Comments on: Improvement in progress report grades: real or random? http://gothamschools.org/2008/09/18/improvement-in-progress-report-grades-real-or-random/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:50:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: skoolboy http://gothamschools.org/2008/09/18/improvement-in-progress-report-grades-real-or-random/comment-page-1/#comment-112 skoolboy Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:54:08 +0000 http://gothamschools.org/?p=1744#comment-112 Great insight by Philissa here. I took her analysis one step further, and looked at the stability of the progress report grades from last year to this year in a slightly more formal way (a gamma coefficient, which is a measure of ordinal association, for the crosstabulation of last year's grade by this year's grade, separately for elementary schools, K-8 schools, and middle schools.) I divided schools at each level into those that were above the mean in enrollment and those below the mean (roughly 600 students for each level). At the elementary school level, the progress report grades were significantly more stable among the larger schools than among the smaller schools. At the K-8 and middle school levels, school size was not significantly related to the stability of the progress report grades from last year to this year. Great insight by Philissa here. I took her analysis one step further, and looked at the stability of the progress report grades from last year to this year in a slightly more formal way (a gamma coefficient, which is a measure of ordinal association, for the crosstabulation of last year’s grade by this year’s grade, separately for elementary schools, K-8 schools, and middle schools.) I divided schools at each level into those that were above the mean in enrollment and those below the mean (roughly 600 students for each level). At the elementary school level, the progress report grades were significantly more stable among the larger schools than among the smaller schools. At the K-8 and middle school levels, school size was not significantly related to the stability of the progress report grades from last year to this year.

]]> By: Ravi http://gothamschools.org/2008/09/18/improvement-in-progress-report-grades-real-or-random/comment-page-1/#comment-111 Ravi Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:08:35 +0000 http://gothamschools.org/?p=1744#comment-111 Philissa makes a great point. For an in-depth analysis of the statistical properties of school test score measures (including the one that Philissa discusses), check out this paper by Thomas Kane and Doug Staiger: ”The Promise and Pitfalls of Using Imprecise School Accountability Measures,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16(4):91-114, fall 2002 http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dstaiger/Papers/kanestaigerjeparticle.pdf Philissa makes a great point. For an in-depth analysis of the statistical properties of school test score measures (including the one that Philissa discusses), check out this paper by Thomas Kane and Doug Staiger:

”The Promise and Pitfalls of Using Imprecise School Accountability Measures,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16(4):91-114, fall 2002

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dstaiger/Papers/kanestaigerjeparticle.pdf

]]> By: eduwonkette http://gothamschools.org/2008/09/18/improvement-in-progress-report-grades-real-or-random/comment-page-1/#comment-110 eduwonkette Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:46:30 +0000 http://gothamschools.org/?p=1744#comment-110 Philissa, Really nice job with this analysis - since smaller schools are more likely to have both significant upward *and* downward mobility, I think that supports the error argument rather than the idea that large schools don’t do a good job moving their students forward. Philissa, Really nice job with this analysis – since smaller schools are more likely to have both significant upward *and* downward mobility, I think that supports the error argument rather than the idea that large schools don’t do a good job moving their students forward.

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