A student’s growth percentile (SGP) measures how much a student has grown, in percentage terms, compared to students with similar test scores. It is a number from 1 to 99, with lower numbers indicating smaller relative growth and higher numbers indicating larger relative growth. The SGP is a valuable tool for teachers and administrators to use when looking at the growth of students. It helps them determine if a student grew more than, less than, or as much as expected. SGP scores can be determined at a single point in time or over multiple points in time. For example, a teacher can view a student’s SGP after each assessment or SGP for the previous year and compare the results to the current year. This information is useful to teachers because it provides a clearer picture of the student’s progress than just a single test score.
In order to get a more accurate picture of student growth, SGPs are calculated over multiple years. For this reason, the most recent SGP will always appear first on the report card. The SGP calculation uses the most up-to-date data available. In addition, the model accounts for the fact that even students who score at the top of their grade on a State assessment may have different scores in subsequent years due to random variations in performance. To help explain these variations, the SGP model uses a statistical method called “quantile regression,” which is explained in more detail in the technical resources on the Student Growth District and School Resources webpage.
To calculate the SGP, the model compares a student to their academic peers who have the same testing history. These academic peers are the students in the same grade and assessment subject that have the most similar score paths on the State assessments. This is not a measure of the student’s ability to learn or their demographics, which are included in the academic profile.
In addition to the SGP, the report card will also include a number of other indicators. These indicators include the academic status indicator, the graduation rate and dropout rate indicators and the standardized test results (SAT, ACT). The standardized tests are taken in math and reading for kindergarten through eighth grade and in science and writing for ninth through twelfth grade. These indicators are important for comparing the progress of students from one school to another and across the state.