SOL Scoring

Student Growth Percentiles

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Calculating Percentiles
Reporting
Examples
Professional Development
Data Collection

A student growth percentile expresses how much progress a student has made relative to the progress of students whose achievement was similar on previous assessments.

A student growth percentile complements a student’s SOL scaled score and gives his or her teacher, parents and principal a more complete picture of achievement and progress. A high growth percentile is an indicator of effective instruction, regardless of a student’s scaled score.

See Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)

Calculating Student Growth Percentiles

Student growth percentiles are calculated by identifying all students in the state whose previous SOL scaled scores in a subject are statistically similar and, then, comparing the achievement of these students on the next grade-level test. The achievement of each student relative to that of the other students in the group is expressed as a percentile.

Student growth percentiles range from 1 to 99, and represent the percent of students who had similar prior academic achievement (based on SOL tests) and earned lower scores on the most recent test in the content area. Higher numbers represent higher growth and lower numbers represent lower growth.

Reporting Student Growth Percentiles

In fall 2011, the VDOE will report student growth percentiles for students who participate in SOL testing for reading and mathematics in grades 4-8 and Algebra I through grade 9. These student-level reports will be available to school administrators through VDOE’s secure web portal and to teachers as authorized locally.

VDOE Fact Sheet on Student Growth Percentiles (PDF)

Examples of Student Growth Percentiles

Let’s examine the meaning of the hypothetical student growth percentiles of four elementary students who all achieved scaled scores of 313 on the 2010 grade-3 reading test.

In the following chart, Student D was the highest achieving of the group, and the only one to exceed the minimum scaled score for proficiency of 400. Student D also showed the most growth because he achieved at a higher level than 91 percent of students statewide with similar histories.

Student A was the lowest achieving of the four students on the grade-4 test. The growth percentile of 15 indicates that Student A achieved at a higher level than 15 percent of students statewide with similar score histories.

Student B, with a student growth percentile of 48, demonstrated close-to-typical growth in reading compared with students with similar score histories. About half of the students who performed similarly on past assessments experienced more growth and about half experienced less.

Example Grade-3 Reading: SOL Scores and Student Growth Percentiles
	2010 Grade-3 Reading	2011 Grade-4 Reading	Growth Percentile
Student A	313	307	15
Student B	313	358	48
Student C	313	387	66
Student D	313	445	91

Now, let’s compare the growth of four students who each earned a scaled score of 412 on the 2010 grade-3 mathematics test.

In the following chart, Student D earned a 510 on the fourth-grade test in 2011 and showed more growth in mathematics than 92 percent of similar students statewide. Student A showed the least growth relative to similar students.

Example Grade-3 Mathematics: SOL Scores and Student Growth Percentiles
	2010 Grade-3 Mathematics	2011 Grade-4 Mathematics	Growth Percentile
Student A	412	372	13
Student B	412	409	33
Student C	412	443	58
Student D	412	510	92

Professional Development Sessions

Materials from professional development sessions held September, 2011.
All files are PDF format.

Materials from Webinars presented November 2011

Growth Measure Professional Development – Webinar Version (PPTX)

Data Collection – MSC

Allocations to the commonwealth and school divisions from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund are contingent, in part, on the reporting to divisions of student-growth data. This is being accomplished through the Master Schedule Collection.

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