The Progress report allows you to observe your students’ learning progress over time by comparing scale score achievement across multiple testing periods.
The Progress report is available from within the ACER Data Explorer.
The following topics are covered in this article:
- Understanding the Progress report
- Setting your report parameters
- Comparing your students' results
- Examining individual student progress
- Exporting your data
Understanding the Progress report
By default, the progress report represents your selected students’ scale score achievement for each testing period as a box plot. These box plots provide an immediate picture of your cohort’s achievement at each point in time and can be visually compared to identify progress over time.
The data represented in the report chart is also provided beneath in table form. The progress of an individual student can be highlighted visually in the chart by clicking the star and is also presented as a value in scale score units in the ‘Progress’ column of the table. This value is the raw difference in scale score units between the student’s first reported scale score and their most recent. Learning progress does not often follow a linear trajectory; a student’s scale score achievement may fluctuate from year to year.
If a student’s most recent scale score is equal to or below their earliest reported achievement, the table indicates ‘No progress measured’. It is important to consider these cases with care and understand that there may be various explanations for an apparent decrease in a student’s scale score.
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.
It is important to consider the composition of the data at each measurement point if you are interested in tracking progress at the cohort level. The results of students who completed tests in some periods but not others may skew the cohort-level data. You can opt to include results only from students who were tested in all of the reported periods from the Advanced options in the panel to the left of the chart.
Reporting window
Change the reporting window to find the results you need. Quick selections allow you to define your reporting periods by school year or by semester.
For the purpose of monitoring student progress, a gap of 9 to 12 months between testing sessions is recommended. Learning progress may not be reflected in a student's PAT scale scores over a shorter period of time. Longitudinal growth should be measured over a minimum of two years of schooling, or three separate testing sessions, in most contexts. This will help account for possible scale score variation, for example where external factors may affect a student's performance on a particular testing occasion.
Use the drop-down menu or the semester/year tags to exclude reporting windows with few results. Be aware that if you exclude 'in-between' periods (for example, reporting on tests in 2019, 2021, and 2022) your chart won't as accurately reflect the time between each result, so student progress may appear exaggerated.
Chart type
The Comparison chart displays your students' results as box plots for each testing period. Select a comparison year level to include that data in the chart as a point of reference.
To make it easier to identify the results of individual students within your data, change the chart type to focus on Completed tests. which are displayed as a dot plot within the report. Hover your cursor over each result to view more information, or click an icon to open a student report for that test.
Comparing your students' results
Your selected year level comparison will appear to the right of the most recent period (at the far right of the chart) and each earlier period will be compared to the matching year level automatically.
By referencing the position and height of each box plot, as well as the percentile intervals, you can compare your selected cohort's achievement against the comparison data for each testing period.
Examining individual student progress
Focus on your individual students by selecting the Completed tests chart. This option replaces the cohort box plots with dots representing the scale score achievement by students on their tests. Hover your cursor over each icon to view more information about the student and click the icon to load the Student report for that test.
Predicted gain for PAT Maths and PAT Reading
For more information about the study and data behind this feature, please read the article on Predicting scale score gain in PAT Maths and PAT Reading.
To view a student's predicted gain in PAT Maths and PAT Reading, highlight the student in the Progress report and select ‘Show predicted gain’ above the report chart:
Future predicted gain
A student’s ‘future’ scale score prediction represents their predicted achievement if they were to complete another PAT assessment in the learning area 12 months from the date of their most recent test. This predicted scale score is based on the 12-month gain of other students in the same year level who achieved the same or similar initial scale score.
This a statistical prediction and the ranges surrounding this single predicted value represent confidence intervals of the prediction, or the degree of uncertainty around the predicted gain. The inner, dark orange range represents one standard deviation either side of the prediction, or the 68% confidence interval. In other words, on average, out of 100 students in the same year level with the same prior scale score, 68 students will achieve a scale score within that range 12 months later.
The broader, light orange range represents two standard deviations either side of the prediction, or the 95% confidence interval. On average, 95 students out of 100, with the same initial scale score and year level will achieve a scale score within that range after 12 months.
Note that ‘future’ predicted gain may not be displayed in the report if the student’s most recently completed test is more than 12 months old. In other words, the period for which the ‘future’ prediction applies has already passed:
Past predicted gain
A student’s ‘past’ scale score prediction allows you to compare your student’s most recent actual achievement to their predicted achievement based on an earlier result.
For a ‘past’ prediction to appear in the report, the student must have completed a previous test in the same learning area 9–18 months prior to their most recent assessment. If the student does not have a previous result, or if they only have results fewer than 9 months prior or more than 18 months prior, no ‘past’ prediction will appear.
The narrower dark blue and wider light blue ranges represent the 68% and 95% confidence intervals respectively.
In the example above, the student’s most recent previous assessment, from 2022, was completed fewer than 9 months prior to their 2023 assessment. As a result, their ‘past’ predicted gain has been calculated based on their result from an earlier test, completed 15 months prior, in 2021.
Predicted scale score ‘decline’
In some cases, due to the relationship between student year level, prior scale score and the time interval between measurements, the study predicts that a typical student’s scale score will decline over a given time period.
The online reporting does not display predicted scale score decline but does display the confidence intervals you’re your reference.
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 the report chart as an image file.
From the report table beneath the chart, you can also export batches of Student reports for each student by clicking the download icon at the left of the page.