Star Growth Report

The Star Growth Report shows growth for a group of students over time, with an emphasis on Student Growth Percentile (SGP) and the student's growth proficiency category (low/high growth and low/high proficiency). For this report, assessment data from the following programs are used:

• Star Reading Enterprise Assessment
• Star Maths Enterprise Assessment

1. Use the Subject drop-down list to select the subject for the report: Reading or Maths. The Assessment Types (on the right) will automatically be selected based on the chosen subject: Star Reading (for Reading) or Star Maths (for Maths).
   
   
2. Use the School drop-down list to select the school you want to create the report for.
   
   
   • You can only create the report for one school at a time.
   • School level administrators, school staff, and teachers can only select one of their own schools.
   • If you only have access to a single school, you will not need to make a selection (the School drop-down list will not be shown in this case).
3. Use the Students drop-down list to select either a single class at the chosen school, or choose All Classes to select all the classes at the chosen school.
   
   
   • School administrators and school staff can only select classes in their own school.
   • Teachers can only select their own classes.
   
   To select specific classes, groups, or students at the chosen school, use the links below the Students drop-down list. Selecting one of these links will open a corresponding pop-up window; in that window, tick the box at the top of the list to select all the available choices, or make individual selections below it. You can enter search criteria in the field at the top of the window to find a specific class, group, or student. (In the "Select Students" pop-up window, you can also select a year to narrow down the list of students.)
   
   
   
   • School administrators and school staff can only select classes, groups, or students in their own school.
   • Teachers can only select their own classes, their own groups, or students enrolled in one of their own classes.
   
   Once you have made your choices, select Save Selection at the bottom of the pop-up window.

4. If you want to use demographic data to further refine the data in the report, select Choose Demographics...
   
   

   By default, the "All" option is chosen for Ethnicity, Gender, Language, and Year Level. To reduce the scope, choose the "Select" option at the top of the appropriate column and then tick your selections in that column.
   
   In the example above, the user has selected two Languages and three Year Levels, while leaving Ethnicity and Gender at the default "All" options. Note: The Filter Reports by Ethnicity user permission may be set to prevent the use of ethnicities as a filter.

   By default, the "All" option is chosen for Characteristics. To reduce the scope, choose Select Characteristics... and then tick each characteristic you want students in the report to have. You must also choose any or all (after "Include students with") to specify whether students with any of the selected characteristics will be included in the report or only those with all of the selected characteristics.
   
   In the example above, the user selected two Characteristics (Children from Service Families and EAL Competent). Because any is selected, the report will include students who are Children from Service Families, EAL Competent, or both. If all had been selected, only students who are both Children from Service Families and EAL Competent would be included. Note: The Filter Reports by Characteristics user permission may be set to prevent the use of characteristics as a filter.

   Once you are finished choosing demographic options, select Apply at the bottom of the window to save your choices (or Cancel to close the window without saving your choices).
5. Use the School Year drop-down list to choose which school year you want to see data for: the current year or a prior school year.
   
6. After selecting a school year, use the Timeframe drop-down list to narrow the time span further.
   
   
   
   • To view SGPs from within the selected school year, choose the testing windows under "Current or Selected Year" that you want to measure growth between: Autumn to Spring, Autumn to Summer, or Spring to Summer.
   • To view SGPs between the selected school year and the school year before it, choose the testing windows under "Compare to Previous Year": Summer to Autumn, Autumn to Autumn, or Summer to Summer.
   • To view current SGPs for students, select Latest Test (Current SGP). Current SGP will be calculated for students who have taken at least two tests in different testing windows, using the most recent test in the past 18 months and a test from a previous window. Note: Selecting this option will cause the School Year drop-down list to be removed, as it is no longer necessary.
   • To view growth for a student without using SGPs, select Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated). When this option is selected, a pop-up calendar will open—select or type the dates you want and then select Apply.
     
     
     • Selecting this option will cause the School Year drop-down list to be removed as it is no longer necessary; to restore it, select an option other than Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated).
     • For custom date ranges, scores on the report will be calculated by comparing the first and last tests within the range.
7. Use the Growth Expectations drop-down list to choose the SGP you expect your students to have achieved between the selected reporting periods (5–70 SGP, in 5-point intervals). On the report, for students whose SGP is below the value you select, you will see "Low Growth" in the Growth Proficiency Category column. For students whose SGP is above the value you select, you will see "High Growth." (Note: If you selected Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated) in the previous step, the Growth Expectations drop-down will not be shown.)
   
   Use the Group By drop-down list to choose how you want the information in the report to be grouped: by classes/groups, years, teachers, or not grouped.
   
   
8. If necessary, use the Scale drop-down list to choose which scale you want to use for the scores on the report.
   
   
9. Use the Benchmark Type drop-down list to choose which benchmarks you want to use for this report: KS2 SATs, School Network, or School. On the report, you will see a square next to each student's scores in the color of the student's benchmark category; refer to the Benchmark Categories information at the beginning of the report to identify the categories.
   
   
   
   The Star Growth Report also uses the benchmark type you select to determine whether to show "Low Proficiency" or "High Proficiency" in the Growth Proficiency Category column. For School and School Network benchmarks, you will see "Low Proficiency" for students whose latest scores are in a benchmark category below the minimum proficiency level, and "High Proficiency" for those whose latest scores are at or above the minimum proficiency level.
10. To the right of the Benchmark Type drop-down list:
    
    • Tick Show Student ID to include Student IDs in the report.
    • Tick Show Summary Only to show only a summary of the report data instead of the full report.
    • Tick Hide Groups Without Data if you want to have groups without test data omitted from the report.
11. Once you are done choosing report options, select Update Report.
    
    
12. The report will generate and then open at the bottom of the page.
    
    For each class or group, the scores from the tests used to generate an SGP are shown. In the full version of the report, each student's scores are shown, with a summary in a separate table beneath. If Show Summary Only was chosen earlier, only the summary tables are shown.
    
    

    notes on the scores

    • SGPs provide the most precise measure of growth (see Student Growth Percentile (SGP) for more information); however, you may wish to consider the changes in other scores as well. If you selected Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated) earlier, there will be no SGPs shown on the report. In this case, look at students' other scores (changes in Scaled Scores, Percentile Rank, and/or Estimated Oral Reading Fluency) to determine their growth during the selected date range.
    • In the Class Summary, the median shown is the median of all of the students with SGPs. If you selected Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated) earlier, there will be no SGP data in the summary, and the testing windows will be named "First/Second" instead of "Pretest/Posttest."
    • The Growth Proficiency Category is a combination of the student's SGP in comparison to the Growth Expectations level you set earlier (SGPs below this level = Low Growth, SGPs above this level = High Growth) and their test score in comparison to the Benchmark Type you chose earlier (for School and School Network benchmarks, Low Proficiency = students whose latest scores are in a benchmark category below the minimum proficiency level, High Proficiency = students whose latest scores are at or above the minimum proficiency level; for KS2 SATs benchmarks, the "Proficient" level is the threshold for High Proficiency).
    • When the average Scaled Score is calculated for a group of students, the Rasch scores are averaged first; that average is then converted to the average Scaled Score for the group. This method is more accurate than using each student's individual Scaled Score for the calculation.
13. You can change any of the options you have selected and then regenerate the report by selecting Update Report.
14. Select the PDF icon at the top of the page or the Print or Save button above the first table in the report to create a PDF of the report. You can also select the Download Data button above the first table in the report to download a CSV (comma-separated values) version of the report that you can open in a spreadsheet program. The CSV file will include the selected Star assessment data for each student with test dates and durations, growth proficiency categories, Star scores, and benchmark categories. (Currently, this cannot be done if you selected Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated) earlier.)
15. To return to the Reports page, select either Back to Reports or the report icon at the top of the page.