Accountability & Assessment 2009-2010

1. Accountability & Assessment 2009-2010 MCAS/AYP/Growth Model January 2010

2. Overview • Federal law (No Child Left Behind -2001) requires that students in grades 3-8, and 10 are tested each year in reading and mathematics (MCAS). • All students are expected to score at the “proficient” level on MCAS (240 or higher) by the year 2014 and to make “Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)” toward that goal until then. • Subgroups of students (40+) also must meet AYP standards. If they do not, the entire school is deemed to have failed to may AYP. • Under NCLB, schools must be identified for improvement if they fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress for two consecutive years.

3. How does a school make “AYP?”

4. Massachusetts Performance Targets for ELA and Mathematics 2002 - 2014 Index is the % of students who score Advanced or Proficient The bar gets higher every two years until ALL students are proficient Cycle II Cycle III Cycle IV Cycle V Cycle VI Cycle VII Cycle VIII

5. Massachusetts Performance Targets for English Language Arts 2002 - 2014 District High School Middle School Elementary School Cycle II Cycle III Cycle IV Cycle V Cycle VI Cycle VII Cycle VIII

6. Massachusetts Performance Targets for Mathematics 2002 - 2014 District High School Middle School Elementary School Cycle II Cycle III Cycle IV Cycle V Cycle VI Cycle VII Cycle VIII

7. Limitations of AYP Plan • A snapshot of different classes each year. • Doesn’t measure growth of individual students. • Targets get higher each cycle. • All students expected to achieve high levels at the same time. • Limited resources provided by the state and federal governments to achieve high levels for all students (time, money, professional development) • Unrealistic that 100% of students will be proficient.

8. What’s the reality? • Beverly’s 2009 MCAS scores demonstrate the following results: • English Language Arts results for grades 3 through 8 exceed or equal the state performance for Advanced & Proficient students. • Grades 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10 have increased their numbers of Advanced & Proficient Students in Mathematics this year. • Science results in Grade 10 have increased by 7% for Advanced & Proficient students and exceed the state performance by 10%.

9. What’s the reality? “Massachusetts students rank at the top of the National Assessment of Student Progress (NAEP) in 2009.” http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/naep/results/default.html “Massachusetts' fourth and eighth graders outscored the nation, and most of their international peers, in math and science on the world's largest study of student performance in those subjects… Trends In International Math and Science Study (TIMSS).” http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/timss.html

10. 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Grade 4 Mathematics Grade 4 Science Note: An additional 24 countries scored below Germany in both mathematics and science.

11. 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Grade 8 Science Grade 8 Mathematics Note: An additional 36 countries scored below Armenia in mathematics and below Australia in science.

12. What’s the reality? “Three-fourths of Massachusetts schools will fail to meet AYP by 2014” www.resultsforamerica.org/calendar/files/0623_press_release.pdf

13. The Future? Achievement + Growth • For several years DESE has been working on a “growth model”- a statistically valid way to measure the change in individual performance over time. A growth model complements the MCAS year-by-year test scores since it reports change over time rather than a student’s performance level in any one year. www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.asp?id=4891

14. What is Growth? • MCAS shows how each student is achieving relative to state standards • Is John proficient in 6th grade mathematics? • Cannot compare John’s scaled scores from year to year • Growth measures change in an individual student’s performance over time • How much did John improve in mathematics from 5th grade to 6th grade? • Did John improve more or less than his academic peers?

15. Student Growth Percentile • Each student’s rate of change is compared to other students with a similar test score history (“academic peers”) • The rate of change is expressed as a percentile. • How much did John improve in mathematics from 5th grade to 6th grade, relative to his academic peers? • If John improved more than 65 percent of his academic peers, then his student growth percentile would be 65.

16. Key Concepts • Growth is distinct from achievement • A student can perform at a low level but grow quickly, and vice versa • Each student is compared only to theiracademic peers, not to all students statewide • Others with a similar test score history • All students can potentially grow at the 1st or 99th percentile • Growth is subject-, grade-, and year-specific • Different academic peer groups for each subject, grade, and year • Therefore, the same change in scaled scores can yield different student growth percentiles

17. Rules of Thumb • Typical student growth percentiles are between about 40 and 60 on most tests. • Students or groups outside this range have exceptionally high or low growth. • Differences of fewer than 10 SGP points are likely not educationally meaningful.

18. Growth For Three Students English Language Arts Grade 5 2006 Grade 6 2007 Grade 7 2008 SGP 2008 Gina 230 230 230 40 Harry 248 248 244 25 Ivy 214 214 226 92

19. Growth for Groups • How to report growth for groups of students? • Districts, schools, grades, subgroups, classrooms • Median student growth percentile • The point at which half of the students in the group have a higher growth percentile and half lower

20. Median Student Growth Percentile Imagine that the list of students to the left are all the students in your 6th grade class. Note that they are sorted from lowest to highest SGP. The point where 50% of students have a higher SGP and 50% have a lower SGP is the median. Median SGP for the 6th grade class

21. Median Growth Percentiles

22. How are we using the Growth Data? • Re-conceptualizing performance Performance = achievement + growth • Identifying strengths and weaknesses in student performance beyond traditional achievement data • Conducting program evaluations and effectiveness of intervention programs. • The state will eventually use it to make accountability decisions. The Growth Model is not yet recognized by the federal government. Hopefully, that will change with the reauthorization of NCLB in 2010.

23. Thank you for coming! This presentation will be posted on the district website www.beverlyschools.org