SDP Winter Workshop 2023

A 2019 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematics advocated for a system of equity indicators for educational agencies. Many researchers, states, and agencies have embraced this call to measure and track not only disparities in educational outcomes but also access to resources and opportunities.

In this workshop, Andrew Ho will review conceptual and statistical tools for designing and constructing these systems. What is monitoring? Why should it improve teaching and learning? Which indicators are important to measure? How should we scale, combine, and present indicators? How can measurement scales and composite indices, developed using factor analytic models and principal components analysis, respectively, improve the validity of the interpretations these systems support? Attendees should leave with a coherent conceptual framework and selected statistical tools for constructing equity monitoring systems.

Pre-work:
Please complete all the prework from Level 1 below. You may optionally complete prework from Level 2 below as well:
Level 1 (expected, 10 minutes)

• Monitoring Educational Equity Report Press Release
• S:052 Week 12.1 Slides:  Creating an Index with Principal Components Analysis (32 min)
• S-052 Week 12.2 Slides: Assessing Dimensionality with Principal Components Analysis (22 min)

Level 2: (optional, 90 minutes)

• Skim this Guidebook for States and School Districts
• Skim the NASEM Report
• Watch these videos:
• S-052 Week 12.1: Creating an Index with Principal Components Analysis (32 min)
• S-052 Week 12.2: Assessing Dimensionality with Principal Components Analysis (22 min)