EVAAS reports are about the growth students make, rather than their level of achievement. This takes into account where each student starts the school year as compared to where he or she ends the school year. While one cohort of students may end the school year with similar testing results (i.e. achievement levels) as another cohort of students, those students may have started the year at an entirely different level of achievement than the other cohort, and therefore the amount of growth the two cohorts made during the course of that school year would have been entirely different.

If students were initially high achieving and yet did not make the expected growth (based on what students similar to them, academically, made in the average teacher's classroom in that same subject), the effect would be negative. If they made more than average growth, it would be positive. The following questions and responses may be helpful in speaking to your teachers.