The Use of Growth Versus Status Measures to Understand Student Subgroup Performance

• In Event: Measuring Growth: The Challenges, Possibilities, and Political Implications of Measuring Teacher Effectiveness

Abstract

Currently school accountability under No Child Left Behind is predominantly assessed using a status measure (the percentage of students testing proficient, or PPS). This reproduces the very race and economic achievement gaps that NCLB was designed to close, as schools with more diverse student bodies (and more disaggregated subgroups) struggle to demonstrate their effectiveness. This paper explores the practical issues of using the PPS for school-level accountability and proposes the addition of longitudinal-modeling as a possible solution. Using one state’s reading test score data, this paper demonstrates that both a status and growth measure should be used to assess school accountability based on the achievement patterns of non-White students.

Author

• Amanda Corby Soto, University of Massachusetts - Amherst