2014 TCAP Growth Database

By 
Kate Schimel
and
jsisk
 | August 14, 2014, 8:44pm UTC

Search 2014 TCAP Growth Database

State test results show how many students are achieving proficiency on annual exams. But some kids start further behind than others. How can you tell whether students, wherever they start, are making progress? Use this database to see your school’s scores on the model Colorado uses to answer these questions.

The Colorado Growth Model uses four key indicators – based on an analysis of students’ testing history – to paint a picture of academic progress at each school and district:

Median Growth Percentile: This number shows how far students are progressing compared to their so-called “academic peers,” that is, other students who’ve posted similar results on test scores in the past. Typical growth for an individual student centers around the 50th percentile. Lower means slower growth, higher means better than average.

Adequate Growth Percentile: This measure estimates whether students’ progress last year will be enough for the school’s students to reach or maintain proficiency. With this indicator, lower is better. Lower numbers represent an easier task because less growth is required. A school with an AGP of 12 means that, on the whole, this school’s students have a strong test score history and, even if their growth or progress is low, they’re probably still on track to stay proficient. On the other hand, a school with an AGP of 95 probably has many students that have had low test scores and they need to make an extraordinary amount of growth to catch up in the time allotted.

“Catching up”: This measure is an indicator of how many students at a school are on their way toward proficiency, even though they aren’t there yet. Specifically, the “catching up” figure is the percentage of students who aren’t proficient now, but who are likely to reach proficiency in three years or by 10th grade.

“Keeping up”: Not all students who are now proficient in a subject will necessarily stay there in the coming years. This measure reports what percent  of those a school’s students are likely to stay proficient over three years or through 10th grade. The state calculates that likelihood by looking at how much growth students made last year.

Search tips

  • You must search first by district or click Statewide Results to see how Colorado did, overall.
  • You need not click an item in each box to complete a search. Clicking on Denver and then on Abraham Lincoln High School, for example, will bring up results for all grades and subjects for the school.
  • Want to compare a school or district to the statewide average? Select Districtwide Results in the school name box.
  • To rank search results, click on a column heading. For example, if you’re looking at several schools and want to easily see which had the highest proficiency rate in 2014, click on the column heading “% Proficient and Advanced 2014.” Click once and it sorts lowest to highest – click twice to see highest to lowest.
  • You can filter the results by school name, subject and grade level.

Data notes

  • A search result of “–” or blanks means there are no public results for this category. The state does not provide data for groups of fewer than 20 students to protect their privacy.
  • Results of the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program come in four levels — “unsatisfactory” is the lowest level, then “partially proficient,” followed by “proficient” and then “advanced,” the highest level. Typically, a student scoring proficient or advanced is considered to be performing at or above grade level.
  • Results of the Spanish-language exams, Lectura and Escritura, are not included in the database but are available here. They are given in grades 3 and 4 only.
  • Poverty rate refers to the number of students in a school or district who are eligible for federal meal assistance. It is a widely used indicator of student poverty.

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