School effectiveness estimates from fall-to-spring versus spring-to-spring growth correlate only moderately to strongly (.399 to .705), below the .90 threshold at which rank orderings diverge in accountability¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr2·q2·i3large
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2022: tool and model accuracy changes quickly
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i3 Correlations between school-level fall-to-spring and spring-to-spring growth estimates range from .399 in reading to .705 in math (centered at 2nd grade), all below the .90 threshold Koedel and Betts (2010) identify as consequential for school rankings. → Soland 2019
Evidence¶
Soland 2019¶
Soland, J. & Thum, Y.M. (2019). School effectiveness, summer loss, and federal accountability: Applying the compound polynomial model in a program evaluation context. The Collaborative for Student Growth at NWEA Working Paper. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/school-effectiveness-summer-loss-and-federal-accountability-applying-the-compound-polynomialmodel-in-a-program-evaluation-context/
q2 · i3 · associational · r2
Correlations (rho) of conditional Z-scores of school-level gains, produced via contrast matrices from CP models fit to all five years of MAP Growth data, comparing spring-to-spring gains to fall-to-spring gains in grades three and four (Figure 3). The printed correlations are r = .399 and r = .705.
"Results indicate that correlations for between- and within-year growth range from moderate (.399 in reading) to strong (.705 in math centered at 2nd grade)."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Ignoring summer loss can impact which schools are identified as low performers under federal accountability — a broader claim this one bears on
- Achievement of the lowest-growth schools varies dramatically, and fall achievement accounts for about 80% of spring achievement versus 14% for growth — related
- True-score-model correlations among fall, winter, and spring scores exceed 0.90 for almost all course-specific tests, indicating strongly correlated administrations across terms. — related
- Between-term score correlations are moderate and lowest for Phonological Awareness — related
- Cross-term Foundational Skills scores were moderately correlated, with correlations ranging from 0.48 to 0.82 depending on domain and grade — related
- Spanish Math and Reading scores show high marginal reliability and moderate-to-strong test-retest stability, lowest for fall–spring and kindergarten — related
- School contributions to within-year (single-year fall-to-spring) growth correlate at roughly .10 or below with school contributions to growth across elementary school (grades 2–6) — related
- School growth estimates based on two years of data correlate around .55–.58 with estimates based on all five elementary years, below the .90 threshold at which ESSA accountability determinations would likely change — related
- Ignoring summer loss changes which schools are identified as low performers — related
- Successive cohort indicators are subject to false performance gains, and the paper assesses which school evaluation methods provide useful accountability information — related
- Gap analysis comparing observed to predicted DFW rates recasts course rankings, revealing courses that exceed or fall below expectations in a way raw DFW ranking does not — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
within-between-year-effectiveness-correlations-below-090 |
title |
School effectiveness estimates from fall-to-spring versus spring-to-spring growth correlate only moderately to strongly (.399 to .705), below the .90 threshold at which rank orderings diverge in accountability |
description |
School effectiveness estimates from fall-to-spring versus spring-to-spring growth correlate only moderately to strongly (.399 to .705), below the .90 threshold at which rank orderings diverge in accountability |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2019 |
recheck_by |
2022 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-09 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — soland-2019 |
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