2012-13 Dropout Data Available for Review

ESE announced last week that the 2012-13 dropout data is available for districts to review. Dropout rates are factored into ESE's accountability determinations for high schools and districts, so now is your chance to ensure the data are accurate! The announcement from ESE is as follows:

"ESE has posted 2012-13 Annual Dropout data to the Security Portal for districts to review and make corrections to individual student data. Aggregate rates have not yet been provided. ESE will not accept corrections through email or over the phone. The only mechanism to make corrections to these data is through the October SIMS submission. ESE will make the final rates publicly available in January 2014 once the October 2013 SIMS data have been certified and the calculations have been completed. 

Data are located under "Dropout Data Summary Report" on the Security Portal at https://gateway.edu.state.ma.us/. The application can be accessed with a username, password, and the SIMS Data User role. Should you or your staff have any questions on the correction process, please contact your District Support Specialist. A list of those individuals is located at http://www.doe.mass.edu/infoservices/data/fts.html. The deadline to correct these dropout data coincides with the October SIMS submission deadline, which is November 7."

As a reminder, dropout rate is one of the core indicators in the Progress and Performance Index (for districts and high schools). All groups with dropout data (districts, schools, and subgroups) are expected to halve the gap between their annual dropout rate, if one exists, and a rate of zero percent by the 2016-17 school year. For accountability determinations in any given year, the annual; dropout rate for the prior year is used. Next year's (2014) PPI will utilize the dropout rate data from 2012-2013 (this allows ESE to use a data set that has been thoroughly reviewed by district and ESE staff).

Update on PPI Webinars

I posted yesterday about a set of PPI webinars being offered by DESE in May. I have since learned that the webinar is targeted for Charter, ELT and Innovation Schools due to aspects specific to their performance-based accountability structures.

DESE anticipates holding additional trainings on PPI and the new accountability/assistance leveling system later this spring or summer that will be broadly available to all public schools and districts. I will post information here as it becomes available.

In order to minimize confusion, DESE staff will clear the registration system of all current registrants and ask that you re-register if these trainings are still appropriate for you. ( If you did register, you probably already received an email with a very similar message directly from DESE.)

My apologies for any confusion this may have caused!

2012 MCAS and Accountability Data Available in Profiles

The 2012 MCAS and Accountability information for Massachusetts public schools and districts is now available through the School and District Profiles page on the ESE Web site. (http://profiles.doe.mass.edu)

The easiest way to find a school or district is by using the "Quick Search" box in the upper left corner of the Profiles page. After clicking the name of the desired school or district, the "Assessment" tab will provide information about MCAS performance and growth for 2012. The "Accountability" tab will provide information about the school/district accountability/assistance level and the data behind the PPI calculations.

For detailed information about the calculation of PPI and the new accountability system, please refer to the About the Data page linked to the accountability reports as well as the Interpretive Materials, including the School Leader's Guide to the 2012 Accountability Determinations. Of particular value in the Guide are the Level explanations on page 5, and the PPI breakdown on page 10.

I am more than happy to assist you in finding answers to questions about the new data so please don't hesitate to contact me at laura.tilton@dsacma.org.

Accountability Resources Available

DESE has posted several documents on their public Web site that may help people understand and explain the new state accountability system:

• School Leader's Guide to the 2012 Accountability Determinations (updated 9/4/12)
• Summary of Changes to Annual Accountability Determinations as a result of Massachusetts' Approved ESEA/NCLB Flexibility Waiver
• District & School Accountability & Assistance Levels & Required Actions
• Methodology for Identifying Level 3 Schools, Level 3 "Focus Schools" & Level 4 Schools
• Glossary of 2012 Accountability Reporting Terms

As most of you know by now, preliminary 2012 accountability data was made available in the security portal last week. It is expected that the official 2012 accountability data (along with overall MCAS data) will be made available publicly next week.

There is certainly a lot to understand in this new accountability system! Please don't hesitate to contact me (laura.tilton@dsacma.org) with any questions.

http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/accountability/default.html

2012 Accountability Webinars

Representatives from Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will be holding three webinars to assist district and school leaders in interpreting the preliminary 2012 district and school accountability data which was made available in the security portal yesterday.

Webinars will be held on the following dates and times: Tuesday, September 11 at 10:00 a.m.; Wednesday, September 12 at 12:00 p.m.; and Thursday, September 13 at 3:00 p.m.

Topics will include: changes to annual district and school accountability determinations beginning with the 2012-13 school year as a result of Massachusetts' approved ESEA/NCLB Flexibility waiver; the Progress and Performance Index (PPI), school percentiles, and their relationship to district and school level classifications; and how district and school accountability results will be reported.

Please register at the following link: http://www.doe.mass.edu/conference/?ConferenceID=1390.

MCAS and Accountability Teleconference Highlights

I know that many readers of this blog attended this week's teleconference related to the release of the preliminary 2012 MCAS results and related accountability reports but I thought I would provide some of the essential information for those that were not able to attend.

MCAS Results and Discrepancy Reporting
Earlier this week, the preliminary MCAS data files were posted in the ESE Security Portal for review and discrepancy reporting. Some preliminary EDW reports are expected to be available in the Education Data Warehouse by this Friday, August 10 (ELA long compositions can be downloaded from the MCAS Service Center.)

As a reminder, the preliminary data is embargoed - Commissioner Chester has given the following guidelines for the use of preliminary data:  “I want to encourage schools and districts to use the preliminary… student data for educational planning purposes. Preliminary student results can and should be shared with teachers, parents and instructional leaders who are making decisions about Individual Education Plans, summer programs or decisions about the scope of services needed for English Language Learners.” The folks from ESE expect that the 2012 MCAS and accountability results will be released publicly on or about September 19, 2012. 

Accountability Reporting

In June, districts received their schools' provisional PPI data and accountability and assistance levels, which are based on data from 2009, 2010, and 2011. During the week of August 13, districts will receive their preliminary school-and district-level PPI data and accountability and assistance levels based on four years of data (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012) for review (also embargoed). The official results will be released in mid-September.

Education Data Warehouse Updates

There are lots of excellent new updates in the Education Data Warehouse just in time for the busy season! Here are some highlights:

• The EDW Home page is now standard for all EDW users without needing to be configured as previously discussed. It contains information about recent updates and improvements as well as what's coming down the pike. 
• All of the reports from version 2.6 have been migrated to the new EDW. Please note that although the link is still available from the landing page, EDW 2.6 is no longer being updated and will be retired in October.
• The Test Item Analysis reports now have the option to map the test items to EITHER the old or new curriculum frameworks for Math and ELA. 
• There is a "Super" student profile report which provides SIMS, attendance, course, MCAS, and CD status information for any selected student.
• There are several new classroom-level reports which utilize SCS data for a given instructional group (classroom, course section, etc.) These reports are only available to users who have been assigned the "DW-Evaluator" role. ESE has developed guidance around assigning this role to EDW users which they will post on the EDW home page shortly. (Watch for a more detailed blog post once this guidance document is available online.)

2012 School Leader's Guide to Accountability

The School Leader's Guide to the 2012 Accountability Determinations is now available publicly on the ESE Web site at http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/accountability/default.html in either Word or PDF format.

"The primary purpose of this guide is to help district and school leaders understand the key changes to the Massachusetts School and District Accountability and Assistance System resulting from the state receiving flexibility from certain No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requirements. This guide may also be used to aid leaders in communicating these changes to parents/guardians, teachers, staff members, and other stakeholders."

This document provides extensive detail about the NCLB waiver request, the Progress and Performance Index (PPI), the Composite Performance Index (CPI), the Student Growth Percentile (SGP), and the system for classifying schools and districts to "levels" for accountability and assistance purposes.

It's a great beach read!

NCLB Waiver Materials

Additional materials regarding the Massachusetts NCLB flexibility request (as discussed in a recent blog post) are now available on the ESE Web site.

http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/titlei/default.html?section=GI

Farewell, AYP....hello, PPI!

I had the opportunity to take part in both a webinar and a face-to-face session in the past week to learn more about the changes to the state's accountability system given the the flexibility that has been granted to Massachusetts under the NCLB waiver.

The waiver has given Massachusetts the flexibility to implement a system that unifies both federal and state accountability requirements, rather than separate systems for each. The major changes, as outlined in the presentations, are as follows:

• The NCLB goal of 100% proficiency has been replaced by a new goal: reducing proficiency gaps by half by 2017. This goal is the same for all districts, schools, and groups...but the targets are different since the starting points will be different.
• The NCLB accountability status labels (Corrective Action, Restructuring, etc.) have been eliminated. The "Level" designation will now be used to identify both federal and state accountability status (and corresponding assistance levels) for schools and districts.
• AYP will be replaced with a new performance measure, known as PPI (see below) that incorporates student growth and other indicators.
• There is an enhanced focus on subgroups, including a new "high needs" group (students who fall into one or more of the following categories: special education, low income, or English language learner/former English language learner.) While all subgroups (minimum 30 students) will be reported, only the "All Students" and "High Needs" groups will be used for classification for the majority of districts.
• SES and school choice requirements for federal funds are replaced with options for flexibility to address identified needs.

So what is PPI? It stands for Progress and Performance Index. Each district, school, and measurable subgroup will  have two different types of PPI; an annual PPI as well as a four-year PPI. For elementary and middle schools, the PPI incorporates five elements:

• Progress on CPI gap-closing in ELA
• Progress on CPI gap-closing in math
• Progress on CPI gap-closing in science
• Student Growth in ELA
• Student Growth in Math

PPI measures for high schools will include these five elements, plus graduation rates and annual drop-out rates. In addition, it is possible to improve a PPI rating through decreases in %W/F and increases in %Adv.

This is just the tip of the iceberg! The ESE presenters have indicated materials from the workshops will be available online in the near future. I will post the link here when I have it.

Update 5/9/2012: Materials now available, see blog post here.