Growth Research Database (GRD) Data Award Webinar

1. Growth Research Database (GRD)Data Award Webinar The Kingsbury Center at NWEA November 10, 2010

2. Webinar Details • To get audio for this conference, you can either use your computer speakers OR you can call (888) 809-4012 and use passcode710498. • Ask a question anytime using the Chat feature in the bottom left hand corner of your screen OR send us an email at kingsbury.center@nwea.org. • The Talk feature of this Webinar is disabled. • We will address all questions at the end of the webinar.

3. Agenda • The Kingsbury Center • Growth Research Database (GRD) • Applying for the award • Answering your questions

4. The Kingsbury Center at NWEA • The Kingsbury Center at NWEA is an independent organization that believes in “partnering to help all kids learn” through educational research • We contribute powerful, insightful research designed to engage the education community with data that informs the decisions that can improve teaching and learning. • Why we have a data award • We are committed to supporting the next generation of researchers and scholars. We offer the Data Award to help graduate students and unfunded university researchers use our Growth Research Database (GRD) to further their research goals and projects.

5. Growth Research Database (GRD) • What’s in the GRD • What’s not in the GRD • Common metrics • Protecting student privacy • Teacher linking • Special programs

6. What’s in the GRD • The country’s largest longitudinal student assessment growth data warehouse • Over 135 million assessment records on over 11 million students in public and private schools in all 50 states and 80 territories in reading, math, language usage, and science subjects warehoused since 1996 • Using one of the nation’s best, vertically-aligned, Rasch-scaled student assessments with unprecedentedly low standard errors

7. What’s in the GRD • Assessment: • RIT score, standard error, raw score, question count, test name, subject, start/end date/time, test details, goal data • Student: • Grade, gender, ethnicity • Setting: • Term (season and year), school, district, state • Linked Data: • Alignments, growth norms, NCES information

8. What’s in the GRD

9. What’s NOT in the GRD • Classroom information beyond teacher name and class name • Student information beyond age, gender, race/ethnicity • Definitive special education, ELL, free lunch status (see Special Programs) • Programs and curricula used by the teacher, school, district

10. Commonly-Requested Metrics • Norm-indexed growth • Virtual comparison group (VCG) growth • Fall to Spring and Fall to Fall growth • Average RIT scores by gender/ethnicity • Item response time • Goal/strand data within a subject • Our best data is for Reading and Math in grades 3-8

11. Student Privacy • FERPA protects student privacy, and NWEA upholds these restrictions • Data will be de-identified such that no student or teacher can be recognized • NWEA also respects our partners’ privacy, so schools and districts will not be identified without direct permission • Researchers must sign an official nondisclosure document agreeing to no reuse of data, maintaining privacy in reporting, and destruction of data after use • NWEA does not provide IRB/human subjects review; researchers must obtain this from their home institutions

12. Teacher Linkages • To take an NWEA test, school/district administrators must enter teacher and class information for each student, so it is available for research purposes • However this information may not always be correct, and can be misleading • No “teacher of record” is identified for any test or student • NWEA will work with external researchers to make sure all teacher linkage parameters are clear

13. Special Programs • Schools/districts may choose to provide “special program” data on students such as special education status or free/reduced lunch status • However because this information is not required, it may be misleading. • Students NOT in each special program are not identified, so control experiments are not possible • School-level special program information may be available by linking to NCES information • NWEA will work with external researchers to make sure all special program parameters are clear

14. Data Award Details • Purpose: • We are committed to supporting the next generation of researchers and scholars. We offer the Data Award to help graduate students and unfunded university researchers use our Growth Research Database (GRD) to further their research goals and projects. • Data: • The GRD houses demographic information and highly reliable, longitudinal student achievement information for approximately 10% of the United States student population. • Award: • Recipients will receive a dataset comprised of data relevant to their research needs and some technical assistance to use the data. • Eligibility: • At the time of application, students must be enrolled in a masters or doctoral program at a U.S. college or university and must have a faculty sponsor. Faculty researchers affiliated with a U.S. college or university are now also eligible to apply. All research projects must be unfunded to qualify. Funded researchers can work with NWEA to develop a paid partnership. • Selection: • Recipients will be competitively selected based on the suitability and the technical strength of the applicant's proposed research project. Criteria that will be considered include importance of the problem; clarity of the proposal; and the degree to which the proposed research requires the longitudinal achievement data contained in the GRD.

15. Award Application Logistics • Next application deadline: • December 1, 2010 • Round 1 notifications announced: • December 30, 2010 • Oral interview between NWEA and researcher; work with researcher to develop final Scope of Work: • January 2011 • Future application deadline: • May 2011

16. Your Questions You can still submit questions about the Data Award and our GRD data to Kingsbury.Center@nwea.org OR use the chat feature in your webinar window to ask questions

17. Thank you for participating in the Growth Research Database (GRD)Data Award Webinar The Kingsbury Center at NWEA November 10, 2010 Website: www.KingsburyCenter.org - Email: Kingsbury.Center@nwea.org