The Achievement report is the landing page for the Data Explorer and is intended to provide you with a snapshot of your students' achievement in one testing period.
The Achievement report is available from within the ACER Data Explorer.
The following topics are covered in this article:
- Understanding the Achievement report
- Setting your report parameters
- Using achievement bands to group students of similar ability
- Comparing your students' results
- Exporting your data
Understanding the Achievement report
The Achievement report displays your students' achievement as estimated against the achievement scale for the learning area, expressed as a scale score. The report chart summarises the overall achievement of your students in a single testing period, displaying the highest achieving students at the top of the scale and the lowest achieving at the bottom.
Scale score
A scale score is a numerical value given to a student whose achievement has been measured by completing an assessment. A student's scale score lies at a point somewhere on the achievement scale, and it indicates that student's level of achievement in that particular learning area — the higher the scale score, the more able the student.
Regardless of the test level or items administered to students, they will be placed on the same scale for the learning area. This makes it possible to directly compare students' achievement and to observe students' progress within a learning area by comparing their scale scores from multiple testing periods over time.
A score on a Reading scale, for example, has no meaning on the Maths scale. In fact, the units of the scale will have different meanings for each scale. This is because these units are calculated based on the range of student levels of achievement, which vary widely between learning areas.
Setting your report parameters
Cohort selection
By default, students in all year levels and tagged groups that you have permission to view will be included in the report. You can focus on the results of a smaller group of students by adding year level and tag filters.
These filter options are based on students' current details, while the details displayed in the report chart and table reflect students' details at the time they completed their tests.
When you first load the report, only the most recent result for each student within the reporting window will be included, which means some results will not be visible.
To include these missing results, you can narrow the reporting window to match when those results were collected, or you can click Advanced options and check Allow multiple results per student.
Note that the Achievement report is designed to report on one testing period only. Use the Progress report to understand how your students' learning has progressed over multiple years.
Reporting window
Change the reporting window to find the results you need. Quick selections allow you to focus on one school year or semester at a time. You can also select a custom date range to focus on a particular testing period.
Chart type
You can change the appearance and focus of the report by selecting a different chart type. For example, the Achievement report can display your students' results grouped by achievement bands, as separate results for each completed test, or in comparison to a norm or reference group.
Restrictions apply to some chart types. For example, you must narrow your cohort selection to just one year level to view a comparison chart.
Using achievement bands to group students of similar ability
Select the Achievement bands chart type to group your students' results by band.
Achievement bands
Students in the same achievement band are operating at approximately the same achievement level within a learning area regardless of their school year level.
Viewing student achievement in terms of achievement bands may assist you to group students of similar abilities. By referencing the achievement band descriptions, you can understand the types of skills typical of students according to their band.
Click a band within the Achievement report chart to focus on the students at that band, alongside the descriptions of the associated skills. Navigate up and down through the achievement bands using the arrows at the top of the page to identify students and skills at different levels.
Comparing your students' results
Compare the scale score achievement of your students to available norms or reference groups by selecting the Comparison chart type.
Your students’ results are represented as box plots that communicate the spread of achievement among your students.
A ‘taller’ box plot indicates a greater range between your lowest and highest achieving students, while a ‘shorter’ box plot suggests that students are relatively close in ability.
Your students' percentile rank against the comparison data will be included within the report table beneath the chart. The percentile rank of a score is the percentage of students who achieve less than that score. For example, a student with a percentile rank of 75th has a scale score that is higher than 75% of students in the comparison group.
Exporting your data
Use the Export button at the top of the page to download your students' results data in a number of different formats.
You can extract the raw data into Excel (.xlsx) format, or download PDF versions of the report chart and individual Student reports in bulk.