Growth measures for, systemic change: through periodic learning assessments, you can analyze which instructional programs are most effective, make student groupings and reallocate resources to areas of need

School Administrator, Jan, 2007 by Allan Olson

Return on Investment

District staff in Horry County view their primary work as helping schools remove barriers that impede success for every child. Staff members in each department have accurate data to determine the extent to which their operations contribute to student success. Through the use of growth data, directors of specialized programs that provide targeted assistance to students determine the impact of their interventions on student achievement. We can parse out the gains of students who participated in specific instructional or curricular approaches in order to help determine the return on investment with respect to the funds expended for products, services or personnel.

District administrators also use the growth analysis tools to discern patterns of widely varying rates of growth from site to site. Sometimes the data reveal that schools previously thought to be high performing are actually producing far less growth for students than schools with more challenging circumstances.

In addition, a unique feature of the MAP assessment program allows our district to determine whether our students are performing compared to similar children nationally. NWEA is able to create "virtual comparison bases" that tell us whether our students are faring as well as their counterparts in other areas of the country.

Although the work is complicated and complex, the school district is committed to building a system that accepts responsibility for the continual progress of all students, for helping lower-performing students achieve more while at the same time making sure all students' needs are being met at every level.

Growth data enable educators at the local level to engage in conversations, reflections and actions that represent a partnership of mutual responsibility--answerability for the success of all students.

Gerrita Postlewait is a superintendent in residence with the Stupski Foundation, 2 Belvedere Place, Mill Valley, CA 94941 E-mail: gerritap@ stupski.org. She served as superintendent in Horry County, S.C., for 10 years.

RELATED ARTICLE: Taking a measure of the measure.

BY DOUGLAS D. CHRISTENSEN

Imagine for a moment that you have a 12-inch ruler in your hands. As an instrument of measurement, we depend on this ruler. We depend on it to be accurate, valid and reliable. The same would be true for a yardstick, a 12-foot tape measure or other similar measuring devices.

The 12-inch ruler, however, has its flaws. If I need to measure something longer than 12 inches, it is possible for errors to creep in. In fact, if I measure something where I have to lay the ruler end to end several times, the width of the line I use to continue my measurement will soon be a factor in the overall length.

And if I need to lay the ruler end to end say 100 times, fatigue of the measurer will soon enter the process. So our 12-inch ruler isn't universally accurate after all. For things that are 12-inches long, it is excellent. Nothing is better. However, measurements of more than 12 inches, and also less than 12 inches, are problematic and prone to estimation and error.