Student Growth Percentiles (SGP) measure the progress of students compared to their academic peers.

Median Student Growth Percentile (mSGP) is a specific metric for measuring the average student progress on statewide assessments by tracking how much each student's test scores have changed relative to other students statewide with similar scores in previous years.

Calculating mSGP

• SGP scores are calculated for each student following completion of each year’s statewide assessment.
• Districts submit and certify course roster submission data through NJ SMART during the summer following each school year. This submission lists the students assigned to each teacher for that school year.
• The NJDOE links district course roster submission data with relevant SGP scores for each qualifying teacher to determine their mSGP score. Districts must submit accurate data to NJ SMART and teachers should verify the accuracy of their rosters with their supervisors prior to submission.
• To calculate a teacher’s final evaluation rating, mSGPs are converted to a 1–4 score, and tabulated with the teacher practice score and SGO score. The Median Student Growth Percentile Conversion Chart translates mSGP scores from a 1-99 scale to a 1-4 score.

For the mSGP to be part of a teacher's evaluation, the teacher must be:

• An English language arts teacher in grades 4-8 or a mathematics teacher in grades 4-7.
• Assigned to a course with a subject area of 51, 52, or 73.
• The teacher of record for at least 60% of the course before the state assessment (the percentage of time is calculated from the beginning of the year to the first day of state assessment testing).
• Have valid SGP scores for at least 20 separate students who are enrolled in the class for at least 70% of the school year before taking the state assessment in 2023-2024.

The mSGP data are available only for those who teach certain English language arts or mathematics grades which have baseline data and comparable test scores. Given that third grade is the first testing year, there is no baseline data to create an SGP for that grade.

In Fall 2024, teachers who qualify will have two years of mSGP data. When determining the 2023-2024 school year mSGP score, a teacher will earn a score based on the most recent year or the median of the previous two years combined – whichever is most advantageous to the educator.

NJ SMART School Courses for the Exchange of Data Course Code List

The NJ SMART School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED) Course Code List, on the Documents for Download section of the NJ SMART Resources and Trainings webpage, contains the courses that a teacher may teach and receive a mSGP rating. The list includes all pre-secondary education English language arts and mathematics courses. Normally, first grade teachers would not receive a SGP because their students are not taking the state tests. However, in a situation where a school is offering fourth-grade students a first-grade English language arts course, teachers of this course would receive an SGP.

mSGP Release Process