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1997-98 ABCs Report Card, Volume I - Glossary

Achievement Levels

Student scores on the North Carolina end-of-grade (EOG) and end-of-course (EOC) tests fall within four ranges of scores described as follows.

For K-8 schools (EOG):

Level I

Students performing at this level do not have sufficient mastery of knowledge and skills in this subject area to be successful at the next grade level.

 

Level II

Students performing at this level demonstrate inconsistent mastery of knowledge and skills in this subject and are minimally prepared to be successful at the next grade level.

 

Level III

Students performing at this level consistently demonstrate mastery of grade level subject matter and skills and are well prepared for the next grade level.

 

Level IV

Students performing at this level consistently perform in a superior manner clearly beyond that required to be proficient at grade level work.

For high schools (EOC):

Level I

Students performing at this level do not have sufficient mastery of knowledge and skills of the course to be successful at a more advanced level in the content area.

 

Level II

Students performing at this level demonstrate inconsistent mastery of knowledge and skills of the course and are minimally prepared to be successful at a more advanced level in the content area.

 

Level III

Students performing at this level consistently demonstrate mastery of the course subject matter and skills and are well prepared for a more advanced level in the content area.

 

Level IV

Students performing at this level consistently perform in a superior manner clearly beyond that required to be proficient in the course subject matter and skills and are very well prepared for a more advanced level in the content area.

These standards were set by the contrasting groups method of standard setting. Teachers (expert judges) were asked to categorize each of their students on the basis of "absolute achievement" (comparison to an external standard). Each student was categorized into one of four levels based on the teacher's experiences with the student throughout the school year. The percentages of students in each achievement level were remarkably similar across subjects and grades. Percentages of students were used in conjunction with the frequency distributions of scores from the administrations of the end-of-grade and end-of-course tests to determine where the cut points should be for the achievement levels.

At or Above Grade Level

Achievement Level III was established as "At Grade Level" by the State Board of Education. Student end-of-grade test scores must fall within this range for the student to be considered "at grade level." Achievement Level IV is considered to be "above grade level" performance.

EOC Index

The index is a weighted average of percentages of students in the four achievement levels on the end-of-course (EOC) tests. A weight of "3" is assigned to Level IV, "2" to Level III, "1" to Level II, and "0" to Level I. Weights for each level are multiplied by the percentage of students in that level and the results are summed. The sum is divided by 3 to obtain the index score. The index, then, summarizes the distribution of students across achievement levels. The index will change as the students move from one level to another. The higher the index score, the greater the percentage of students who are in the upper achievement levels. The index ranges from 0 to 100; 0 indicates that all students are in Level I, and 100 that all students are in Level IV.

Exemplary Gain Composite

A number that represents whether exemplary gain has been made across the six EOC courses plus the expected gain in College Prep/College Tech Prep component. The exemplary gain standard is the baseline index plus 5% of the difference between the baseline and 100.

Exemplary Growth Composite

This number is the sum of the standard exemplary growth components in reading, mathematics, and writing in K-8 schools. The exemplary standard factors in 10 percent above the statewide average growth in the formula used to set expected growth. Consequently, the exemplary growth standard is approximately 10% greater than the expected growth standard.

Expected Gain Composite

A number that represents the overall gain in the six courses and the College Prep/College Tech Prep component in the high school ABCs model. The differences between the current end-of-course (EOC) index and a baseline index (average of the two previous years' indexes) in the courses of Algebra I, Biology, ELPS, English I, English II (writing), and U.S. History are summed. To this is added the increase (over the previous year) in the percentage of graduates (earning diplomas) who completed either the College Prep or College Tech Prep courses of study.

Expected Growth Composite

A number which represents the growth in reading, math, and writing (grades 4 and 7) across all grades in a K-8 school. The expected growth for reading or mathematics at each grade level is subtracted from the actual growth in reading or mathematics at each grade level; each difference is then divided by the standard deviation of the difference for expected growth at each grade level. The quotient is the standard expected growth component for a given subject at a given grade level. The "standard expected growth" components in reading, math, and writing (grades 4 and 7) are summed across grade levels to get the expected growth composite.

Mean/Average

The mean or average is obtained by summing all scores and dividing by the total number of scores.

Performance Composite

One of three composite scores used to determine ABCs status. This score summarizes the performance of students in a K-8 school in reading, writing, and mathematics and in a high school in Algebra I (7th and 8th grade Algebra I scores for students who are now in ninth grade are computed with that high school's performance composite for 1997-98), Biology, ELPS, English I, English II, and US History. The performance composite is obtained by summing the numbers of students at or above Level III in each content area across grades 3 - 8 for the elementary/middle model, or summing the numbers of students at or above Level III on each of the six EOC tests for the high school model. This sum is then divided by the numbers of students with valid scores in each content area in each grade (elementary/middle) or on each of the six EOC tests (high school). The number is multiplied by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

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