That is, bias (a highly
controversial issue covered in the research literature and also
on this blog; see recent
posts about bias here, here, and here), does also appear to exist in this state and particularly at the school - level for (1)
subject areas less traditionally tested and, hence, not often consecutively tested (e.g., from one consecutive grade level to the next), and given (2) the state is combining growth measures with proficiency (i.e., «snapshot») measures to evaluate schools, the latter being significantly negatively correlated with the populations of the students in the schools being evaluated.