Poster

Poster 67: Z scores in action! Guided calculations to equitably identify outliers using local norms.

Thursday, November 13, 2025

5:15 PM - 6:30 PM ET

Location: Convention Center, Exhibit Hall B

Grade Level: Pre-K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Jessica Gogerty, EdD (she/her/hers)

Director of Advanced Learning
Des Moines Public Schools
Des Moines, Iowa, United States
Kelly Randleman, MS.Ed (she/her/hers)

Advanced Learning Consultant & Data Lead
Des Moines Public Schools
Des Moines, Iowa, United States

Short Description: Over the last 10 years our school district has used Z-score data to find students with outlying academic needs from historically resilient and marginalized populations. We have refined and expanded our use of Z-scores resulting in more than a 30% increase in the identification of students from special populations. This session will show you how we’ve done it.

Learning Objectives:

Calculate Z-scores from scale scores to develop local norms for the school and district.
Evaluate best strategies to use Z-scores in various identification scenarios to find students with outlying academic needs from historically resilient and marginalized populations.
Describe how Z-scores fit into the suite of identification strategies in service to matching individuals and groups to specific programming such as advanced coursework, cluster grouping, and acceleration.