When students take exams, their performance is measured against that of students with similar prior score histories. Their percentile rank reveals how well they performed relative to those who scored lower; the higher it is, the better their results are.

Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs) measure how a student has progressed academically over time. Calculated by comparing test scores among similar academic histories – usually their previous year’s test score – SGPs assign students between 1 and 99 as percentile rankings within this group; higher ranks indicate better academic achievements while lower ones suggest worse performances among similar educational histories.

SGPs give educators the information they need to enhance instruction and assess the efficacy of their programs, including educator evaluations, teacher plans for improvement and setting school/district goals. Furthermore, SGPs can also be utilized when evaluating accelerated programs with smaller but still significant numbers of students who struggle to keep pace.

DESE offers Student Growth Profiles in ELA and Math for grades 4 through 8, as well as in science for grade 10. SGPs for grades 4-5 compare prior assessment score histories to tests taken recently in those grades; while for grade 10 SGPs compare 10th grade test scores against 8th grade scores without including previous year’s Badger tests scores.

Districts must first collect and store their data before initiating operational SGP analyses, using an example data set like sgpData as an example of this practice. It contains five years’ worth of student assessment information in WIDE format arranged alphabetically with columns ID as unique student identifiers followed by five columns for scores for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 tests taken across five years (SS_2013 to SS_2017).

The prepareSGP function offers an efficient means of transforming sgpData into a format compatible with SGP analyses. It accepts two lookup files of data (sgpData_LONG and sgpData_INSTRUCTOR_NUMBER) and produces one Demonstration_SGP@Data object that contains both types.

The analyzeSGP function performs actual SGP analyses. It uses a sgpData@Data record to create student growth percentiles, lagged projections and baseline projections. CombineSGP merges results derived from this analysis into the sgpData record and generates scale scores associated with SGP targets, while also merging all outputs from this and prior SGP analyses into one longitudinal record. Producing an SGPData@Data file that can be accessed by students, educators and administrators for informed instructional decisions is crucial in ensuring SGPs are accurate, meaningful and actionable – without careful preparation errors in SGP analyses can quickly revert back into problems in the data.

Horse racing is a form of competitive equestrian riding involving horses as competitors on flat tracks over a distance of one or more miles, usually on a level surface such as asphalt or dirt tracks. Each race can be classified into sprints, route races and stayers depending on speed and endurance required to win; some events have specific rules governing them such as mandating runners be of certain age/breed combinations while other rules such as setting minimum weight requirements have also been put in place to ensure fair play of this sport.

Horseracing began in ancient Greece, when riders attached their horses to two-wheeled carts or chariots for a game of chance. Over time, this sport gained in popularity, leading men to race horses on an official basis. Today it’s an international pastime and there are numerous types of races available — American Thoroughbred races, Arabian horse racing and European flat racing are just three such examples — with jumps races also popular as a variation characterized by large obstacles over long distances.

Modern horse racing is governed by laws that set forth regulations regarding the care, training and use of horses. These laws aim to safeguard their health as well as the wellbeing of spectators and uphold the integrity of the sport. Furthermore, various organizations dedicated to horse racing’s promotion and development exist such as The Jockey Club, American Horse Council, National Thoroughbred Racing Association and International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.

Horse racing is unquestionably a huge business, yet its success depends on the horses themselves and their performance in races. To achieve this goal, feed and breeders provide horses that they hope will perform well and compete well at races – with top competitors being awarded substantial prize money and recognition.

To increase their odds of victory, horses are administered legal and illegal drugs to mask injuries and enhance performance. Horses that have been overworked or injured may experience exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage which is made worse by heat and humidity; blood loss limits a horse’s capacity for competition and Lasix is given in racing form with a boldface L to offset this condition.

Trainers administer Lasix and other drugs to their horses, such as sedatives and painkillers, through random drug testing of horses. While attempts are made by the horse racing industry to monitor drug use responsibly, many horses still overexert themselves beyond their limits and end up suffering significant stress or injury that eventually results in auction or slaughterhouse sales – an unfortunate outcome for all parties involved, particularly for their horses themselves.