The Dallas ISD’s “School Effectiveness Index” attempts to compare schools by isolating the impact teachers have on student achievement. The district does this through a complex statistical analysis that takes into account student characteristics that impact learning, such as family income, ethnicity and language ability. This levels the playing field between affluent and low-income kids, which helps answers the question: “Who does best with their students?”
The district calculates the “Effectiveness Index” so that the average SEI is 50. Schools scoring below 50 are said to be doing worse than average; schools above 50 are better than average. Obviously, the higher the SEI, the more “effective” the school.