Data sgp is an R package that provides a set of lower level functions and higher level wrapper functions for performing statistical growth percentile (SGP) analyses on longitudinal student data. These functions compensate for estimation errors in the comparison of a students current test score with an estimate of their prior performance and provide more accurate measures of achievement than unadjusted test scores.
The SGP package also includes tools for establishing multi-year growth standards based upon official state achievement targets/goals and calculating the required rate of growth needed to achieve those goals. This article illustrates the basic process of converting an official one-year achievement target into a multi-year growth standard using the SGP methodology and shows how to determine the rate of growth, expressed as a percentage of the class median, needed to reach that goal.
For operational SGP analyses performed year after year, it is recommended that the data be formatted in the LONG data format instead of the WIDE format. The use of long formatted data reduces the amount of data that needs to be managed when updating analyses with new years of data and simplifies the lower level SGP functions that operate on this data.
SGP analyses require the availability of longitudinal student data and a number of supporting data sets such as demographic, disciplinary and academic. The data sgp package provides an exemplar longitudinal data set in the form of an anonymized panel data set with 5 years of annual, vertically scaled assessment data. This exemplary data set models the data format used by the lower level SGP functions studentGrowthPercentiles and studentGrowthProjections.
To make data sgp more user friendly, the package has been designed with a responsive website that is optimized for mobile devices. This means that users can easily access the data sgp from any device including phones, tablets and laptops. In addition, the site has been configured to work with any web browser, so no additional software is needed.
In order to get started with the data sgp, you will need to log in to your Star account and select the school level that you want to analyze. Once you have selected your school, click on the “Datasets” tab in the upper-left corner of the page. Here you will be able to see all of the available data that has been uploaded by your district. To view the specifics of each data set, click on the name of the dataset in the list.
The data sgp is not only easy to access, but it is also free of charge for all Star accounts. Once you have logged in to your account, you can begin to use the sgp data to see how your students are performing. This data can help you plan and prepare your classroom for the upcoming testing season. This data can also help you make informed decisions about your curriculum and instructional strategies. This is a great resource to have for all educators!