The Glossary
This term refers to the distance between the performance of a specific subgroup (e.g., ELL or SPED) and the performance of the highest-achieving group.
What is the Achievement Gap?
If 80% of your class fails a specific question on a quiz, the "Evidence" suggests this was likely the culprit, rather than individual student ability.
What is First Instruction (or a Lack of Clarity in the Question)?
Unlike "status" or "attainment," this metric measures a student’s progress over a period of time, regardless of where they started.
What is Growth (or Value-Added)?
You notice a student has high "Growth" but low "Achievement." This suggests the student is learning quickly but started far below this.
What is Grade-Level Proficiency?
These are assessments "for" learning, administered during instruction to check for understanding and pivot lessons in real-time.
What are Formative Assessments?
This is the practice of looking at three or more different data points (e.g., attendance, behavior, and test scores) to get a full picture of a student.
What is Triangulation?
When data is broken down into smaller groups like ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status to reveal hidden trends, it is called this.
What is Disaggregated Data?
In a data set, this is a score that is significantly different from the rest of the group, which can skew the "Mean" or average.
What is an Outlier?
This statistical measure indicates whether a student’s score is consistent across multiple attempts or different versions of a test.
What is reliability?
When a teacher looks at data and immediately blames external factors (like home life) instead of instructional variables, they are displaying this type of "mindset."
What is a Deficit Mindset?