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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 the growth standard.

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.

The model used to analyze the selected assessment determines how we generate growth measures. See assessments analyzed with the growth standard methodology and assessments analyzed with the predictive methodology.

Model	How Growth Measures are Generated
Growth Standard Methodology	The growth measure is the difference between the group's most recent average score in this subject and its prior average score in the same subject. The growth measures for these assessments are expressed in reference group NCEs. Differences in student counts within each year can cause slight shifts in the NCEs for prior years. For more information see Why Students' NCEs Might Change.
Predictive Methodology	The growth measure is the difference between the group's average score and their average predicted score in the selected subject or course. The growth measures for these assessments are expressed in scale score points.

Model

How Growth Measures are Generated

Growth Standard Methodology

The growth measure is the difference between the group's most recent average score in this subject and its prior average score in the same subject. The growth measures for these assessments are expressed in reference group NCEs.

Differences in student counts within each year can cause slight shifts in the NCEs for prior years. For more information see Why Students' NCEs Might Change.

Predictive Methodology

The growth measure is the difference between the group's average score and their average predicted score in the selected subject or course. The growth measures for these assessments are expressed in scale score points.