Office of Academic Policy and Systems - Research and Analytics Task The following task represents a typical project for the Research and Analytics team within the Office of Academic Policy

and Systems. You should have a computer with Microsoft Office to complete this task. You may use any resources available to you in print, online, or elsewhere; however, you must complete this task on your own without the assistance of other people, in person or online. Remember, there is more than one approach to successfully completing this task. You are not expected to demonstrate knowledge of DOE policies or internal procedures through this task. If selected for an in- person interview, you will be asked to explain your approach to this task at that time. Overview The Office of Academic Policy and Systems manages the DOE's promotion policy. Promotion is the process by which teachers determine if students have mastered the content and skills to be successful in the next grade level. The DOE's student promotion policy serves the important role of ensuring that students have the supports they need to build a strong foundation in math and literacy before entering the next grade level. In accordance with the Chancellor's Regulation, schools establish promotion benchmarks, or academic standards, which students must meet in order to advance to the next grade level at the end of the school year. Throughout the year, teachers and principals regularly review students' academic performance and identify students who, even with additional support and interventions, may be at risk of not meeting the promotion benchmarks for their grade level. Each student's academic progress is assessed holistically, using multiple measures, such as State test scores, course grades, writing samples, projects, assignments, and other performance-based student work. Schools make promotion decisions at the end of each school year. Initial promotion decisions are made in June, and students not promoted are mandated to attend summer school. Schools enter final decisions in August that determine whether a student moves on to the next grade or is held back for the following school year. Task The Office of Academic Policy and Systems has been asked to provide DOE leadership with a summary of 8th grade promotion for the 2017-18 school year, as well as a comparison to the 2016-17 school year. For this task, you will analyze 2 years' worth of 8th grade promotion data and present your findings in the form of an email to your supervisor with a brief summary, as well as an attachment with the data summarized per the instructions below. Attached you will find two data files: 2018 File: this file contains three tabs with the following information: O 2018 Promotion Data: provides relevant promotion information for 8th grade students in the 2017-18 school year, including students' promotion criteria, pass/fail indicator for core subject areas, and June and August promotion decisions. Student Information: provides relevant student information, such as each student's grade level, school of enrollment, race/ethnicity, as well as disability and/or English O O 2017 File: this file contains three tabs with the following information: 2017 Promotion Data: provides relevant promotion information for 8th grade students in the 2017-18 school year, including students' promotion criteria, pass/fail indicator for core subject areas, and June and August notion decisions. Student Information: provides relevant student information, such as each students grade level, school of enrollment, race/ethnicity, as well as disability and/or English Language Learner status. (This data has been scrambled and does not represent real DOE students.) Key: provides an overview of variables and terms from the two other tabs. O O Language Learner status. (This data has been scrambled and does not represent real DOE students.) Key: provides an overview of variables and terms from the two other tabs. O For both datasets, you will need to merge the promotion data tab and the student information tab in order to complete the task. You can merge by using the unique student_id in both tabs. Please document the steps that you took to complete your analysis so that another team member can check and/or replicate your work. In an email to your supervisor, please share a brief summary overview of the data provided, as well as an attachment with the data summarized. In either the email or summary data, please be sure to touch on each of these bullets: The number and percentage of students retained in June 2018, broken down by: Promotion Criteria O O Race/Ethnicity O ELLs/Non-ELLS O IEP/Non-IEP Compare those numbers and percentages to 2017 and identify trends. Which 5 Districts had the largest increase in the percent of students retained in June from 2017 to 2018? Which core subject area(s) appears to have contributed to that increase? Which 5 Districts had the largest decrease in the percent of students retained in June from 2017 to 2018? Which core subject area(s) appear to have contributed to that increase? How does the demographic make-up of these Districts compare to the city overall? What, if any, limitations were there in the data? How would that impact how these data points should be used? What additional information would be useful in preparing your summary for DOE leadership? Why?