1. Prepared by: Scott R. Morrison Director of Curriculum and Instructional Technology 11/3/09

2. Spring 2009 Results Trends – Areas of Opportunity DESE Growth Model

3. Spring 2009 Results SubjectAdvancedProficientNeeds Improv.Warning EnglishDistrict2951191 State12453310 MathematicsDistrict3254113 State20402515 EnglishDistrict1659206 State12423511 MathematicsDistrict2645255 State16324111 EnglishDistrict2363131 State1548298 MathematicsDistrict4434193 State22322918 Science & TechDistrict2449261 State17323912 ELEMENTARY Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 3

4. Spring 2009 Results SubjectAdvancedProficientNeeds Improv.Warning EnglishDistrict1866142 State1650249 MathematicsDistrict3043225 State24332716 EnglishDistrict286570 State1456237 MathematicsDistrict3341251 State16333021 EnglishDistrict2360125 State1563156 MathematicsDistrict33 17 State2028 23 Science & TechDistrict5404113 State4354021 MIDDLE SCHOOL Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 6 (part of elem. last year)

5. Spring 2009 Results SubjectAdvancedProficient Needs Improv.Warning Students tested EnglishDistrict584021113 State285117470,383 MathematicsDistrict751941113 State472818870,194 Science & TechDistrict414973107 State164529968,034 HIGH SCHOOL Grade 10

6. TRENDS (Elem.) ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS (areas of opportunity) * ELA: Nonfiction; inferencing, ID story facts, story sequence; ID main idea; topic development MATH Fractions; extending patterns; working with values (determine totals; find missing); using proportional relationships; interpreting data sets and tables; length conversions SCIENCE: Life Science: Only 2 of 9 questions released Earth/Space: Rocks; minerals (change processes); 50% of items released * Beginning in 2009, approximately 50% of common test items in grades 3-8 will be released.

7. TRENDS (MS) MIDDLE SCHOOL (areas of opportunity) * ELA: Non-fiction; ID non-fiction components; story facts, poetry, inferencing; reason for word use; style and language (figurative language) MATH Equivalent expressions; determining data values; selecting table; computing weight conversion SCIENCE: Measurements; reading tables; graphing; understanding heat transfer; substance vs. mixture * Beginning in 2009, approximately 50% of common test items in grades 3-8 will be released.

8. TRENDS (HS) HIGH SCHOOL (areas of opportunity) * ELA: Nonfiction; style/language MATH Corresponding values; determining median value in a table; value computation SCIENCE: Cells; genes; body system * Beginning in 2009, approximately 50% of common test items in grades 3-8 will be released.

9. The GROWTH MODEL Performance = Achievement + Growth

10. What is it? Describes a method of measuring individual student progress on statewide assessment (MCAS) by tracking student scores from one year to the next. Starting next year, each student with at least two consecutive years of MCAS scores will receive a student growth percentile (SGP), which measures how much the student changed relative to other students statewide with similar score histories Student growth percentiles range from 1 to 99, where higher numbers represent higher growth and lower numbers represent lower growth. This method works independently of MCAS performance levels. All students, no matter the scores they earned on past MCAS tests, have an equal chance to demonstrate growth Growth percentiles are calculated in ELA and Mathematics for students in grades 4 through 8 and for grade 10.

11. Why measure growth? A way to measure progress for students at all performance levels - A student can perform at a low level but still improve relative to his/her academic peers - Another could perform well but not improve much from year to year Provides evidence of improvement even among those with low performance Gives high performing students and schools something to strive for beyond proficiency

12. Student Growth Percentiles (SGP) Student Growth Percentiles = A measure of student progress that compares changes in a student’s MCAS scores to changes in MCAS scores of other students with similar performance profiles. The DESE refers to students with similar score histories as “academic peers.” While student growth percentiles enable educators to chart the growth of an individual student compared to that of academic peers, student growth percentiles can eventually be aggregated to understand growth at the subgroup, school, or district level. The rate of change is expressed as a percentile. In interpreting these data, it is important to note that differences in growth scores from year to year less than 10 points should not be considered meaningful or significant.

13. DESE Growth Model District Achievement and Growth (ELA) According to the growth model results, "high growth" is defined as growth in a subject at or above the 60th percentile, typical growth is between the 40th and 60th percentile, and low growth is below the 40th percentile.

14. DESE Growth Model District Achievement and Growth (MATH) According to the growth model results, "high growth" is defined as growth in a subject at or above the 60th percentile, typical growth is between the 40th and 60th percentile, and low growth is below the 40th percentile.

15. Best Practices for Using Growth Data Don’t allow growth data to obscure achievement data. Use it to complement achievement data. Growth data is best used to add context to achievement data. Use two years of data if it’s available. The Department has gathered two years of growth data for students in grades 4 through 8. The 10th grade results could only be calculated for the first time in 2009; hence, only one year of growth data is available for grade 10. Look at differences across grades as well as between grades. Because every student has an equal opportunity to grow at a relatively high or low level, regardless of their grade, it is appropriate to combine grades at the school, district, or group level. Differences in medians of less than 10 points are not likely to be meaningful. As rule of thumb, differences in medians of less than 10 are not likely to be educationally meaningful at the school or district level. Medians above 60 or below 40 are relatively unusual. Roughly one school in five had a median growth percentile higher than 60 and a slightly smaller proportion had medians below 40. About five percent had medians above 70 or below 30 and less than one percent had growth scores higher than 80 or below 20.

16. REPORT CARD UPDATE Report Card Committee: Scott Morrison; Wendy Manninen; Emily MacRae; Nicole Curcuru; Laurie Colpoys; Kimberly Field; Margaret Sears; Jeff Bodmer-Turner; Joyce Swedberg; Elise O. Dudley Meetings: Committee meetings, grade level meetings, elementary district meetings, specialist meetings All meeting have been ongoing since the August 2009 Key Accomplishments: 1) New trimester reporting system 2) New reporting system of conferences and portfolios for kindergarten 3) New aligned pilot progress report for grades 1-5 4) New “Parent Guide to Progress Reports” for families