How to Use Data SGP for Comparisons
Data sgp are individual student growth percentiles that describe a students progress relative to other students with similar prior test scores (their academic peers). SGPs can be shared with parents in a manner that is comparable across schools and districts and can help them better understand their childs progress. Districts can use these data to make instructional decisions about how to support and challenge their students. Teachers can also use these data to guide their instruction and classroom performance evaluations. Administrators can also use these data to inform their continuous improvement efforts.
The sgpData table provides a set of SGPs for each individual student in grades 4 through 11. These data are normalized by grade level and assessment to allow meaningful comparisons between students. The first column, ID, provides the unique student identifier while the next five columns, GRADE_2013, GRADE_2014, GRADE_2015, GRADE_2016, and GRADE_2017 provide the student assessment score for each of these years.
Using the SGP data for comparisons is simple. The first step is to select the student whose data you would like to view. To do so, click the student’s name in the list of results or in the individual growth graphs. Then, click the sgpData tab that corresponds to the selected year. Once the sgpData tab has opened, click the student’s name again to close it and return to the list of results.
After selecting a student, you can see their current sgp by scrolling down to the bottom of the sgpData tab. You can also view their historical sgp by clicking on the “HISTORICAL” tab in the top right corner of the sgpData tab.
These data can also be used to create a list of students who are above or below average in their sgp. This list can then be used to target specific students for additional support or to identify a class that needs more challenging work.
Using the sgpData table for operational SGP analyses requires an understanding of how the data is formatted and used. We recommend that you consult the SGP data analysis vignette for more comprehensive documentation on how to use sgpData and long-formatted data sets for SGP calculations. This is especially important if you plan on running your SGP analyses using sgpData for multiple years. The higher level wrapper functions designed for sgpData use the LONG data format which has numerous preparation and storage benefits over WIDE formatted data.