visualizeSGP: Visualize data from SGP analyses

Description

Utility function to produce a variety of graphical displays associated with student growth percentile/percentile growth trajectory results. Function currently includes facility to produce individual student growth and achievement plots, interactive bubble plots depicting summary growth and achievement data, and growth and achievement charts showing system level growth and achievement data as shown on the cover of Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice as part of Betebenner (2009) and Betebenner (2012).

Usage

visualizeSGP(
           sgp_object,
           plot.types=c("bubblePlot", "studentGrowthPlot", "growthAchievementPlot"),
           state,
           bPlot.years=NULL,
           bPlot.content_areas=NULL,
           bPlot.districts=NULL,
           bPlot.schools=NULL,
           bPlot.instructors=NULL,
           bPlot.styles=c(1),
           bPlot.levels=NULL,
           bPlot.level.cuts=NULL,
           bPlot.full.academic.year=TRUE,
           bPlot.minimum.n=10,
           bPlot.anonymize=FALSE,
           bPlot.prior.achievement=TRUE, 
           bPlot.draft=FALSE,
           bPlot.demo=FALSE,
           bPlot.format="print",
           bPlot.folder="Visualizations/bubblePlots",
           sgPlot.save.sgPlot.data=FALSE,
           sgPlot.years=NULL,
           sgPlot.content_areas=NULL,
           sgPlot.districts=NULL,
           sgPlot.schools=NULL,
           sgPlot.reports.by.school=TRUE,
           sgPlot.instructors=NULL,
           sgPlot.reports.by.instructor=FALSE,
           sgPlot.students=NULL,
           sgPlot.reports.by.student=FALSE,
           sgPlot.header.footer.color="#4CB9CC",
           sgPlot.front.page=NULL,
           sgPlot.folder="Visualizations/studentGrowthPlots",
           sgPlot.folder.names="number",
           sgPlot.fan=TRUE,  
           sgPlot.anonymize=FALSE,
           sgPlot.cleanup=TRUE,
           sgPlot.demo.report=FALSE,
           sgPlot.produce.plots=TRUE,
           sgPlot.baseline=NULL,
           sgPlot.zip=TRUE,
           sgPlot.output.format="PDF",
           sgPlot.show.targets.years.forward=NULL,
           gaPlot.years=NULL,
           gaPlot.content_areas=NULL,
           gaPlot.students=NULL,
           gaPlot.format="print",
           gaPlot.baseline=NULL,
           gaPlot.max.order.for.progression=NULL,
           gaPlot.folder="Visualizations/growthAchievementPlots",
           parallel.config=NULL)

Arguments

sgp_object

An object of class SGP containing long formatted data in the Data slot that will be used for the production of student growth and achievement plots and system growth and achievement plots, summary data from

plot.types

A character vector indicating what types of plots to construct. Currently available plots include bubblePlot, studentGrowthPlot, and

state

Acronym indicating state associated with the summaries for access to assessment program information embedded in SGPstateData.

bPlot.years

A vector indicating year(s) in which to produce bubblePlots using data available in sgp_object. If missing the function will use the last year available in the data to produce

bPlot.content_areas

A vector indicating content area(s) to produce bubblePlots using data available in sgp_object. If missing the function will produce plots for all available content areas provided in the d

bPlot.districts

A vector indicating districts to produce bubblePlots using data available in sgp_object. Consult bubblePlot styles to determine which <

bPlot.schools

A vector indicating schools to produce bubblePlots using data available in sgp_object. Consult bubblePlot styles to determine which

bPlot.instructors

A vector indicating instructors to produce bubblePlots using data available in sgp_object. If missing the function will produce plots for all available instructors provided in the data wher

bPlot.styles

A vector of positive integers indicating the types of bubblePlots to produce using data available in sgp_object. See associated documentation for example plots.

bPlot.levels

A character vector of levels to be used to color bubbles in the bubblePlot. See associated documentation for example plots.

bPlot.level.cuts

A vector of cuts to be used to distinguish levels used to color bubbles in the bubblePlot. See associated documentation for example plots.

bPlot.full.academic.year

A boolean argument (defaults to TRUE) indicating whether bubblePlots should use full academic year results if available.

bPlot.minimum.n

A positive integer (defaults to 10) indicating the minimum size for summary values to be displayed in the bubblePlots.

bPlot.anonymize

A boolean argument (defaults to FALSE) indicating whether to anonymize bubblePlots school and district names that appear in the plots and data tips of the plots. For student level anonymization, the f

bPlot.prior.achievement

A boolean argument (defaults to TRUE) indicating whether to produce bubblePlots using prior achievement as well as current achievement as the vertical dimension of the

bPlot.draft

A boolean argument (defaults to FALSE) indicating whether to put an indicator on the chart noting that the results are draft and to not distribute.

bPlot.demo

A boolean argument (defaults to FALSE) indicating whether to produce demo student level plots (styles 150 and/or 153) for instructors.

bPlot.format

Either "print" or "presentation" indicating whether to optimize the plot for print form (light background) or presentation form (dark background).

bPlot.folder

Character vector indicating where bubblePlots should be placed. Default folder is "Visualizations/bubblePlots".

sgPlot.save.sgPlot.data

A boolean argument indicating whether wide formatted data should be save as part of individual student report production. For operational student report production construction, using a wide formatted file for a large state can save in having to reshape

sgPlot.years

A vector indicating year for which to produce studentGrowthPlots. The supplied year indicates the final year associated with each student's

sgPlot.content_areas

A vector indicating the content areas for which to produce studentGrowthPlots. If missing, the function will utilize all available content areas.

sgPlot.districts

A vector indicating which districts to produce studentGrowthPlots for. If missing the function will use all available districts in the data to produce

sgPlot.schools

A vector indicating which schools to produce studentGrowthPlots for. If missing the function will use all available schools in the data to produce

sgPlot.reports.by.school

A boolean variable indicating whether the reports should be collated as single reports in a single folder by school and deposited into a district/school/grade folder hierarchy. The default is TRUE which puts the reports into their appropri

sgPlot.instructors

A vector indicating which instructors to produce studentGrowthPlots for. If NULL and the argument sgPlot.reports.by.instructor is TRUE, the argument function will use all ava

sgPlot.reports.by.instructor

sgPlot.students

A vector of student IDs indicating which students to produce studentGrowthPlots for. If missing the function will use all available students in the data to produce <

sgPlot.reports.by.student

A boolean variable indicating whether the reports should be collated as single reports in a single folder or deposited into a district/school/grade folder hierarchy. The default is FALSE which puts the reports into their appropriate

sgPlot.header.footer.color

Character vector (default is blue) indicating the color of the header/footer associated with the studentGrowthPlot. Another good color is goldenrod2.

sgPlot.front.page

A path to a PDF to be used as the front page to the studentGrowthPlot. The default is missing so that no front page is attached to the studentGrow

sgPlot.folder

Character vector indicating where studentGrowthPlots should be placed. Note that studentGrowthPlots are placed within nested folders w

sgPlot.folder.names

Either "name" or "number" (the default) indicating how the nested folder structure will be labeled that holds the studentGrowthPlots.

sgPlot.fan

A boolean argument (defaults to TRUE) indicating whether to produce projection fan on studentGrowthPlots.

sgPlot.anonymize

A boolean argument (defaults to FALSE) indicating whether to anonymize studentGrowthPlots student, school and district names. For student level anonymization, the function utilizes the ra

sgPlot.cleanup

A boolean argument (defaults to TRUE) indicating whether to remove files produced by pdfLaTeX to produce studentGrowthPlot catalogs.

sgPlot.demo.report

A boolean argument (defaults to TRUE) indicating whether to just produce a sample studentGrowthPlot catalogs. Note: When producing studentGrowthPl

sgPlot.produce.plots

A boolean argument (defaults to TRUE) indicating whether to produce studentGrowthPlots. Useful when one just wants to produce wide formatted data without the actual student growth plots.

sgPlot.baseline

Argument (defaults to NULL) indicating whether to use baseline referenced SGPs for student growth plot construction. If not set by user, argument will be set using SGPstateData which contains information on whether state is a cohort or ba

sgPlot.zip

A boolean argument (defaults to TRUE) indicating whether to zip school folders containing studentGrowthPlots.

sgPlot.output.format

Argument indicating the desired type of output format for student growth plots. Either 'PDF' (default) or 'PNG'.

sgPlot.show.targets.years.forward

Integer or NULL argument, defaults to NULL, indicating whether growth to standard targets (currently catch-up/keep-up targets) should be calculated and represented on the student growth plot using the years forward provided.

gaPlot.years

A vector indicating year for which to produce growthAchievementPlots. If missing the function will use the last year available in the data to produce

gaPlot.content_areas

A vector indicating content area(s) to produce growthAchievementPlots using data available in sgp_object. If missing the function will produce plots for all available content a

gaPlot.students

A vector of student IDs indicating which students to produce growthAchievementPlots for. If missing the function will use all available students in the data to produce

gaPlot.format

Either "print" or "presentation" indicating whether to optimize the plot for print form (light background) or presentation form (dark background).

gaPlot.baseline

Argument (defaults to NULL) indicating whether to calculate growth and achievement plots using percentile trajectories derived from baseline referenced coefficient matrices. If not set by user, argument will be set using SGPstateData which

gaPlot.max.order.for.progression

The maximum coefficient matrix order to use for each progression. Default is NULL which utilizes the maximum order available with the coefficient matrices.

gaPlot.folder

Character vector indicating where growthAchievementPlots should be placed. Default folder is "Visualizations/growthAchievementPlots".

parallel.config

A named list with, at a minimum, two elements indicating 1) the BACKEND package to be used for parallel computation and 2) the WORKERS list to specify the number of processors to be used in each major analysis. The BACKEND element can be set = to F

Value

Function produces numerous (potentially hundreds of thousands) of pdf files in a folder structure specified by the user and supplied through arguments to the function.

References

Betebenner, D. W. (2012). Growth, standards, and accountability. In G. J. Cizek, Setting Performance Standards: Foundations, Methods & Innovations. 2nd Edition (pp. 439-450). New York: Routledge.

Betebenner, D. W. (2009). Norm- and criterion-referenced student growth. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 28(4):42-51.

Examples

Run this code

## visualizeSGP is Step 5 of 5 of abcSGP
Demonstration_SGP <- sgpData_LONG
Demonstration_SGP <- prepareSGP(Demonstration_SGP)
Demonstration_SGP <- analyzeSGP(Demonstration_SGP)
Demonstration_SGP <- combineSGP(Demonstration_SGP)
Demonstration_SGP <- summarizeSGP(Demonstration_SGP)
visualizeSGP(Demonstration_SGP)

## Production of sample student growth and achievement plots

visualizeSGP(
	sgp_object=Demonstration_SGP, 
	plot.types="studentGrowthPlot",
	state="DEMO",
	sgPlot.districts=470,
	sgPlot.schools=c(6418, 8008),
	sgPlot.header.footer.color="#4CB9CC")

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