Academic Growth (a.k.a. Value-Added or VAM) is a measure of how much students’ scores on state assessments in English Language Arts and Math improved over the school year compared to similar students across the state. Here at OEP, we think growth is the best indicator of how effectively schools are educating their students.
Here’s a question about growth that we ask as we work with educators around the state:
Do high-achieving students in Arkansas demonstrate
A) LESS academic growth than other students,
B) THE SAME academic growth as other students, or
C) MORE academic growth than other students?
The most popular answers are “A- Less growth than other students” and “C- More growth than other students”.
Folks who choose “A- Less growth” argue that high-achieving students are already so high-achieving they don’t have any room to grow, while supporters of “C- More growth” typically suggest that high-achieving students are generally better resourced than other students, and likely have more enriching experiences outside of school that would contribute to higher growth.
The correct answer is “B” – High-achieving students demonstrate the SAME academic growth as other students.
High-achieving students demonstrate the same academic growth as other students because growth isn’t associated with student characteristics, it is just about the quality of instruction happening in classrooms. Even students who score at the highest levels on state assessments can still demonstrate increased performance the following year. High-achieving students are compared to other similarly high-achieving students, and we find that some students grow more than average, and some grow less than average over the course of a year.
Not all students identified as Gifted and Talented (GT) are high-achieving on state assessments, but it is important that districts work to ensure that GT students are continuing to grow academically even though they may already be performing above grade level. To highlight the school districts across the state where GT students are demonstrating Outstanding Educational Progress, OEP is excited to announce the first annual GT Growth awards!
These OEP Awards are based on the overall value-added growth of GT students in 2022-23, and are awarded to the top three districts in the small, medium, and large enrollment groups used for selecting districts for Act 56 awards. We suggest that the Advisory Council on Gifted and Talented Education should consider the demonstrated academic growth of GT students in selecting Act 56 award recipients.
Districts receiving OEP GT Awards for 2023 are listed below, along with their award-winning overall growth score!
Small Districts (<=1,000)
- Marmaduke School District 85.17
- Westside School District (Johnson) 84.67
- (tie) Concord School District and Lawrence County School District 83.93
Medium Districts (1,001 – 3,000 students)
- Elkins School District 86.56
- Vilonia School District 85.47
- Pea Ridge School District 85.32
Large Districts (>3,000 students)
- LISA Academy 85.39
- Fayetteville School District 85.28
- Bentonville School District 84.68
Congratulations to these districts! If you want to see how YOUR district’s Gifted and Talented students have been growing, check out our new datasets with school- and district-level growth percentiles for GT growth in ELA and Math from 2017-18 through 2022-23. The data are publicly available through the Report Card section of MySchoolInfo, but we made them easier to interpret by assigning percentile ranks among all schools or districts) in the state.
If you would like to learn more about GT students and their academic growth, reach out to us at oep@uark.edu and come see our session at the AGATE conference in February!