Can Fall to Winter growth, rather than Fall to Spring growth, be used to measure annual growth?

Fall-winter testing should not be used for an annual or instructional period growth measure. This could be likened to measuring the final outcome of a basketball game at halftime. If instruction ended in January, then counting fall-winter growth and annual growth would be valid, but since districts typically offer instruction until June, they should do their best to assess progress for the entire instructional period to maintain an assessment program with integrity.

Annual growth is growth measured for an entire year, usually fall-to-fall or spring-to-spring. Fall-to-spring growth is measured for the instructional period of the year for most districts.