Teacher Diagnostic

Technical Details

Placing Students into Achievement Groups

Students are placed into three groups based on their achievement.

When the graph shows five groups, the lowest group includes students whose achievement falls into the lowest 20% of the state distribution, the low-mid group includes students whose achievement falls between the 20th and 40th percentiles, and so on.

When the graph shows three groups, the lowest group includes students whose achievement falls into the lowest third of the state distribution, the low-mid group includes students whose achievement falls in the middle third, and the highest group includes students whose achievement is in the top third.

For all assessments, more than a single test score is used to place students into groups. Using more data minimizes the effect of measurement error and helps ensure that students are placed into achievement groups appropriately.

Students are divided into three equal groups based on where their achievement in the selected subject falls in the state distribution.

For all assessments, more than a single test score is used to place students into groups. Using more data minimizes the effect of measurement error and helps ensure that students are placed into achievement groups appropriately.

The model used to analyze the selected assessment determines how we define achievement. See assessments analyzed with the gain model and assessments analyzed with the predictive model.

• Students Not Used in Analysis are not included in the Teacher Custom Diagnostic report, and not used in the Value-Added analysis. This can happen for several reasons. For example, it happens when students don't have sufficient past test scores, or their current-year scores had to be excluded for business reasons.

• Students Not Used in Report are not included in the Teacher Diagnostic report but are used in the Value-Added analysis. This happens when students who have sufficient past test scores for the analysis either don't have scores from the previous year, or their previous year's scores had to be excluded for business reasons.

Teacher Custom Diagnostic

Students are placed into three equal groups based on where each student's achievement falls in the distribution of students that you selected. The Low group includes the students whose achievement falls into the lowest third of students you selected. The High group includes the students whose achievement falls into the highest third of students you selected.

Placing Students into Achievement Groups

Students are placed into three achievement groups based on the average of their two most recent scores in the selected subject. For example, in a report for sixth-grade math, students are placed into achievement groups based on the average of their fifth-grade and sixth-grade math scores. If a student's fifth-grade math score is missing, that student is not placed into an achievement group on this report.

For all assessments, more than a single test score is used to place students into groups. Using more data minimizes the effect of measurement error and helps ensure that students are placed into achievement groups appropriately.

• Students Not Used in Analysis are not included in the Teacher Custom Diagnostic report, and not used in the Value-Added analysis. This can happen for several reasons. For example, it happens when students don't have sufficient past test scores, or their current-year scores had to be excluded for business reasons.

• Students Not Used in Report are not included in the Teacher Diagnostic report but are used in the Value-Added analysis. This happens when students who have sufficient past test scores for the analysis either don't have scores from the previous year, or their previous year's scores had to be excluded for business reasons.

Students are placed into three groups based on where their expected scores fall relative to the performance level ranges that are defined by the state. Entering achievement reflects students' achievement before the current school year or when they entered a grade and subject or course. This method of placing students is used for all state assessments, regardless of whether the data is analyzed with the gain model or the predictive model.

A student must have three prior scores across grades and subjects for an expected score to be generated. If a student has fewer than three prior scores, no expected score will be generated, and the student will not be included in this report.

Generating Growth Measures

Once students are placed into groups, a simple growth measure is generated for each group. A group must have at least five students for a growth measure to be generated.

For all assessments, a growth measure of 0.0 represents meeting expected growth.

It's important to remember that these simple growth measures do not come from the robust analytic models that generate the growth measures on the value-added reports. As a result, you'll want to exercise some caution when interpreting the data. Specifically, focus on the relative pattern of growth across groups rather than rely too heavily on any one value. Because the growth measures are estimates, consider their associated standard errors as you interpret the values.