Data SGP is a database containing various forms of educational assessment data analysis information. Teachers and administrators use it to measure how their students are progressing academically and identify areas where improvement may be necessary. While not as large as the “big data” discussed today in science and business, its analysis can still be quite daunting; using tables and functions from the SGP package such as Data sgp makes this task simpler than ever.
One essential table in the sgpData set is sgpData_INSTRUCTOR_NUMBER, an anonymized lookup table which provides instructor details associated with each student test record. This allows teachers to easily see which instructors may be providing instruction for specific subject areas in which their students are taking tests – providing teachers with vital insight into which instructors may be more suitable than others in helping their classes take tests effectively and assigning instruction accordingly.
A key sgpData table, the sgpData_STUDENTS_PERCENTILE_TABLE, gives educators and parents a convenient way to track student growth relative to academic peers nationwide. Peers refer to students from similar grades, assessment subjects and academic histories who have statistically similar score paths as the student under consideration. The sgpData_STUDENTS_PERCENTILE_TABLE compares each current year score against that of academic peers to reveal how far each needs to grow in order to reach their respective target performance levels.
While sgpData tables can provide invaluable insight, they do not provide all of the data needed to fully comprehend how student achievement impacts school progress. Other data is required. For instance, to assess whether or not a student is making adequate reading progress it must be known which percentage of grade level peers are reading at or above his current reading level and this information can be found within sgpData_STUDENTS_PERCENTILE_TABLE as well as other sgpData tables.
For further details on how to use sgpData and WIDE data formats in general, please refer to the SGP data analysis vignette. This document serves as a comprehensive resource for teachers and other users of SGP analyses.