Embargoed data for school accountability was released on February 11, 2019 for new School Index based on the 2017/18 school year. Anticipate the public release of the School Index to be late February or early March. The methodology for reporting on a 100 point scale remains the same as last year and implies a letter grade on a curved scale.  For example, if your school has 50% of students proficient in ELA and MDE set the target at 60%, then the School Index reports a percentage of 50/60 or 83.3% of the target met.  In other words, instead of reporting 50% proficient, a percentage of the target is reported, 83.3%.  For further support, access any of the following:

• 2019 Guidance from MDE and MISD as an overview.
• New business rules for ATS and TSI schools with comments from MISD.
• A brief document on the relationship between the Parent Dashboard, School Index, and A-F Report Card (PA 601 of 2018).
• In addition, find 2018 podcasts like the one below on the Accountability Support Page to dive deeper into the Index, Growth, and Proficiency.

Hosted by the Ottawa Area ISD to provide brief updates on the topics most important to those present.  The Presentation Slides have an activity around College and Career Readiness in SIP and updates on MI School Data from Dr. Parker-Moore, MISD.  

Collective Teacher Efficacy - John Hattie defines what it is and what it is not (2:03 - 5:41 min)

• Ed Evals with State Data: Anxiety seems to the enemy of efficacy and our system has created a great deal of teacher anxiety requiring student growth and assessment data be a considerable portion of educator evaluations.  Many have found an intuitive and teacher-friendly approach to help reduce or eliminate anxiety, called Adequate Growth with Std. Err. Learn more at the MASA Breakout session (PPT and Handout) or on the support page.
• Comparison to Similar Schools i.e. RNN:  Schools solely  comparing to the state average often find it may cause complacency in low poverty schools or despair in high poverty schools.  By also utilizing a comparison to similar schools, we have seen complacency replaced with urgency and despair replaced with hope.  Learn more at the MASA Breakout session (Presentation) or support pages and other sites, such as RNN Data Tool, Parent Dashboard Support (or direct link), and Mackinac Center Rankings.
• School Accountability:  Past accountability systems have contradicted each other with a single summative score (Ranking: 42nd, Color: Yellow, Label: Reward).  Might it be possible to create one cohesive accountability system that does not produce a summative score but rather has a "Report Card" that would have a few key components or have a more complete dashboard with key components highlighted, such as:
  • Percent Proficient (percent of students reaching proficiency or close enough due to the error in testing)
  • Percent meeting Adequate Growth (see bullet #1)
  • Comparison to similar schools (see bullet #2)
  • Comparison of significant subgroup populations with the same subgroup across the entire state. 

Learn more by reading a brief document (PDF) explaining the difference between the Parent Dashboard, School Index, and A-F Report Card (PA 601 of 2018).  To see an overview of the Parent Dashboard and dive deeper into the School Index, visit the support page.