1. Update on Data Collection and Reporting
December 1, 2006

2. Accountability Verification
Nov 14 Accountability Status Reports for Verification and Accountability Verification Reports available on nySTART (include data sent to Level 2 Repository by November 1 at midnight)
Nov 20 Accountability Verification Reports on nySTART incorporate data sent to Level 2 Repository by Friday November 17 at midnight
Nov 21 Regents science results incorporated into the Accountability Verification Reports
Nov 22 Accountability Verification Reports incorporate data sent to Level 2 Repository by Monday November 20 at midnight; last day for districts to send corrected data to Level 1 Repositories

3. Accountability Verification
Nov 29 Revised Accountability Verification Reports available on nySTART (include data sent to Level 2 Repository by Monday November 27 at midnight)
Dec 1 Revised Accountability Status Reports for Verification available on nySTART (include data sent to Level 2 Repository by Monday November 27 at midnight)
Dec 5 Last day for Level 1 Repositories to send corrected data to Level 2 Repository (must be submitted by 5:00 p.m.)
Dec 7 Revised Accountability Verification Reports available on nySTART (include data sent to Level 2 Repository by December 5)
Dec 12 Final Accountability Status Reports available on nySTART

4. Changes for
High school data reported in the repository beginning with August 2006 graduates and examinations
STEP files imported to Repository
Verification process begins in February

5. New data for 2006-07 Race/ethnicity Federal funding
Students in nonpublic schools who are the responsibility of a CSE
Underage dropouts

6. New data for
Collection of special education data in the repository

7. Interpreting SPIs

8. Standard Performance Index
The scale score and the performance level describe the child’s overall performance on each test.
The SPI gives parents and teachers information about a child’s strengths and weaknesses on the content areas tested in ELA and mathematics.
The SPI scores
are reliable estimates of student knowledge and skills measured by different test objectives and
provide teachers with valuable diagnostic information that can be used for instructional purposes.

9. Standard Performance Index
In ELA, SPIs are produced for the three tested ELA Learning Standards;
in mathematics, for each of up to five content strands. (In , there are no SPIs for grade 7 algebra or grade 8 statistics and probability.)

10. Standard Performance Index
Estimates the number of questions the child would answer correctly if there were 100 items covering the content area.
Uses sophisticated statistical techniques to provide useful and reliable information about a child’s strengths and weaknesses.
Is a score between 0 and 100.
Must be interpreted in context, because the questions in some content areas may be more difficult than the questions in other areas. Therefore, an SPI of 70 may indicate strong performance in one area and weaker performance in another.

11. Standard Performance Index
May be based on as few as four questions covering a content area;
Not precise enough to place the student’s performance in one of the four performance levels used to describe overall test performance.

12. Standard Performance Index
For each ELA Learning Standard and each mathematics Content Strand, we use SPIs to divide students into three groups:
those who clearly demonstrated the knowledge and skills expected in a content area
those who did not
those whose performance is very, very close to the expected level; their performance may be slightly higher or slightly lower than that expected.

13. SPI Target Range
The performance of students in the third group (on the previous page) is in the same range as that of students who scored at the Level 3 cut score; that is, of students who achieved the lowest scale score that could be considered to have met the Learning Standards.
The performance of these students is used to define the target range. Students within this range on an SPI can be considered to have the knowledge and skills in that area expected of students who scored at 650; that is, who achieved the lowest score considered to meet the standards.

14. Relationship between SPI Performance and Performance Level for the Test
The ELA tests measure performance on three ELA Learning Standards.
The mathematics tests measure performance on up to five content standards.
Many students will be stronger in some areas than others.

15. Relationship between SPI Performance and Performance Level for the Test (Continued)
Students may have more difficulty with questions in some areas than others.
Students at Level 2 may be “above the target range” or “within the target range” in some areas.
Students at Level 3 may be “below the target range” or “within the target range” in some areas.
Students who score in the target range on an SPI are generally students whose scale score is between 630 and 670.

16. SPI Target Range Calculation
The SPIs for ELA and mathematics at each grade level are calculated using the following procedures:
Determine the highest and lowest scale scores that are not significantly different than the Level 3 cut score on each assessment. (These would be scores that are one standard error of measurement from the Level 3 cut score.)
Determine the expected SPI of students at each of these scale scores.
These SPIs determine the lowest and highest scores for the SPI target range.

17. Sample SPI Target Range for a Learning Standard
SPI Target Range is 65 to 74.
SPI Score Range 65 74
100
Scale Score
Lowest Score
Highest Score
Level 2 Cut Score
Level 3 Cut Score
Level 4 Cut Score
Cut Score for Level 3 = 650

18. Mean SPI by Performance Level

19. Mean SPI by Performance Level