WISEdash for Districts ACCESS Growth Dashboard

About the Data | Mean SGPs | Dashboards | Additional Information

About the Data

Growth towards achievement of English language proficiency is portrayed in WISEdash for Districts using Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs), the same type of measure used for academic growth.  The growth is calculated using multiple years of composite WIDA ACCESS (previously known as ACCESS for ELLs) scale scores for all students in the state with at least two consecutive ACCESS scores.  Individual student-level SGPs for ACCESS are calculated by comparing the amount of scale score progress on the WIDA ACCESS assessment that a student has made from one year to the next to that made by other students with similar performance histories on ACCESS in the same grade. These students are grouped with their peers (students with similar test score histories) and then ranked within the group based on the amount of change in their scale scores from last year to this year, with the student ranked lowest getting a 1 and the highest a 99. This number is their growth percentile. A student with a SGP of 50 is demonstrating the median growth for similar students.

School-Wide Mean SGPs

Mean (average) school-wide growth on the WIDA ACCESS assessment is an important measure that quantifies a school’s holistic level of support for English learners as they grow towards full English proficiency. Growth reports help educators, parents, and the public answer questions about student progress over time, and whether that progress is reasonable or appropriate. This is important information above and beyond examining student ELP level at a single point in time that traditional test reporting provides.

Dashboards

ACCESS Overall Growth Level

SGPs are broken into three growth levels, Low (1-35), Typical (36-65), and High (66-99). This stacked bar chart shows the percent of students in each growth level. A tool-tip which displays the number of students in each growth level appears when hovering a mouse over the bar chart.

ACCESS Growth by School - Statewide

This graph shows the mean SGP of each school in your district (or subset of schools, if you have filtered some out) as compared to all of the schools in the state with at least 5 EL SGPs. (Schools not in your district have their name masked.) The darker blue bars on the lighter blue bar chart show your selected schools, and a tool-tip appears with school info if you hover your mouse over a school.

ACCESS Growth by School - District

This bar chart shows the mean SGPs of your selected schools alone, without the corresponding statewide data. You may download the underlying data for these graphs by clicking the three horizontal lines at the top right of the graphs and selecting Export.

ACCESS Growth Dynamic Crosstab

The Dynamic Crosstab allows you to create your own subset of students, and dig into the growth of different student populations. (Please note the dashboard instructions on toggling between student counts and  average SGPs.  Generally, average SGPs are more meaningful that student counts.  When you switch the Measure to "Average SGP", be sure to remove "Student Count" and also set the Function to "Average".)

As school and subgroup mean SGPs are now the core component of the ELP Progress indicator in ESSA, particular attention should be given to student groups making Low growth. The Growth Level variable splits the students into the three growth levels, and the Econ and SPED variables can help disaggregate economically disadvantaged and special education students to examine their growth on English language proficiency. Clicking on a link for student count, growth level, etc., brings up a student list to identify students who are within that subgroup.

Grade level and other subgroup SGPs should be reviewed by educators and data teams to identify areas of success and those targeted for improvement. Administrators should incorporate school SGP data into their continuous improvement efforts.

Additional Information

DPI Office of Student Assessment WIDA ACCESS page