Top Ten Indicators of Student Success

Indicators of Success

After establishing the factors that affect student achievement, and doing what can be done to capitalize on those factors, it becomes important to look for signs of progress. Knowing what indicators point toward student improvement and success are important ways of marking the success of district initiatives.

Standardized Achievement

The first two indicators of student success are directly tied to the state standardized testing materials. Through these tests, achievement can be tracked from year to year to assess how well the student body, as a whole, is doing.

Most states track achievement on standardized testing in three- or five-year increments, and expect schools to show a minimum amount of growth. Both the level at which most students perform (the number of questions the average student is able to successfully complete) and the number of students able to meet a base score (the number of students performing at a proficient level) can be used to indicate success. The percentile score for a district, in each case, should show an improving trend long term.

Credit Acquirement

Another marker in improved student achievement can be determined by tracking the number of failing students or failing grades in a district. As a student puts interventions in place, an indicator of success is a falling number of students who fail to thrive in the classroom

Attendance

Student attendance is another indicator of success. This means monitoring absenteeism, dealing with truancy, and finding motivators to improve/impact attendance behaviors. A school that is performing well should keep its attendance levels, k-12, above the percentage mandated by the state.

Graduation/Dropout Rates

These are another two key indicators of student success. Since school is designed to prepare people for real world interactions, with completion as the goal, one indicator of students' success is their ability to successfully complete the district education program. Schools should look for an increase in graduation and a decrease in student dropout rates.

Life Skills

The monitoring of students' development of appropriate educational habits is an important indicator of success. Organization, time management, personal hygiene, and other life skills must be acquired at an age-appropriate level, and maintained for schools to consider their program successful.

Topic Specific Objectives

Students' ability, as a whole, to master individual unit objectives in core areas of instruction are important markers of student success. An improving level of mastery in individual students and the student body as a whole, are marks of success.

School-Community Relationship

The degree to which a school communicates with the community it serves, and the degree to which that community responds, is an important indicator of success. Schools where the community is involved in decision making, and supportive of district needs typically see a much higher level of student success.

PLC Success

The development of an effective plan to allow teachers time to collaborate is an important indicator of student success. Teachers who have time to become members of a professional learning community, and seek support for struggling students with their peers are more effective in the classroom. The success of the teacher is then passed on to students.

References

• Good Schools: Performance Indicators
• Webster: Student Success Reporting
• Missouri Student Success and School Improvement Standards