Data & Assessment Glossary

Benchmark Assessment System (BAS)

A resource to accurately and reliably identify each child’s instructional and independent reading levels according to the F&P Text Level Gradient™, A–Z and document their progress through one-on-one formative and summative assessments.

College Readiness Benchmarks (ACT)

Benchmarks are scores on the ACT Subject area tests that represent the level of achievement required for students to have a 50% chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75% chance of obtaining a C or higher in corresponding credit bearing first year college courses.

Canvas

Learning management system designed to host and deliver blended learning. Students and Teachers can use Canvas for

Criterion- referenced Tests

Criterion-referenced tests assess an individual's performance on a specific set of standards or criteria. These criteria are based on specific skills or objectives taught. The CRT measures the level to which the criteria have been met.

In general, traditional classroom tests on which a student scores an overall percentage are considered CRTs.

DataWise

The new Rockwood Data site is designed with the ultimate intent of providing information to help guide planning and instruction. Our focus is on maximizing the benefits of data use by helping teachers share effective practices, adopt collective expectations for students’ performance, gain a deeper understanding of students’ needs, and develop effective strategies to better serve students.

Grade Level Equivalent - GE

GEs, like scale scores, rank a student's achievement within a group that includes students in all the grades. They indicate the grade level of the group whose median scale score would be the same as the student's scale score. GEs can range through any group of grades for which a test is suitable. They often include a decimal that roughly represents a month in the school year. Thus, a GE of 1.5 indicates the fifth month of grade 1.

GEs predict the grade level of an average student who could have received the same score as the group on a particular test. They do not work in the other direction; GEs do not predict the grade in which a student should be placed. Thus, a GE of 6.5 earned by a third grader does not indicate that the third grader can do sixth-grade work.

It is not recommended to use GEs to show growth over time. This is because, as described above, the truncations at the top and bottom of the GE scale limit the amount of information available for students scoring in those areas. A score that continues through those truncations, such as an ESS, would be more useful.

For measuring score differences from testing to testing, it is best to use a score that measures equal intervals of reading achievement. NCEs and ESSs, both equal-interval scores, are recommended for measuring growth over time. Because NCEs show a student’s standing among his or her peers, a student who retains about the same NCE from testing to testing is achieving average growth in reading. ESSs, which are on a scale that extends throughout the grades, can be used to plot a student’s long-term progress and demonstrate growth graphically.

Formal Assessment

Used to determine proficiency level of individual students.
Usually translated into a score and recorded in the grade book.
Should be frequent and formative in nature

Infinite Campus

Infinite Campus is Rockwood's Student Information System that is web-based so that educators, parents and students have access to information. The system also serves as a district-wide data store allowing student data to be entered once and used across the entire district supporting data-driven decision making.

Informal Assessment

Used for the whole class
helps determine the proficiency level of the class
No grades are recorded
Should be frequent and formative in nature.
Informs teacher for adjusting instruction based on students needs.

Instructional Reading Level

The highest level at which a reader is not independent, but has adequate background knowledge for a topic, and can access text quickly and with no or few errors.

Lexile Score

A Lexile measure is a special kind of score that helps teachers, parents, and students find books suited to each student's reading skills. For more information about Lexiles, see www.lexile.com.

Mastery Manager

Assessment tool utilized by the Rockwood School District to formatively and summatively assess students.

Normal Distribution Curve

The normal distribution is pattern for the distribution of a set of data which follows a bell shaped curve. This graph represents a normal distribution with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10.

Norm-Reference Test (NRT)

A test that includes norms designed to compare the performance of examinees taking the test to the performance of similar individuals in a norming group who took the same test and whose scores were used to generate the norms (comparing an examinee's performance to that of other examinees).

Normal Curve Equivalents (NCE)

Like Percentile Ranks, NCEs describe a student's level of achievement in relation to the scores of other students in the same grade and are placed on a scale of 1 to 99. NCEs, however, are PRs that have been statistically transformed into an equal-interval scale, or "taken out of the curve." Therefore, differences in NCEs do represent the same difference in achievement from one part of the scale to another. NCEs are suitable for computing averages. The NCE Significant Difference Table can be used in order to see if a positive or negative change in NCE Scores on a particular assessment was statistically significant or not.

Percentile Rank (PR)

A Percentile Rank (PR) or National Percentile Rank (NPR) is an indicator of where a student's performance fits within the performance of other students in the same grade. PRs are placed on a scale of 1 to 99 and indicate the percentage of students in the norming group whose raw scores were lower. They do not indicate the percentage of questions a student answered correctly. PRs are placed on a curve; most students earn PRs somewhere in the middle of the scale. Differences in PRs at one part of the scale may not represent the same difference in achievement as the same PR differences at another part of the scale. PRs are not suitable for computing averages.

Obtrusive

Obtrusive assessments interrupt the normal flow of activity in the classroom. Instruction does not occur during obtrusive assessments. Instead instruction stops while students " take the assessment."

Proficiency Level

A Proficiency Level is an indication of how well students perform on a particular assessment and are usually determined by applying a description (like "Advanced" or "Basic") based on how a student's raw or scaled score relates to pre-determined cut score ranges.

Raw Score

A student’s observed score on a test, i.e., the number of questions the student answered correctly. A raw score must always be interpreted in relation to the particular set of questions on which the score was earned. While raw scores do have some usefulness, they should not be used to make comparisons between performances on different tests, unless other information about the characteristics of the test is known.

Scale Score

Scale scores are different for every test. A scale score provides a continuous score scale (development scale) across different levels and forms of a test that permits direct comparison of different groups of examines-regardless of the time of year tested and the level/form administered. Different tests may anchor their SS at different places and use larger or smaller scales to measure differences in achievement. However, scale scores always measure achievement in equal units and can be averaged.

Stanine

Like Percentile Ranks (PR) and Normal Curve Equivalents (NCE), stanines also describe a student's performance in relation to the performance of other students in the same grade. Stanines, however, are placed on a scale of 1 to 9 and, as a result, tend to discourage focusing on score differences that may not be meaningful. Like NCEs, stanines are on an equal-interval scale and are suitable for computing averages.

Student-Generated

Student-Generated assessments are probably the most utilized form of classroom assessment. As the name implies, a defining feature of student generated assessments is the student generates ideas about the manner in which they will demonstrate their current status on a topic. Teachers might consider choice boards to offer ideas to get students involved in this type of assessment.

Test MPI

The MPI is used to develop scores within the Status and Progress metrics and to set academic achievement targets for LEA, school and student group achievement. Student performance on tests administered through the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) is reported in terms of four achievement levels (below basic, basic, proficient and advanced) that describe a pathway to proficiency. The MPI is a single composite number that represents the MAP assessment performance of every student by awarding points to each student based on the four achievement levels. The points for all students in the LEA, school or student group in a subject area are summed together, divided by the number of students in the group being measured and then multiplied by 100. The result is the MPI for that group and subject.

Unobtrusive

Unobtrusive assessments do not interrupt the normal flow of activity in the classroom. In fact students might not even be aware they are being assessed during an unobtrusive assessment. These types of assessment often occur with procedural knowledge, but can also be used with declarative knowledge.

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