CNM Dashboard Technical User Guide

Table of Contents

About the CNM Dashboard 

Education Analytics (EA) and the Barr Foundation began their partnership in 2021, with a broad agenda to administer student success skills surveys, provide accompanying survey reports, build a data warehouse, and create the CNM dashboard to present various data sources and metrics of the CNM grantees. The EA and Barr teams are continually working on collecting new data and improving features to provide the best user experience possible.

View the dashboard at: https://barr-cnmdashboard.org/.

If you have feedback, please feel free to provide your thoughts through the CNM Dashboard Feedback here.

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Using the CNM Dashboard 

School View  

The “School View” page is divided into three sections:  

1. School Selection: The top of the page allows the user to select a school and provides the basic information of the school, including the district and state it is in, state data sources, its cohort name, similar schools, and project start date, and more! 

• NOTE: This section also contains a link to the State Data Source for your state.  

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2. Tabs: The middle of the page provides five types of metrics of the school in five separate tabs – Academic Metrics, College and Career Readiness, Indicators of School Quality, CNM Survey, and Demographics. Users can first select the school year of interest, then the boxes below will display the values of a group of metrics of the school in the school year. Each metric’s definition is provided in the link under the data boxes.   

• The Academic Metrics tab provides information on five metrics:   

  • Proficiency – ELA  

  • Proficiency – Math  

  • Proficiency – Science  

  • Chronic Absenteeism  

  • Graduation  

• The College and Career Readiness tab provides information on four metrics:  

  • SAT – Average ERW Score 

  • SAT – Average Math Score 

  • SAT Participation Rate 

  • College Entrance 

• The Indicators of School Quality tab provides information on seven indicators:   

  • Coherent Mission  

  • Positive School and Classroom Culture  

  • Rigorous and Purposeful Learning Experiences  

  • Academic Systems  

  • Student Supports  

  • College and Career Planning  

  • Strategic Development and Use of Resources  

• The CNM Survey tab provides data for twelve survey constructs plus the item-level results that do not fit within a construct:   

  • Academic Rigor

  • Classroom Engagement Comfort Level

  • Collaboration

  • Goal Setting

  • Growth Mindset

  • Postsecondary Guidance

  • Postsecondary Plan Self Efficacy

  • Professional Communication

  • Purpose

  • Self Efficacy

  • Sense of Belonging

  • Student-Teacher Relationships

  • Items that do not fit within a construct 

• This tab section also contains links to survey documentation, including: 

  • School Survey Reports 

  • Survey Items 

  • Survey Construct Definitions

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• The Demographics tab provides information on fourteen metrics:  

  • Enrollment  

  • Economically Disadvantaged  

  • English Language Learner  

  • Students with Disabilities  

  • Gender: Female, Male, Gender Non-Conforming 

  • Race: American India, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Multiracial, Pacific Islander, White 

• Plot: The bottom of the page includes an interactive plot. Tips on using the plot are provided under the plot.  

  • In the Academic Metrics and College and Career Readiness tabs, each plot shows the value of the user-selected metric in this school in multiple academic years, across all students and by student subgroup.  

  • The Indicators of School Quality plot shows the category of each of the seven indicators, with the option to toggle between multiple years of data. 

  • The CNM Survey plot shows the mean scores of user-selected survey construct or item in the school and across the portfolio, across all students and by student subgroup. 

  • The Demographics plot shows percentages within each subgroup listen above. This information is shown as a trend line across multiple academic years. 

Scatterplot View  

The “Scatterplot View” page allows the user to build a customized scatterplot by selecting a metric on the x-axis) and another metric on the y-axis and compare different schools in the portfolio. Each dot on the plot is a school. The “Select Subgroup” option allows the user to view metrics from all students or student subgroups. The “School Highlight” option allows the user to highlight a single school on the plot. Each user will only be able to view actual metric values for the school(s) they have access to. All other schools will have tool tips that mask the metric values for data privacy.  

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Comparison View  

The “Comparison View” page allows you to select up to 5 different schools and comparison groups to directly compare their metrics for a particular year and subgroup. Alternatively, you can select a single school and turn on the Similar Schools toggle to view the data on each of its similar schools.

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• Note: The 'Show Similar Schools' toggle will take you to a different plot. If viewing similar schools, you will only be able to select one school to display along with its similar schools. When the toggle for similar schools is turned off, you will be returned to any previous selection. 

For a more detailed look at how to use the “Comparison View,” see the Comparison  View Aggregations section within this document. 

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Metric Definitions/Business Rules 

This section follows the order of the five tabs on the “School View” page and provides more detailed information on each metric’s definition and calculation business rules.  

Academic Metrics  

Proficiency 

The first three types of academic metrics reported on the dashboard are percentages of students in a school who reached proficiency (or met expectations, depending on the state’s naming convention on achievement levels) in statewide assessments in ELA, Math, and Science.   

Each state develops its own state assessments and administers them to high school students in different grade levels in different school years. For example, CT’s state science assessment was administered to students in grade 10 in 2016 and 2017, but the science assessment is administered to students in grade 11 starting from 2018.   

In addition, states often use different state assessments in different years as well. For example, MA’s state assessment was Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) before 2019 but MA started to use a new state assessment system called Next Generation MCAS in spring 2019.   

Some states do not develop their own ELA and math state assessments for students in high school. Instead, they use SAT as their annual state assessments. This metric is reported in the College and Career Readiness tab. 

Given that different states use different assessments that are designed for students at different grade levels, follow different learning standards, have different score scales, have different definitions of proficiency levels, etc., these academic metrics are not directly comparable across states. When different state assessments were used in different years in the same state, these metrics do not mean the same across years. We list more details about different state assessments reported in these academic metrics in Table 1 below to facilitate careful interpretation of these academic metrics.  

For detailed explanations of state test names and achievement levels, please refer to the appendix. 

Table 1. High School Statewide Assessments in the New England States​ 

COVID Interpretation Caution  

While most states administered standardized tests at the end of the 2020-21 school year, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact participation and ultimately the test results themselves. On the surface, there may be an increase in the proportion of data that is suppressed due to smaller sample sizes. Underlying it all, these data reflect the educational interruptions and increased inequities that the pandemic wrought upon districts across the country. As such, please proceed with caution when comparing the 2020-21 proficiency data to that of earlier years.   

Chronic Absenteeism  

In general, chronic absenteeism is defined as the percentage of students who miss 10% or more of potentially attended days in a school year. New Hampshire does not report chronic absenteeism information to the public; therefore, this metric is not available in the CNM Dashboard. In Rhode Island, chronic absenteeism data are only present for all students in a school, so dashboard does not provide chronic absenteeism information by student demographic subgroups.  

Graduation  

The graduation metric shows a four-year graduation rate for high school. Different states may report graduation rates differently.  

State	Definition	Formula	Notes
CT	Four-Year Graduation Rate is the percentage of students who received a standard diploma within four years, including early and summer graduates from the cohort.	Open	CT graduation data is lagged one year. Definition Source
MA	MA reports a four-year unadjusted rate that includes students who graduate with a regular diploma within four years, minus transfers out of the school, where transfers out are inclusive of deceased students, and plus transfers in.	Open	Definition Source
ME	The four-year graduation rate is the number of students who graduate in four years with a high school diploma, divided by the number of students who form the adjusted cohort for the graduating class.	Open	Definition Source
NH	NH reports graduation as the number of students who graduated in four years with a regular high school diploma or an adult high school diploma and the graduation rate by school and district.	Open	Definition Source
RI	Data collected and processed are a four-year cohort rate with adjustments for transfers in and out of the school.	Open	RI graduation data is lagged one year. Definition Source
VT	Data collected and processed are a four-year cohort rate with adjustments for transfers in and out of the school.	Open	Definition Source

College and Career Readiness 

SAT – Average ERW Score 

This metric reports the average score that students earn on the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (ERW) section of the SAT. SAT College and Career Readiness Benchmarks are defined on scale from 200-800. The benchmark score for ERW is 480. For more information on average SAT score interpretation, please visit the College Board website. 

SAT – Average Math Score 

This metric reports the average score that students earn on the math section of the SAT. SAT College and Career Readiness Benchmarks are defined on scale from 200-800. The benchmark score for math is 530. For more information on average SAT score interpretation, please visit the College Board website. 

SAT Participation Rate 

This metric reports the participation rate of students taking the SAT. SAT participation rates are reported at the subject level by state departments of education and can sometimes be different between subjects. A common SAT participation rate is calculated by taking a weighted average of the individual subject participation rates. 

College Entrance 

The college entrance metric reports on the percent of students who enrolled in a post-secondary institution within a certain time period after HS graduation. This time period could be within 6, 12, or 16 months. Some states report on rates for a single period whereas other states report at multiple time periods for entrance. Details of the various entrance definitions used are detailed below.  

Indicators of School Quality 

The Indicators of School Quality tab reports the seven Indicators of School Quality developed by Springpoint: 

• Coherent Mission: Secondary schools that effectively serve all students have a clearly defined mission that is rooted in an unwavering belief in the potential of all students and that is deeply understood by and resonant for all stakeholders.  

• Positive School and Classroom Culture: Secondary schools that effectively serve all students ensure that students are well known, respected, and part of a community that radiates affirmation and a sense of what’s possible for young people.  

• Rigorous and Purposeful Learning Experiences: Secondary schools that effectively serve all students leverage their understanding that students thrive when their education is rigorous, relevant, and clearly connected to the development of college and career readiness competencies.  

• Academic Systems: Secondary schools that effectively serve all students are guided by a schoolwide, mission-aligned, instructional vision that articulates how learning should happen and strategically informs adult development.  

• Student Supports: Secondary schools that effectively serve all students ensure that students have a comprehensive set of supports, resources, and opportunities to advance along a pathway to graduation.  

• College and Career Planning: Secondary schools that effectively serve all students ensure that every student has a clear and viable postsecondary path to college and career success that represents informed and authentic choice.  

• Strategic Development and Use of Resources: Secondary schools that effectively serve all students optimize people, time, and other resources and engage in constant iteration in order to meet a mission grounded in positive youth development. 

CNM Survey Metrics 

In the CNM Survey tab, 12 survey metrics are reported. They show the average ratings of each survey construct measured in the CNM survey. Item level results are also reported, which are either the mean item rating or distribution of responses across response options. When a school has fewer than 20 survey responses, the school’s survey results are suppressed. When a student subgroup has fewer than 5 survey responses, the subgroup’s survey results are suppressed.  

Please note that item-level results for schools in the Meet the Moment Cohort are suppressed for the 2023-24 school year, due to the survey being administered by YouthTruth. Construct level results are still available for those schools. 

Full information on the contents of each construct can be found in the 2026 CNM Survey Items page.

Domain: Student Success Skills 

• Collaboration represents students’ assessments of their collaboration skills, including the extent to which students report considering everyone’s ideas and sharing their own, paying attention when teammates talk, and helping their group solve problems. 

• Growth Mindset represents the extent to which students believe that their abilities and skills can grow with effort. Students with a growth mindset see effort as necessary for success and embrace challenges (Dweck). 

• Professional Communication represents students’ perceptions of how well-prepared they feel to communicate verbally and in writing in a school or work environment, including by making a presentation and speaking in public. 

• Goal Setting represents the extent to which students report setting goals around their performance in school, knowing what they need to do to achieve their goals, and knowing whether they are on track to meet their goals. 

• Self Efficacy represents the extent to which students believe in their ability to achieve an outcome or reach a goal, including to overcome challenges and complete difficult tasks. 

Domain: School Climate 

• Classroom Engagement Comfort Level represents students’ perceptions of their classroom environments, including the number of their classes in which they feel comfortable sharing their ideas, making mistakes, and asking questions when they do not understand something. 

• Sense of Belonging represents the extent to which students feel personally accepted, respected, and valued by others in their school community. 

• Student-Teacher Relationships represents the extent to which students report positive relationships with the teachers at their school, including their perceptions that their teachers listen to them, care about them, and can be relied on for support. 

Domain: Advising and Postsecondary Planning 

• Postsecondary Guidance represents the extent to which students believe their school has helped them understand what they want to do after high school and the steps they need to take to achieve this college/career plan, including considering the financial benefits of college and the financial aid options.  

• Postsecondary Plan Self Efficacy represents the extent to which students with a postsecondary plan express confidence in their plan, including believing they can achieve the plan, knowing how to do so, and feeling their plan is right for them. 

Domain: Instruction 

• Academic Rigor represents students’ perceptions of how many of their classes include assignments that push them to deepen their thinking, demand critical thinking, require multiple drafts to strengthen their work, and challenge them to do their best. 

• Purpose represents how relevant and purposeful students report their coursework to be, including how many of their classes provide learning experiences that are tied to their interests and goals and are connected to issues that are important to their community

Demographics 

Enrollment  

Enrollment includes the total number of students enrolled in a school or program. Fall enrollment counts were used to provide greater comparability across locations, as fall collections were most prevalent across states. Enrollment is subset to grades each grantee serves, which have been identified by Barr Foundation staff. The enrollment counts of programs were provided by the Barr Foundation. 

For the enrollment counts of schools, the primary source of data was the state departments of education data sources. Additional data came from the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) Common Core of Data, and other sources may be incorporated and processed for each partner to provide differing levels of school aggregation on a case-by-case basis.     

When possible, uniform business rules were applied to each state to produce standardized metrics. Data from each state had unique structures and suppression rules that required state-specific business rules to standardize the data. For example, in Massachusetts, enrollment data at the individual grade level were suppressed if the total number of students from that grade level in the school is fewer than 6. In Rhode Island, enrollment data were not suppressed in the raw data file.  

Enrollment counts are available in one of the following three scenarios:  

1. Counts are available at the overall school level  

2. Counts are available at the grade level  

3. Counts are available at both the overall school level and the grade level  

In both scenarios 1 and 2, we cannot quantify the suppression that exists from breaking down the overall number of students in a school by grade. In the case of scenario 2, however, we do quantify the overall number of students in a school by totaling the number of students in each grade.  

In the case of scenario 3 above, we quantify suppression from breaking down the overall number of students in a school by grade by looking at the difference in the number of students reported in the school and the sum of the number of students in the school in each grade.  

Economic Disadvantage 

This metric reports the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in a school or program. Each state may define economically disadvantaged differently. The following table lists the definition in each New England state when this information is publicly available:   

English Language Learners 

This metric reports the percent of English language learners in a school or program. Different states define English language learners differently. The following table lists the definition in each New England state when this information is publicly available: 

Students with Disabilities 

This metric reports the percentage of students with disabilities in a school or program.