2011 Growth and Achievement Report Parent Guide Understanding Your Child’s Academic Progress W growth level. The student growth percentile is a score that ranges from 1(lowest) growth) to 99 (highest growth). These percentiles are not percent correct scores and do not show anything about students’ achievement levels. It is possible that students who have low test scores can receive high student growth percentiles if they show enough progress from one year to the next. In the sample plot below, this student’s reading/language arts score between Grade 4 and Grade 5 increased. The student’s growth percentile was 90. This means that the student’s growth was as high or higher than 90% of other students who had similar scores on WESTEST 2 in Grade 4. When you look at the student’s growth from Grade 5 to Grade 6, the student’s growth percentile was 37, which falls in the range of typical growth (35th‐65th percentile). Therefore, although the student did experience growth, that growth was only as high or higher than 37% of other students who had similar scores on WESTEST 2 in Grade 5. The good news is that the student is still growing (and keeping up), just not as fast as he grew between Grades 4 and 5. The colored fan shows how the student might score on next year’s WESTEST 2 based on how much he grows over the next school year. If the student’s growth is as high or higher than 66% of other students with similar WESTEST 2 scores, he will experience high growth; if his growth percentile falls between 36 and 65 percent, he will experience typical growth, which means he’s keeping up; if the student grows only as high or higher than 34% , he will experience low growth, which means he’s falling behind. The sample Individual Student Growth and Achievement Report below will help you understand your child’s report. We hope that this report of your child’s academic growth will help you see your child’s academic progress in a new, more meaningful way. We encourage you to discuss your child’s achievement and growth with his or her teachers to determine what steps can be taken to help your child improve academically as he or she moves from one grade to the next. WESTEST 2 Achievement Levels Growth percentiles are color coded by level hen many parents see their child’s WESTEST 2 scores each year, they want to know the answer to one simple question: What do these scores tell me about how my child is doing academically? However, when looking at test scores, we have to consider two separate issues: Achievement and Growth. Achievement refers to whether the student has received a certain score to be considered at or above mastery (proficient) in the content areas of math, reading/language arts, science and social studies on WESTEST 2. In other words: Was my child’s test score high enough? Growth refers to whether the student is showing academic improvement from one year to the next. In other words: Are my child’s test scores improving enough to move up to the next level or stay at the same level (keeping up), or are they showing that he or she is falling behind? The WESTEST 2 Student Reports that students receive each year show only a single scale score plus the student’s Level of Achievement — Distinguished, Above Mastery, Mastery, Partial Mastery or Novice — for each of the four content areas. To be considered proficient, the student must score at mastery or above. While this report provides valuable information about your child’s academic performance, it does not show whether your child is progressing toward a higher level of achievement, even if they have not quite achieved mastery yet. That’s where Growth and the new Growth and Achievement Report come into play. Growth shows where students — and schools — are improving, staying the same, or falling behind. The West Virginia Growth Model measures the academic progress each student has made in a year. This model tells us how a student’s academic progress compares to the progress of other students who have a similar WESTEST 2 score history. The new Growth and Achievement Report shows not only your child’s level of achievement but also your child’s growth percentile and Test Score in Grade 4 Copyright © 2011‐2012 West Virginia Department of Education. All rights reserved Growth percentile between Grades 4 and 5 The fan indicates the possible score for next year based on various growth scenarios