Beginning today (July 21), Coloradans can get a sneak preview of the future of education data reporting, using student academic growth rather than the more static, absolute measures in use up until now.

Data from the new Colorado Growth Model is available on the Colorado Department of Education web site. Click here for data on every school in the state , showing student achievement and student growth in math, writing and reading between 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Colorado Student Assessment Program data for the 2007-08 school year will be released July 29, in the traditional, static format. That data will be incorporated into the growth model and new growth model charts will be available to the public and media August 19.

Using student growth data heralds the advent of a new era in school accountability, said CDE Associate Commissioner Rich Wenning. Growth data provides “a positive perspective on accountability rather than a punitive one,” Wenning said during a briefing on the model.

Data are presented online in easy-to-read charts, divided into four quadrants. Viewers can quickly ascertain which schools have high scores but low growth, high scores and high growth, low scores but high growth, and low scores and low growth.

Rather than judging a school’s effectiveness, or lack thereof, based on a single year’s CSAP scores, the growth model prompts teachers, principals and superintendents to ask three questions about schools and individual students:

• What is the growth rate of a student, school and district?

• What should the growth rate be for a student to reach proficiency or better?

• What are the highest sustained growth rates today and under what conditions might they improve?

“This approach no only puts student achievement data in a whole new light, it provides a new prism to analyze the history of achievement for each student, school and district,” Commissioner of Education Dwight D. Jones said.

How to use the data (see explanation below image) 

This image shows the ranking and growth for all Adams 14 schools in math. Schools in the upper right quadrant have above-the-median achievement and growth. Those in the lower right quadrant are below the median in scores but above in growth. Schools in the lower left are below in both. The upper left shows schools above in achievement but below in growth (none in the case of Adams 14). Dot size connotes enrollment. This image is not clickable, but on the CDE website you can use the navigation tools on the right to generate displays for writing or reading, look at just elementary, middle or high schools and highlight an individual school.  

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