Data sgp is an effort to assemble a comprehensive geochemical dataset that will be tractable for multivariate statistical analyses accounting for multiple geological and methodological biases. The goal of this effort is to enable a broad range of new and improved sedimentary geological and palaeoenvironmental models that will provide a more complete picture of Earth history. Data sgp will also enable research in areas such as geological timescale modeling and the integration of geochemical data with a variety of other data types.
The data sgp database combines three different sources of geochemical information: direct entry by project members, compilation from the CMIBS (Centre for Minerals and Earth Sciences) whole-rock database, and USGS NGDB whole-rock geochemical databases. The combination of these three datasets provides a comprehensive and rigorous base platform for sedimentary geochemical studies across a broad range of geologic ages.
Each year the data sgp database is updated to incorporate new data from additional sources. This process is a major undertaking involving a significant amount of manual work to correct data errors and reorganize data into a coherent, user-friendly database structure. Currently, the database contains data from more than 2,000 different samples and covers more than 30 million years of Earth history.
As more data becomes available, the database will be expanded and additional analysis tools developed. For example, the project has begun incorporating geochemical data from other international projects and is planning to use the OZCHEM whole-rock database as another source of sedimentary geochemical data for deeper geologic intervals.
This data is used to calculate student growth percentiles, a measure of relative achievement that indicates how much more a student needs to achieve to reach their official state growth standard or target. This figure is displayed in the dashboards and reports for each school, district and state.
A student’s SGP is based on their performance in the MCAS exam compared to the progress of students with similar test score histories. The highest possible SGP is 90th percentile, which means that the student grew by an amount equal to the average growth of 90% of students who performed similarly on MCAS assessments in the past.
The current SGP for each student is calculated by analyzing the most recent assessment and up to five previous tests. SGPs for the 2014-15 Badger exam are not shown in the dashboard because the Badger assessment was administered only one time and its performance level was quite different from the WKCE and Forward exams that preceded it.
To view the data sgp data for a particular student, select the student from the list in the dashboard and then click “View Student Growth”. The next screen will display the student’s sgpData table. The first column, ID, provides the unique student identifier. The remaining columns, GRADE_2013, GRADE_2014, GRADE_2015, and GRADE_2016, give the MCAS score for each of these assessment years. The final column, GRADE_2017, provides the student’s current MCAS score.