We evaluate the feasibility of estimating test-score growth for schools and districts with a gap year in test data. Our research design uses a simulated gap year in testing when a true test gap did not occur, which facilitates comparisons of district- and school-level growth estimates with and without a gap year. We find that growth estimates…

The piecewise latent growth models (PWLGMs) can be used to study changes in the growth trajectory of an outcome due to an event or condition, such as exposure to an intervention. When there are multiple outcomes of interest, a researcher may choose to fit a series of PWLGMs or a single parallel-process PWLGM. A comparison of these models is…

Student growth percentiles (SGPs) are currently used by several states and school districts to provide information about individual students as well as to evaluate teachers, schools, and school districts. For SGPs to be defensible for these purposes, they should be reliable. In this study, we examine the amount of systematic and random error in…

We evaluate the feasibility of estimating test-score growth with a gap year in testing data, informing the scenario when state testing resumes after the 2020 COVID-19-induced test stoppage. Our research design is to simulate a gap year in testing using pre-COVID-19 data--when a true test gap did not occur--which facilitates comparisons of…

Evidence of student growth is a primary outcome of interest for educational accountability systems. When three or more years of student test data are available, questions around how students grow and what their predicted growth is can be answered. Given that test scores contain measurement error, this error should be considered in growth and…

The process of setting and evaluating student learning objectives (SLOs) has become increasingly popular as an example where classroom assessment is intended to fulfill the dual purpose use of informing instruction and holding teachers accountable. A concern is that the high-stakes purpose may lead to distortions in the inferences about students…

In this study, gain score, and categorical growth models were used to examine the role of student (gender and socioeconomic level) and school characteristics (school size and school resources) in the student growth on comprehension skills in language. The participants of this study were 2,416 sixth-grade students in 2011 who became seventh-grade…

While states are no longer required to set up teacher evaluation systems based in significant part on student test scores, quite a few continue to use value-added (VAMs) or student growth percentile (SGP) models for that purpose. In this study, we analyzed three years of teacher data to illustrate the performance of teachers' median growth…

Important educational policy decisions, like whether to shorten or extend the school year, often require accurate estimates of how much students learn during the year. Yet, related research relies on a mostly untested assumption: that growth in achievement is linear throughout the entire school year. We examine this assumption using a dataset…

The purpose of this report is to investigate the feasibility of constructing a school-level measure of students' academic growth from kindergarten to grade 3, and to assess the validity and precision of that measure. The study measured schoolwide student growth for reading and math using student growth percentiles based on Maryland's 2014/15…

Now more than ever, school principals play a critical role in the effective implementation of inclusive education programs in their schools, as inclusive practices are becoming tightly embedded in a school's culture (Sailor, 2016; Shogren et al., 2015). The success of inclusive education programs has been primarily supported by school principals'…

The study examined the extent that teacher-student relationships (TSR) influenced basic psychological needs, engagement, and student growth using the self-systems process model as a framework using structural equation modeling. Based on prior research, it was hypothesized that context (TSR) influenced self (basic psychological needs), which…

This document describes the model used to measure student growth for institutional accountability in New York State for the 2018/19 school year and how three years of student growth results were combined to generate a three-year growth measure called the Growth Index. The Growth Index was first used in 2017/18 to make accountability…

Student learning objectives (SLOs) have become an increasingly popular tool for teacher evaluations as an alternative to Value-added Models (VAMs). However, the use of SLOs faces two major challenges. First, the target setting is mostly subjective and arbitrary. Second, there is little evidence on the reliability and validity of the tool. In this…

This document describes the model used to measure student growth for institutional accountability in New York State for the 2017/18 school year and how three years of student growth results were combined to generate a three-year growth measure called the Growth Index. The Growth Index is new in 2017/18 and is used to make accountability…