Understanding Indicators Related to Academic Performance

Summary With the new reporting requirements from theNCLB legislation, the use of data to assess studentand school progress is now becoming standard prac-tice for the school improvement process. Althoughstudent achievement scores will remain the primary,if not sole, indicators for most educators and policy-makers, they will provide a limited understanding ofpotential causes, processes, and solutions for improv-ing student achievement for differing studentgroups. Reform efforts must delve deeper into theunderlying factors that lead to student success andfailure, and to academic-related indicators discussedabove that demonstrate variation by student groupsand grade levels. Further, examining practices andtheir impact on these indicators is critical for imple-menting change. The data disaggregation processfurther directs the school improvement by under-standing the “big picture” for middle grades reformas well as identifying targets for immediate action. Finally, the academic indicators described hereshould be continuously evaluated and analyzed inrelationship to student achievement data. Thisongoing research and analysis will expand theunderstanding of the influence of academic indica-tors on student achievement, determine how theserelationships may change, and how they vary in dif-ferent contexts. Finally, data-based decision makingfor school improvement beyond achievement scoresis a relatively new and unrefined science. Emergingresearch and new computer technology are likely tomake collecting, organizing, and using data resultseasier and less costly, which will ultimately lead to abetter understanding of how students learn and suc-ceed in middle level schools.