1. School Designators Alaska Principals Conference October 2001

2. Section 14.03.123. School accountability requires: Beginning August 2002, and during each of the following 12-month periods, the department shall assign each public school in each district the performance designator of distinguished, successful, deficient, or in crisis based on multiple measures, including student achievement

3. School Designator Committee Representation from School Boards, Administrators, NEA, PTA, Business Six meetings since February 2000 Consultants from the Center for Assessment Brian Gong Richard Hill

4. Design Assumptions School Designator System (SDS) should: be educationally constructive, valid, reliable, fair, operationally feasible, politically acceptable, and legally defensible focus on student performance be able to accommodate addition of other indicators in the future be well coordinated with other supports for educational improvement, e.g., report cards may report indicators not included in SDS

5. Assumptions - continued School Designator System (SDS) should: be objective, and not require intensive resources (i.e., should not require broad-based school inspections, etc.) Consider Status (most recent performance) and Growth over time in calculating school ratings be amenable to raising the bar over time be robust enough to deal with developments in the future

6. The SDS shall be based on a combination of: Status (most recent performance) Growth (the increased performance of students in successive grades/years, e.g., from Grade 3 in Year 1 to Grade 4 in Year 2).

7. Indicators The School Designator System (SDS) shall base school designations upon: student performance on both state benchmark and HSGQE assessments and commercial norm- referenced tests, and dropout (for high schools). Additional indicators may be reported but not used for determining school designations. Other indicators may be added to the designation system in the future.

8. Summary: Calculating a designation Status Assign points based on student performance in relation to state student performance standards (e.g., Advanced, Proficient, etc.) Average across content areas and grades Growth Assign points based on student year-to-year growth in relation to one years standard growth Average across grade-pairs and content areas Overall [Status + (2 times Growth)] / 3 Designation Compare Overall to cutpoints to be established by state board

9. Example: Status Index The Status Index represents the average performance of all students on the most recent set of assessments, across all content areas and grades An index is used because it is: directly linked to performance standards reflects the entire range of performance reliable

10. Example: Calculating a Status Index for Reading, Benchmark Grade 3 Assign each student a number of index points based on her/his performance. Student Performance Level Performance Level Score Index Points Advanced4180 Proficient3120 Below Proficient260 Not Proficient120 Did not participateblank0

11. Example: Calculating a Status Index Add points and divide by number of students to calculate average. This is the index. Student Performance Level Number of Students Index Points Subtotal Advanced3180540 Proficient101201200 Below Proficient560300 Not Proficient120 Did not participate100 TOTAL202060 Index Score (Grade 3, Reading)103.0

12. Example: Calculating Status Index for school Calculate weighted average across all content areas, all grades. (Assume only Grade 3 for simplicity.) Status Index for Content Area Number of Students Status Index Reading - Grade 320103.0 Math - Grade 32097.8 Status Index Score, Grade 3100.4

13. Growth performance Based on the improvement made by a class of students from Year 1 to Year 2 sensitive to where students started uses classes of students; may not track exactly same students Represented by an index based on the ratio of the growth achieved by the school in relation to one years standard growth

14. Example: Calculating a Growth Index for Reading, Grades 3 to 4 1. Determine students performance in grade 3 on the benchmark exam. 2. Determine students performance in grade 4 on the NRT (translated to scale score comparable to the benchmark scale). 3. Subtract Grade 3 from Grade 4 performance to determine how much student progressed.

15. Particular emphasis on helping lower-achieving students grow Define lower-achieving as those below a certain standard score (e.g., standard score that defines lowest 25% of students statewide in 2001) Growth for these students gets double weight (student counted twice)

16. Example: Calculating Growth Index – continued Performance Score, Grade 4, 2001 Performance Score, Grade 3, 2000 Growth Difference 449346103 393293100 42032199 36526699 306201105 306201105 Average101.8

17. Example: Calculating a Growth Index for a school Combine growth across all content areas and grades. (Limited example). Growth AreaNumber of Students Growth Index Reading, Grade 3 to 425110.0 Math, Grade 3 to 425102.0 Reading, Grade 4 to 525103.0 Math, Grade 4 to 52592.0 Growth Index101.8

18. Assigning an Overall School Designation [Status + (2 * Growth)] / 3 = Overall Score Example Use cutscores to be determined by state Board of Education to assign school designations (Hypothetical only) 140 and higher = Distinguished 100 - 139 = Satisfactory, etc. Status100.4 Growth101.4 Overall[100.4+ (2*101.4)]/3 = (100.4 + 202.8)/3 = 101.1

19. Reporting Various disaggregations shall be reported to the school, e.g., school performance on Status and Growth by content area assessed. A degree of certainty (reliability or decision consistency) should be reported with each school designation. The degree of certainty should be taken into consideration when interpreting the school designation.

20. Implementation View – year available IndicatorStatusGrowthNotes Primary Profile0306If growth to Gr. 3 Gr. 3 test0203Tracking in 04 Gr. 4 test0202*Tracking cohorts Gr. 5 test0203 Gr. 6 test0203 Gr. 7 test0203 Gr. 8 test0203 Gr. 9 test0203 Gr. 10 test020302 after Aug. Persistence (Dropout)02 Percent Graduating02 Post-grad. Success030403 start at earliest Local assessments030403 start at earliest

21. Issues and Challenges Statutory deadline- August 2002 Limitations of basic design Single indicator Status only for 2002 Scaffolds, support, intervention Technical Issues Technical study not completed Problems associated with designating small schools Problems associated with designating high schools

22. Issues and Challenges -Continued Timing Issues Impact of SB 133 HSGQE Standard Setting

23. Indicators Considered By Committee NRT, benchmark exams, HSGQE growth, status other student assessments (local by district, school) Attendance Stake holders involvement Drop out (high school and pre-high school) percent graduating seniors Truancy Teacher certification Staff development School safety Discipline data (suspensions, expulsions for drugs or weapons, violence) Transience rate Principal.staff tenure (number of years in building) Parent/teacher conference attendance parent involvement (e.g., fill out teacher evaluation)

24. Indicators - continued progress in relation to self-determined identify; ability to determine who you are (identify, mission) high school course offerings pupil/teacher ratio (over grades taught) bilingual education, ESL, immersion local indicators school-business partnerships surrogate parenting poverty level linguistic/cultural diversity parents/mothers level of education stake holders power school-community relations (e.g., school contribution to community economic viability) schools curriculum focus in relation to content standards

25. Indicators - continued student involvement in extra curricular programs (academic decathlon, sports) extensiveness of programs high school accreditation promotion/retention rates percent of staff new to profession in school after school programs (e.g., summer school) becoming teen parent students in alternative education programs parent satisfaction preventative measures kindergarten developmental profile course completion rates for specific courses (e.g., algebra) college entrance exams (participation rates, scores) awards, honors, recognitions, achievements by school and its students (e.g., scholarships)

26. Indicators - continued geographic isolation/community resources amount of environmental print Baldridge survey indicators physical facilities post-secondary activity school improvement plan

27. Questions, Comments, Concerns