Unpacking the Missouri Growth Model
The Missouri Annual Performance Report (APR) for public schools and districts gives more weight to point-in-time achievement on standardized tests (Status) than to student growth over time. We assert that the Growth component of the APR is a more important indicator of school quality than is Status. In this brief, we unpack the Missouri Growth Model used to calculate school and district growth scores. We explain how the model works and clarify what it does and does not tell us about school quality. We find:
Growth is more independent of outside factors such as family income and thus a better measure of actual school performance than is Status.
The Missouri Growth Model takes into account each student’s expected growth and identifies whether students in a school on average grew more or less than expected.
The Missouri Growth Model has limitations. It is unable to account for growth that occurs outside of school or at the top or bottom of the achievement distribution.
