There is no doubt that educators have been met with unprecedented challenges in recent years. Despite these challenges, Michigan educators like Phillip Jankowski, Superintendent of Anchor Bay Schools, continue to persevere for the benefit of their students. Jankowski uses tools, like EVAAS, to help guide his decision-making process and monitor student progress.
“With EVAAS, you have a flashlight that can help point the way to student success. If you can get people focused on the data, they see it’s something they have the power to change, then they own it.”
-Phillip Jankowski, Superintendent, Anchor Bay Schools
For more information about the use of EVAAS in Anchor Bay and Armada school districts, see Nudging Student and School Districts Towards Unimaged Success.
What is EVAAS?
SAS’ Education Visualization and Analytics Solution (EVAAS) is a web-based reporting system available to all districts and schools in Michigan. Designed to support educators and administrators as they reflect on past practices and plan for students’ future needs and goals, EVAAS provides a series of interactive reports to assess student growth, inform instructional decisions, and use resources more strategically.
How does EVAAS support educators?
EVAAS helps educators:
- Make decisions about curriculum, student support, and instructional strategies to address the needs of all students.
- Examine academic growth patterns to consider what is working well and what might need to be adjusted.
- Monitor student progress and differentiate instruction for all students.
- Inform parent-teacher conferences with objective information about student outcomes.
How can EVAAS support me as a district leader?
EVAAS helps educational leaders:
- Advocate for resources based on gaps in opportunities, outcomes and students’ needs.
- Equip communities of practice with data-driven tools for cross-sharing educational insights among schools and districts.
- Support professional development planning based on teachers’ needs.
- Identify trends across different student groups to inform school improvement plans and strategies.
EVAAS growth measures can be an essential tool to support a district or school’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework. It can also be used to support a school or district’s school improvement process and track progress toward goals over time.
For example, the District and School Value-Added reports display growth trends over multiple subjects and years. This information helps administrators quickly identify areas of success and target areas of need. A sample Value-Added report is shown below.
From here, users can drill down to District and School Diagnostic reports, which go beyond the growth measures to help educators identify patterns or trends of progress among different groups of students. Users can choose the student groups that they want to view, such as students at different achievement levels or with different socioeconomic/demographic flags, and which outcome measures they want to view, such as growth, proficiency, and achievement. These reports help identify whether there are gaps in student learning. A sample EVAAS Diagnostic report is below.
EVAAS also provides student projections for individual students. These projections indicate how a student is likely to score on an upcoming assessment if the student makes typical progress. These projections assist educators in setting differentiated goals for students based on individual needs. They can also assist with instructional decisions such as student enrollment recommendations in advanced courses.
How do I get access to EVAAS Reports?
Michigan districts and schools have access to EVAAS reports at mi.sas.com! EVAAS reporting has been available in Michigan since 2018, and access to high-quality student growth measures and projections are just a few clicks away. If you are unsure of your login information or do not have login information, click “Contact Us” on the web page for assistance or email evaas_support@sas.com.
Are there any additional reporting options available to my district?
Yes, there is additional reporting available at no additional cost to districts that opt in through MiDataHub. This additional reporting includes Teacher Value-Added Reports and Diagnostic Reports, which are based on state assessments and, where sufficient data exists, the state-approved, locally-administered interim/benchmark assessments (i-Ready, NWEA MAP, and Star).
To receive these reports, districts may email MiDataHub at support@midatahub.org to opt into additional EVAAS reporting. The opt-in deadline to access teacher-level reports based on 2022 data is January 15, 2023.
How can I learn more about EVAAS?
The EVAAS website includes a number of resources to support educators in using these reports, and there are training opportunities around the state! For more information related to your district and school’s data, training available to you or your staff, please click the “Contact Us” button on the Michigan EVAAS website.