In the fall, all 501 school districts across the Commonwealth received web-based reporting through the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System (PVAAS). PVAAS is a new type of data that offers an objective and more precise way to measure student progress and the value schools and districts add to students' educational experiences. Pennsylvania is one of only three states providing this information statewide to all school districts.
PVAAS is one of the tools in the cadre of tools provided to districts from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Districts and schools are using PVAAS (progress data), in conjunction with achievement data, to make sure all students are on the trajectory to proficiency. Utilizing all the data available (progress and achievement), educators are able to make data-informed instructional decisions to ensure the academic growth and achievement of all students.
PVAAS provides feedback to key questions:
- Did each cohort (grades 4-8) make a year’s worth of growth in reading and math?
- Did each subgroup (grades 4-8) make a year’s worth of growth in reading and math?
- Is each individual student on a trajectory to reach proficient or advanced levels on a future PSSA?
What is PVAAS?
PVAAS is a statistical analysis of PSSA assessment data (reading and math), and provides districts and their schools with progress data to add to achievement data. This new lens of measuring student learning provides educators with valuable information to ensure they are meeting the academic needs in reading and mathematics of cohorts of students, as well as individual students.
To help you understand PVAAS analysis, think of academic progress/growth in terms of a child’s physical growth, and the growth charts utilized by a child’s physician. Growth charts are an important tool for monitoring a child’s development, but they are just one of the indicators used by the physician to ensure a child is growing at the minimum expected level and on the trajectory to grow as expected. A physician would not use a growth chart in isolation to diagnose a child; however, the growth chart would provide valuable information that may warrant further exploration.
PVAAS Reporting
PVAAS provides two types of information, value-added/growth data on cohorts of students and student level projection data. The value-added, or growth, analyzes available data from previous years (looking back) to help schools to evaluate how much cohorts of students have gained in a school year by answering questions such as: Did a cohort/subgroup of students make a year’s worth of growth for a year’s worth of schooling?
The projection data uses the data already analyzed to help schools project (looking forward) for the future by answering questions such as: What is the % likelihood of a student being proficient on a future PSSA? Projections data can be used for intervention planning and resource reallocation.
Fee:
Free