Data sgp is a system that utilizes longitudinal student data to produce statistical growth plots (SGP). The SGP represents the percentile rank of a current assessment score relative to students with similar previous scores. This is a much more accurate measure of achievement than unadjusted test scores, and it also provides insight into student performance over time by considering the academic path that each student has taken rather than just their current year’s performance.

The SGP is calculated using a number of different statistical methods. It takes into account a student’s assessment scores from the current and prior testing windows, as well as a variety of other factors such as the student’s academic history and socioeconomic status. A student’s current SGP may be slightly different from the one reported in their report card because the SGP calculation only uses assessments administered during the past 18 months, while the report card reflects results from assessments that were completed in the previous school year.

SGP calculations work best when presented in terms of percentile rank, which are familiar to both teachers and parents. To this end, the sgpData contains several tables that outline student performance in terms of percentile ranking. The first table, sgpData_PERCENTILE_RANK, displays the percentile rank of each student’s current assessment score. The next five tables, sgpData_PERCENTILE_RANK_2013, sgpData_PERCENTILE_RANK_2014, sgpData_PERCENTILE_RANK_2015, and sgpData_PERCENTILE_RANK_2016, display the percentile rank of each student’s previous assessments, while the final table, sgpData_INSTRUCTOR_NUMBER, displays details about teachers assigned to each assessment record.

The sgpData tables also contain additional information about each student’s academic progress. For example, the sgpData_CONTENTS table shows how many content areas each student has covered in the course of their academic career, which can be a useful tool for curriculum coordinators and principals when reviewing the curriculum.

While the sgpData tables provide helpful insights into student performance, the SGP calculators are used to produce more in-depth analyses. These calculators use the sgpData tables to perform SGP calculations and produce outputs such as trend lines, scatterplots, and bar charts. These outputs can help inform instruction, highlight underperforming groups of students, and identify areas where student learning is strongest or weakest.

The SGP calculators use LONG formatted data for operational analyses, as it is more simple to manage than data in the wide format. Most higher level functions require the use of long data, and most rely on embedded SGPstateData meta-data for state specific information. For more information on how to utilize the SGP calculators, refer to the documentation for each function.