1. What is Value Added | 2. NCE and OAA | 3. Accessing in DataMap
What is Value Added?
The simple version: The state uses a bunch of data we don't have access to and a bunch of math we'll never understand to assign every student in grades 4 through 8 a target score for the Reading and Math OAAs.
This target score represents the OAA score a student must meet or exceed in order to show "a year's growth."
The score is given to us by the state as a value between 1 and 99, and is called a Projected NCE score.
Vocab: NCE / Normal Curve Equivalent. A value very similar to a percentile, representing the rank among the entire population of testers for an individual student.
Vocab: Projected NCE. The NCE score a student must meet in order to show a year's growth. Translation: MAKE VALUE ADDED.
The Problem
Our goal as educators is to deliver the very best education every year to our students so that they may grow to their maximum potential. We want every child, whatever their level, to grow one full year in our classrooms. The State calls that Value-Added.
If we're to earn continuing Excellent (with Distinction!!) ratings, we have to make Value Added. Enough of our students have to show a year's growth.
This is a difficult problem to attack, as we have never been able to translate NCE scores into targets we understand. We have never been able to turn the number into a target, and the target into a list of STUDENTS for you, the classroom teacher, to work with.