Measures of student growth offer a richer understanding of student performance than a one-time test score alone, but measures of student growth are not created equal. In response to public demand for more information about school quality and student success, most states are holding schools accountable for “student growth” and including this information on school report cards. But states are measuring growth in different ways, which tell different stories about schools, and they are made up of a series of calculations that aren’t always intuitive to the average consumer of data. To make sense of what this data reveals about school quality, and use it to inform decisions that improve student outcomes, everyone—from parents to policymakers—needs to be able to understand their school’s growth data.
During this interactive workshop, participants will learn about the national landscape for how growth data is being measured and reported for state accountability by hearing select findings from the Data Quality Campaign’s brief "
Growth Data: It Matters, and It’s Complicated," and its third annual analysis of school report cards, "Show Me the Data." Participants will then brainstorm communications strategies and practice explaining growth measures to various audiences, including policymakers, teachers, and parents. The session will conclude with a group discussion. Participants will reflect and share with colleagues their experiences with how school-level growth data is used in practice in their state or district, envision how they hope it will be used, and identify related actions they can take to support everyone’s ability to talk about and use this data to drive improvements.
Please bring your laptop or another mobile device for this participatory session.
