Looking at Student Roster Reports

In Edwin Analytics, the "Students, Staff & Classroom" tab contains a number of student-level MCAS reports. Some of these reports are "roster" reports which means that they display data for a given list of students in a tabular format, usually one line of data per student. Student reports that are not in "roster" format generally display a page or two of data for each student.

The students included in a report can be selected in one of two ways - by using filters (such as "all ELL students" or "all students who scored Advanced") OR by selecting students from a list (such as a teacher's class list from last year, from their class coming in this year, etc.) There is a document in the Edwin Analytics handouts folder that provides further instructions.

Some of these roster reports include:

• IT616 Test Item Analysis Roster - provides test item data as well as achievement level, scaled score, raw score, SGP, % correct, and CD status for each student in a list. One challenge with this report is that the font is VERY small if it is printed on a single sheet of paper. I have found that if you save your report as a PDF file, Adobe Reader has a "poster" option that will allow you to print the file larger across multiple pages. This report is single-subject (ELA, math OR science.)

• PE617 Student MCAS Roster - provides a list of students and their scaled scores, achivement levels, and SGPs for all tested subjects (ELA, math, AND science) on a single report. This report is very useful if you would like to look at performance on all 3 tests for a given group of students.

• GR602 Student Growth Roster - provides MCAS scaled score information for 3 years of ELA and math performance, plus the most recent year's SGP for each student. This is very useful for examining individual student performance over time in a compact way.

And here is one more "roster" report that I had not seen until a few days ago when a colleague shared it with me. If it is new to you as well you may want to check it out, particularly if you're interested in a roster report of student performance by question type or standard.

• PE606 (Student Assessment Detail) report has traditionally been one of those reports that was a page or two per student. However, there is now a "roster" option on the initial prompt page. If you choose this, you'll get a report similar to IT616, except it will give information by question type and standard rather than by item. 

Folks that have access to the Classroom-level reports (available only to those with the DW-Evaluator role) should note that the IT516 and PE506 reports are similar to the 600-level counterparts listed above, but that they can be run for a selected classroom.


  
 

Creating Customized Student Roster Reports, September 2011

I know there are many folks who would like to create customized MCAS student roster reports "by classroom" or a variety of other groups - intervention group, performance level, subgroup, etc. This type of reporting is not currently available in the Data Warehouse. However, there are a few different options you can look into if you'd like to run reports this way.

The first option is to use the R-616 report (only available at this time in EDW 2.6, not EDW 3.0) to create a custom report either using filters or by choosing students from a list. This can be a bit tedious if you're creating reports by classroom but it's probably the quickest option at this time.

The second option is to start with the roster spreadsheet report from the Dropbox, and use Excel to add in a column for teacher or intervention group. The Filter option in Excel can then be used to create lists based on various criteria AND then Excel could be used to calculate group statistics such as median SGP (>20 students). However, entering the information into the teacher/group column could take a while.

For more advanced Excel users only: There is a function in Excel called VLOOKUP which would allow the automation of the addition of teacher/group data to a column in the roster spreadsheet. In order to do this, you'd need your Dropbox roster spreadsheet PLUS a spreadsheet that lists students (by SASID) by teacher/group. The SASID field will serve as a common data point between the two spreadsheets and allow you to bring data from one spreadsheet into another. Someday I'll write a tutorial for this, but for now, here's a link to a great VLOOKUP tutorial online for anyone would like a reference.

Data Warehouse Improvements

The folks at ESE are taking steps to improve the performance of the data warehouse in the short-term (given the pre-release of MCAS data scheduled for June) as well as the longer-term (August and beyond). One of the steps that will be most beneficial to EDW users is that there will be a direct link to pre-run reports stored in district dropboxes.

The pre-run reports will be:

Pre-burst District Reports (for district-level users with 209 and 210 roles)
o Items Analysis
o Performance, CPI and SGP by Subgroup
o Data files (.csv, .xls)

Pre-burst School reports (for school-level users with 211 roles)
o Student Roster
o Items Analysis
o Performance, CPI and SGP by Subgroup
o Data files (.csv, .xls)
o MCAS-Alt Portfolio

Additional updates and improvements will come later in the summer with re-designed reports and enhanced servers for the main EDW database. Stay tuned!

A Resource Summary and Shout-Out to SSESPA

I wanted to post a special "thank you" to the South Shore Elementary School Principals Association for inviting me to speak at their meeting last Friday. I am glad you've found your way to the SouthEast Educational Data (SEED) blog and hope you'll find the information here helpful.

Here is a brief summary of the resources I mentioned at the SSESPA meeting - some data related, and some general - which I hope will be useful for all SEED blog visitors.

Data Warehouse Resources (some very practical blog postings)

• Running Reports in the Background
• Creating Customized Student Roster Reports
• Engaging Staff in MCAS Data Exploration Activity
• Data Warehouse Report Summary Document (updated 10/20/2010)

The Growth Model - a new way to look at student performance

School and District Profiles - access lots of school/district data without logging in to the DW!

District Analysis and Reporting Tool (DART) - allows comparison with "like" schools and districts using a variety of indicators

Toolkits and Resources on the ESE/DSAC Web page

• Conditions for School Effectiveness Self-Assessment
• Professional Learning Communities Guidance
• District Data Team Toolkit
• Learning Walk-Through Implementation Guide
• Common Planning Time Self-Assessment Toolkit

If you're new to the blog, please check out the right hand side of the main SEED blog page for Email subscription options as well as access to previous posts through the Archives or Labels links.

Creating Customized Student Roster Reports

I hear it all the time: "But in TestWiz, we used to be able to run reports by classroom!" While it's true that the data warehouse doesn't technically have this feature at this time, you can certainly produce reports for any list of students (including a classroom roster) with a few extra steps.

The 600-level (student) reports in the Data Warehouse include a feature which allows the user to customize the report for a specific roster of students. This roster can be created in several ways: by choosing students from a list, by using a series of prompts to identify the students, and in some cases, by incorporating a list of SASIDs.

Some 600-level reports will produce one page (or more) per student, which can make for a very lengthy report. Reports that include the word “Roster” in the title (for example, R-616 Test Item Analysis Roster) will produce a compact format report which will include all selected students on a single page (or several pages, depending on the length of the list.)

Attached is a document which explains how to customize these student reports in a variety of ways. It is much more manageable (and secure!) to look at a student report that only contains the desired students...rather than going through, say, an entire grade-level list with a highlighter (trust me, I've been there.)

R-616 Test Item Analysis Roster: A Universally Useful Report

I'm often asked, "What reports do you think are most useful?" Of course, the answer depends on the question you are trying to answer with data!

However, one report that is extremely useful and efficient is the R-616 Test Item Analysis Roster report. This report provides a roster of students with information about performance level, scaled score, and the student's individual test item performance (including strand and question type) for a particular test. For 2010, this report also includes the SGP (student growth percentile) for each student.

Hyperlinks within the report allow you to click through to the test item iself as well as additional student detail. If you save the report as PDF, those links will remain in place (although a person would need to have data warehouse access to click through to the student detail reports.)

Note that while other 600-level (student) reports often result in a single page (or more) per student, this report is unique in that it provides efficient access to student data in a roster format.

Also note that even though the data warehouse doesn't provide reports at the classroom level, the roster of students for R-616 can be customized to reflect a single classroom of students. Simply use your mouse to select the students you'd like to include in the report (you'll see this in the second step of running the report) to customize the report for a classroom, intervention group, or other subgroup.

Creating Customized Student Subsets in the EDW

Many administrators are asking, "What's the best way for me to put together a classroom-level report, since the state's Education Data Warehouse doesn't include teacher data at this time?"

The new R-611 report in the Data Warehouse can be used to save a roster of students and run any of the other 600-level student reports now or at a later time.

• R-602 Student Item Analysis Graph
• R-606 Student Test Results with Standards
• R-610 Student Test Results
• R-613 Student MCAS History
• R-616 Test Item Analysis Roster

The group of students can be selected either through a series of filters (for example, Grade 3 LEP students) or by copying and pasting a list of SASIDs for the desired group (useful when filters aren't relevant, like a class list.)

While this is still a bit of a manual process, it is much easier than going through each type of student report and "checking off" the students you want to include.

I've put together a handout which will walk you through the 611 report, although it is relatively simple. Please let me know if you find this useful!