What is Data SGP?

The data sgp is an R software package that provides classes, functions and data to calculate student growth percentiles and percentile growth projections/trajectories using large scale, longitudinal education assessment data. The package utilizes quantile regression to estimate the conditional density associated with each student’s achievement history. The resulting percentile growth trajectory is then used to project the probability that the student will reach or maintain proficiency.

The first thing that you need to know about the data sgp is that it is a very large and complicated piece of software that requires a significant amount of time to learn to use. This is especially true if you have never used R before. However, once you have mastered the basics, it is very easy to run complex analyses.

To run the SGP analyses, you need to have a computer that can run the free software program R. This is available for Windows, OSX and Linux and is open source, so it can be downloaded to any compatible system. Running SGP analyses also requires that you have a high speed internet connection, as the calculations are very computationally intensive.

Another important consideration is the data that you will be working with. The SGP package works with data in a wide format, and there are several exemplar data sets provided with the package. The sgpData data set is one such example, and it models the format of the type of data that will be used by lower level SGP functions such as studentGrowthPercentiles and studentGrowthProjections.

For SGP to be calculated, a student must have at least two assessments from different testing windows. These tests do not need to match a district screening window, but the most recent assessment must be in a current school year. The second test can be from a prior school year, but it must be from a different school year than the most recent assessment (for example, Fall, Winter or Spring).

In the sgpData data set, the first column, ID, provides a unique student identifier and the next five columns, GRADE_2013, GRADE_2014, GRADE_2015, GRADE_2016, and GRADE_2017, provide the grade level associated with each of the 5 years of assessments.

The sgpData data set is an excellent model for the format of the type of data that will need to be used by SGP. This data set contains all the information necessary for calculating student growth percentiles and percentile growth trajectories, including the percentiles of the most recent assessment. If you would like to learn more about how to use the sgpData data set, please consult the SGP package documentation.