Table of Contents

Teacher/Student Equity

Understanding the Report

Understanding the Filter

Use the drop-down menu and filter by subject and grade to compare the proportion of highly effective teachers with different student groups. By default, all grades, subjects, and courses are pre-selected. In some cases, data might not display based on the selected criteria.

Teachers

Which teachers might be included? A teacher must have a value-added measure in a selected assessment in the current reporting year. Additionally, teachers must have a Value-Added report within the last two reporting years in the same subject area for at least one of the selections.

What is the definition of a highly effective teacher? Highly effective teachers are defined as teachers who have individual growth scores of Level 4 or 5 on the five-point TVAAS scale from prior year measures.

How is the teacher's level determined for this report? The most recent value-added measures are referred to as the "prior year." A teacher's most recent value-added measures within a subject area from two years are used to determine the effectiveness level. Examples are below as well as in the Sample Scenarios document.

If a teacher has a value-added measure in the prior year with the same subject and grade or course as what is selected on the report, then the effectiveness level for this prior year measure is used to determine effectiveness. For example, if eighth-grade Math is selected, the teacher must have an eighth-grade Math measure in the current year. If the teacher has an eighth-grade Math measure in the prior year, then the effectiveness level is used from that eighth-grade Math measure.

If a teacher has a single value-added measure in a subject area and does not have a prior year value-added measure in the same subject and grade or course, then the effectiveness level from the prior year measure is used for that subject area. For example, if eighth-grade Math is selected but the teacher only has a measure for sixth-grade Math, the effectiveness level for sixth grade would be used because it is the same subject area.

If a teacher has multiple value-added measures in the same subject area, a new combined index is created. This combined index is used to determine the effectiveness level. Only value-added measures in the same subject area are combined. The combined index (and resulting effectiveness level) based on a given subject area does not necessarily correspond with the value-added measures/levels displayed on the teacher's report. For example, if eighth-grade Math is selected but the teacher only has sixth and seventh grades in the prior year, a combined subject area measure is created with the corresponding effectiveness level.

Students

Which students might be included? Students who were used within a Teacher Value-Added report for the selected grade/subject in the current year are included.

What if a student is linked to more than one teacher? Students can be included in the report if the teacher linkage represents greater than or equal to 50% of the student's instructional responsibility in the selected grade/subject. If a student is claimed by two teachers equally with a 50%/50% split for instructional responsibility, then the student will be counted twice within the report.

How are student groups defined? For the Student Information table, the information displayed is based on the actual tested performance level. The current year demographic indicators will be used for assigning all other students into groups. For the Teacher Pairings table, at-risk students are defined as those who are expected to score at the lowest performance level in a given subject on the next Tennessee state assessment.

Available Teacher Subjects

What is the default selection on the filter? When users first open the report, all available grades and subjects are selected. To unselect an item, click on the box next to the grade(s) or subject(s). Users can choose any combination of interest.

Which tests/subjects/grades are available for the filter? Only tests/subjects/grades that receive value-added reporting in 2018 or 2019 are included. This includes third grade where possible. Subjects in field test during the previous year are included in this report.

What if I select multiple subjects and grades or courses? Selecting multiple grades/subjects will aggregate the data from the individual selections. For example, if the selected school has 10 at-risk students out of 100 in fifth-grade Math (10%) and 40 at-risk students out of 100 (40%) in fifth-grade English Language Arts, then the report would show 50 out of 200 (25%) based on the selections.

How does the filter include students who appear in more than one selected test/subject/grade? If more than one test/subject/grade is selected, then students will be included in the report even if they meet the criteria for one selection but not another. For example, if a student is defined as at-risk for fifth-grade Math and not at-risk for fifth-grade English Language Arts and both test/subject/grades are selected in the filter, then the student is included in both the at-risk and not at-risk pairings.

Understanding the Dial

For the selected options, the dial displays the number and proportion of highly effective teacher reports at the state/district/school. In the example to the right, 35 is the number of highly effective teachers out of a total of 80 teachers in the selected subjects. The definition of highly effective teachers is provided in the Teachers section above. The dial might include teachers multiple times depending on the filters selected.

For example, if sixth- and seventh-grade Math are selected and a teacher has value-added measures in the current year for both of those selections, then the teacher would be counted twice.

Understanding the Table

Student Information

What information is displayed in the columns? The Student Information side of the table (on the left) provides a list of districts/schools to which the user has access. The % At-Risk column immediately to the right of the district/school name provides the percentage of students at the district/school in the selected student group. The % Not At-Risk column provides the percentage of students at the district/school who are not considered part of the selected student group. Students may be included in student groups as described in the "Understanding the Filter" section above.

Why do the percentages of at-risk and not at-risk students not total 100%? Students who score Approaching in a given subject on the state assessment are not included in either group.

Can the results be sorted? Users can sort each column ascending or descending by clicking on the column header.

Is more detailed information available? To view additional District/School reports, click on the district name. From the District report, click on the school name to view additional School reports.

Teacher Pairings

What information is displayed in the columns? The Teacher Pairings side of the table (on the right) provides information on whether Highly Effective teachers were paired equitably with the selected student groups. For the selected school year and student group, the first column of the Teacher Pairings shows the percentages of students paired with highly effective teachers. The second column shows the gap, or the difference, between these percentages, and the color of the gap indicates which student group.

Is there a minimum number of students required to generate a calculation? If there are fewer than 10 students in the selected student group, then there is insufficient data to display a percentage or gap.

For example, a minimum of 10 at-risk students is required to generate a calculation for that specific demographic. A minimum of 10 not at-risk students is required to generate a calculation for that specific demographic. To calculate the gap, both groups must meet the minimum requirement of 10 students.

Can the results be sorted? Users can sort each column ascending or descending by clicking on the column header.

Understanding the "View Current Teacher/Student Information" button

The school-level Teacher/Student Equity report provides reflective information based on the most recently available student information and teacher pairings. To view Current Teacher/Student Information based on current teachers and students enrolled at the school, click the button after selecting a specific district and school.