Official Site of The State of New Jersey

The Median Student Growth Percentiles (mSGP) District Summary Report is accessible through NJ SMART for those with login credentials and permissions that allow access to SMID Management. Account access and permissions are administered and managed by your district Web User Administrator.

The NJ SMART Click-by-Click Guide to the Median SGP Profiles provides information on accessing the mSGP summary reports.

NJ SMART users can export a full data extract. This full export will include principal, assistant or vice principal, teacher and student data necessary to verify educator mSGPs.

The NJ SMART Course Roster Verification Click-by-Click Guide allows users to view, export and verify course rosters, including rosters of students included in mSGP calculations.

To provide the most accurate roster data, districts should strongly consider the following best practices shared by several New Jersey districts:

• Maintain accurate local student information system (SIS) throughout the school year to reflect the realities of enrollment and course section assignments, as these systems serve as the source data used for mSGPs and for many Student Growth Objectives (SGOs).
• Ensure school and district leaders collaborate to establish an efficient process for verifying all course roster data and making appropriate local corrections prior to the end of the school year. This will provide district data managers with ample time to compile district submissions with teacher-verified data when teachers are more easily accessible.
• Utilize the final observation post-conference or annual summary evaluation conference as an opportunity for each teacher to review and correct their course rosters within local district data files as needed.
• Participate in the NJ SMART Course Roster Submission Practice Period. This practice window allows time for districts to prepare data, contact the NJ SMART Help Desk, as needed, and ensure the submission meets the appropriate technical quality when the official window opens in the summer.

District leaders should work with principals to provide individual mSGP score reports to teachers and to answer any questions at a faculty or team professional learning community (PLC) meeting. Principals can meet with individual teachers to discuss mSGP scores at an observation post-conference or at a separately scheduled time after communicating expectations for the conference in advance. During the meeting, they might take the following steps:

• Address any of the teacher’s outstanding questions about the SGP process.
• Share the teacher’s mSGP score and use the mSGP Conversion Chart to show how the mSGP rating converts to a 1–4 score.
• Share the calculated summative rating and show how the mSGP score fits with the teacher practice ratings and SGO score components of teacher evaluation to generate an overall score.
• Discuss the teacher’s mSGP score in relation to evaluation information gathered so far for the school year.
• Discuss the teacher’s current Professional Development Plan (PDP) and opportunities to address any relevant areas or standards indicated by the mSGP results and final summative evaluation rating.

Teacher mSGP Report

The individual teacher’s mSGP report provides brief background information about the use of SGPs and mSGPs, lists the teacher’s score (as illustrated in the following three examples), and offers suggestions for use, as well as additional resources.

In Example 1, Teacher A was assigned 22 students for 2023-2024, all of whom took the English language arts (ELA) and math assessments. Those students are ordered in an ascending list for each subject, resulting in a median SGP of 46 for ELA and a median SGP of 68 for math. When all 44 student SGP scores (22 for ELA and 22 for mathematics) are arrayed in an ascending list, the median value is 52. This number is Teacher A’s overall mSGP for 2023-2024.

Note that 52 is the median across all 44 student SGP scores, not the average of Teacher A’s ELA and mathematics mSGPs. Then, all of Teacher A’s student scores from ELA and mathematics from 2023-2024 and 2022-2023 are arrayed in an ascending list (with 40 students each taking both tests, this is 80 scores). The median value from this list is Teacher A’s multi-year mSGP of 60. Because this value is higher than Teacher A’s 2023-2024 mSGP of 52, 60 is the value that will be used for his evaluation. Based on the conversion chart, Teacher A’s mSGP value of 60 converts to an mSGP score of 3.3.

In Example 2, Teacher B was assigned math students for 2023-2024. In 2022-2023, they were assigned 13 math students, and in 2023-2024 they were assigned 12 math students, resulting in 25 students across the two years. Because Teacher B did not have the minimum number of 20 separate students for any one school year alone, they did not receive the mSGP for 2022-2023 or for 2023-2024 as separate years.

However, because over the two years, Teacher B was assigned more than 20 students, they now receive a multi-year mSGP based on their students’ scores from 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. This value is calculated by ordering each SGP of their 25 total student scores in order and taking the middle value. Based on the conversion chart, Teacher B’s mSGP value of 58 converts to an mSGP score of 3.2. This is the score used for their 2023-2024 evaluation.

In Example 3, Teacher C was assigned 13 students for 2023-2024, all of whom took both the English language arts and mathematics assessments. In 2022-2023, they were assigned 14 students, who took both assessments, resulting in a total of 27 students across the two years. Because Teacher C did not have the minimum number of 20 separate students for either school year alone, they did not receive the mSGP for 2022-2023 or for 2023-2024 as separate years.

However, they now receive a multi-year mSGP based on their 27 students’ scores from 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. This value is calculated by arraying each SGP of his 27 total students in order and taking the middle value. Based on the conversion chart, Teacher C’s mSGP value of 61 converts to an mSGP score of 3.3. This is the score used for their 2023-2024 evaluation.

The Evaluation Information System (EIS) allows districts to review evaluation data, correct any errors that occurred during the initial evaluation data submission, and certify the accuracy of each staff member's final score. The initial EIS submission window opens in the summer and the final EIS submission window occurs in the fall. The EIS submission window is open for approximately one month.

The quality of the mSGP data that the NJDOE produces depends entirely on the accuracy of Course Roster Submissions by districts. If districts submit inaccurate course roster data for teachers qualifying to receive the mSGP, they may encounter errors with individual mSGP scores. An EIS Technical Manual can be accessed in the EIS portal.

Addressing Partially Effective or Ineffective Summative Ratings

If an educator’s summative rating results in a rating of Partially Effective or Ineffective (2.64 or below), then a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) must be created to replace the Professional Development Plan (PDP) within 25 working days following the district’s receipt of the summative rating, which will be provided by NJDOE through EIS.

Educators on a CAP must:

• Remain on the CAP until they receive their next summative rating.
• Be observed by multiple observers.
• Receive at least one observation in addition to the number required. Educators should receive the additional observation for every year they are on a CAP, even if the CAP only applies to part of the year.