all subjects and grade levels?

These data provide useful information for schools, educators, and stakeholders. Even though we cannot yet provide results for all subjects and grade levels, results are available where we have confidence in the rigor of the metrics.