CREATING A PIVOT TABLE
1. Obtain the ABGROWTH###XXX.txt file from your testing coordinator. ###XXX stands for your 6 digit school code. You can also use this with any other Excel file where your headings are appropriately labeled. This means no spaces in your heading labels and no extra/blank rows above the headings. You can use the “_” symbol to create a divider between words in a heading. Ex. First_Name 2. Open up Microsoft Excel 3. The Text Import Wizard will open once you select your file to open. 4. Make sure that under Step 1, the radio button has Delimited selected. Select Next
5. Under Step 2, make sure that Tab is selected under the Delimiters section. 6. Select Next
7. Then Select Finish
8. Now your excel spreadsheet should open up 9. At the bottom you should see a tab that has the same name as your file. 10. When working with the ABCGROWTH file, I usually change the data in the growth_flag column from l, n and s to l=Did Not Make Growth, n=Made Expected Growth, s=Exceeded Expected Growth. This makes it easier to quickly identify student’s status. You can create additional ways to identify students such as separating the n into two different labels. np=Made Growth with Positive and nn=Made Growth with Negative. As you know there is a margin of n that ranges from a +0.5 to -0.5. Any negative should be looked at as this is not where you want your students to be. Geneva N. Squire Accountability & CTE Coordinator Northampton County Schools [email protected] CREATING A PIVOT TABLE
11. If you wish to have the proficiency levels included in your pivot table, you must add in two columns. This will require a little manipulation of the spreadsheet using the filter and sort options to get the levels added. They are not automatically placed in your spreadsheet; you will have to put them in. I find it easier to have an assistant/someone to call out the level cut points. Make sure that you select the entire spreadsheet when you sort to ensure that you do not disassociate students from their correct score. To select the entire spreadsheet simply click on the blank cell in the upper left hand corner of your spreadsheet. When working with Reading, remember that you do not know where the scores will be for the final 07-08 results. Historically schools
a. Gather your achievement level ranges (example Level 1 in Reading Grade 3 starts at a scale score of ____ and ends at a scale score of _____.) This will allow you to fill in the fields b. First, click on Data then select Sort (make sure that Header row is selected). c. Sort by current_testid, then by current_score d. Add in a column beside the current_score column, label the new column current_level . You cannot have spaces in any column or it will not be able to create a pivot table. e. Add in a column beside the predicted_score column, label the new column predicted_level . You cannot have spaces in any column heading or it will not be able to create a pivot table. f. Now to make sure that you do not fill in an area that you should not, use the AutoFilter option to just select and work with one testID at a time. g. Select the Data menu, then Filter, then AutoFilter h. You should now see drop down arrows on each column heading. This will allow you to just select out the data you want to work with. i. Find your current_testid column heading, using the drop down/autofilter option, select one test to work with. j. When you select one test from the option, you will only see the scores for students tested on that particular EOC/EOG. k. Go to the new column you added in and begin filling down the level that corresponds to that particular scale score. Use 1, 2, 3, 4 as your levels. You can use the Edit>Fill>Down option to speed up your process of filling down all level 1, 2, 3 and 4 students. l. Now you have to do the same for your predicted_score and predicted_level columns. m. Select Data, Sort, sort by current_testid, then by predicted_score. n. Repeat the same process for identifying the corresponding level for the predicted scale score. o. Once you have completed this process, you should go to the Current_testID column heading and change to your next EOG/EOC you are going to add in the levels for. p. Repeat steps j through o. 12. Look at where your column and rows meet. Where Column A and Row 1 touch, there should be a blank cell, upper left-hand corner. By clicking on this cell you can highlight the entire spreadsheet. 13. Click on the blank gray cell. 14. Then, while the entire spreadsheet is still selected, look at your menu choices. Find the Data menu. 15. Select PivotTable and PivotChart Report. When the Wizard pops up, just select Finish.
Geneva N. Squire Accountability & CTE Coordinator Northampton County Schools [email protected] CREATING A PIVOT TABLE
16. Now that you have created the shell for your pivot table, you have to decide how you want to compare the data in the excel spreadsheet. 17. To put the fields in the appropriate places, simply click and drag them from the PivotTable Field List to the space on the pivot table you want them to be. If you lose the list, just click in the “meat” of the pivot table and the list will come back. 18. In order to compare/pivot your data, you must select which things you are interested in looking at together.
Common things to compare are listed below from ABCGROWTH file a. Compare percent of student growth status for each EOG/EOC area . b. Compare percent of student proficiency levels for each EOG/EOC area. c. Compare percent of students at each growth status for each EOG/EOC area by race or sex. d. Compare percent of student proficiency levels for each EOG/EOC area
Common things to compare are listed below from Prediction File a. Grade level predictions b. Subject predictions c. Teacher predictions d. Subgroup predictions e. Compare last year’s performance to this year’s predictions f. Compare
Below you see the number of students who fall in the following categories. You may find it more useful to compare percentages. To change from the count of students to the percent of students you can change this in your options.
Geneva N. Squire Accountability & CTE Coordinator Northampton County Schools [email protected] CREATING A PIVOT TABLE
Right click in the area of the pivot table that has the numbers in it. I like to call it the “meat” of the pivot table.
Select Field Settings. PivotTable Field box should pop up Then select Options and change it to % of row
Geneva N. Squire Accountability & CTE Coordinator Northampton County Schools [email protected] CREATING A PIVOT TABLE
Then click OK
Make sure that you have clicked in the growth_flag and crurrent_testid section to ensure that all (blank) options are unchecked
Geneva N. Squire Accountability & CTE Coordinator Northampton County Schools [email protected] CREATING A PIVOT TABLE
You can also create multiple pivot tables of the same data on one sheet by simply copying the entire pivot table (Example cell A1 to cell F17) and pasting it down below the previous pivot table. You can then change the new pivot table to compare other data (Example paste the previously copied cells in cell A20)
An example is shown below. You can get more complicated if you wish. Just remember, the more complicated the pivot table is the fewer people are going to be able to understand what you are doing. I suggest using the drop menus on top to get more specific.
Remember that you can create pivot tables from any set of data you have such as ABCTools rosters or teacher/principal created spreadsheets. Save the files in XLS format so that you don’t have to convert them from TXT files again. Just remember that there cannot be any spaces in your column headings in order to make this work and your column headings should be the top row of the spreadsheet unless you are comfortable with highlighting the data manually instead of the method used at the beginning of these directions.
Never work from your original data set, always keep a fresh copy in case you make a mistake.
Happy Data Finding!
Geneva N. Squire Accountability & CTE Coordinator Northampton County Schools [email protected]