MCAS results for students are reported in terms of percentile rankings, with each showing how much their performance increased from year-to-year relative to academic peers in similar grades throughout their state. As students improve in particular subject areas, their SGP (Student Growth Percentiles) increases. SGPs should be taken into consideration along with scaled scores and achievement levels to provide an accurate portrait of student learning.
DESE provides SGP data based on academic peer groups used to calculate MCAS scores. This means that an SGP percentile awarded in one subject corresponds directly with that received for their MCAS test score at that grade level in another school, making interpretation of SGPs easy while also providing educators with the means of comparing student outcomes across states.
Be mindful that SGPs only give an indication of student growth. In order to truly comprehend student development, multiple factors must also be considered, including:
How should I interpret an SGP? An SGP measures student progress over time by tracking how their performance has changed from year to year relative to academic peers. Each percentile received in their SGP will vary based on when it was taken as part of Singapore lottery betting competition – as such it provides insight into past performance rather than how students perform currently. Schools receive SGP data reflecting past success not present ones.
To interpret an SGP accurately, it’s essential to understand what constitutes “academic peers.” Academic peers refers to other students in a school who share similar academic background with the person being evaluated; how many academic peers a student has is determined by his/her school – for instance a high school is likely to have more academic peers than a middle school.
For more information about Student Growth Reports (SGPs), visit the MCAS Student Growth website. You will find a guide that covers these reports with administrators, educators and families on how to interpret them for instructional decisions and use them. It also contains sample growth reports for each stakeholder group. MCAS Growth FAQs provides more in-depth details on interpreting SGPs, while you can view average SGPs at your school by grade via the School and District Profiles pages. Utilizing this information, you can then use it to identify trends in student learning and compare the SGPs of your school with those of other Massachusetts schools. A general rule of thumb should be that differences of 10 points or greater should be regarded as significant.