Value+Added+Assessment

**CLASS 4/23 PART I Understanding Value Added Teacher Assessment** **Assignment: Read a variety of the articles noted below.****As you read, take notes (that you'll bring to class) and be ready to discuss the questions at the bottom of the page.****We will conduct a thoughtful discussion about these questions and others about value added-models on 4/23.**
 * Independent Study** **Topic:**

[|Race to the Top] - U.S. Department of Education The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which was signed into law by President Obama, earmarked $4.35 billion for the Race to the Top Fund. The Race to the Top is a competitive grant program that is focused on turning around the lowest performing schools and rewarding states for creating systems of accountability. In particular, the fund emphasizes the importance of developing state-wide "data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction" ([|Executive Summary, 2009]).

**WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT VALUE-ADDED MODELS** The push to use student test scores as a means to evaluate and reward teachers has grown significantly over the past several years. Value-added models (VAMs) are statistical models that, in the education context, use test scores to project student growth over time. Some foundations, think tanks, and school district leaders are touting VAMs as the type of model best able to isolate and assess the effectiveness of a particular teacher.

While some regard value-added models to be accurate measures of teacher effectiveness, many statistical and academic experts have identified significant weaknesses in the precision of these models. Although some VAMs have the potential to provide insight into student achievement or instructional practice, there are many outstanding questions about the reliability and validity of these models and the estimates they produce. Accordingly, utilizing VAM results as a driver for high stakes decisions related to teacher evaluation or pay is extremely problematic. This factsheet summarizes the limitations associated with VAMs and includes references to complete reports and other resources at its conclusion ( NEA 2012).

[|Evaluating Teachers: The Important Role of Value-Added] - Brown Center on Educational Policy at Brookings (November 2010). This policy brief was developed by a team of national experts and focused on the issue of teacher quality. It highlights the importance of using value added modeling to better understand and gauge teachers' effectiveness.

[|Using Student Progress To Evaluate Teachers:A Primer on Value-Added Models] - Educational Testing Service (2005) Henry Braun, in conjunction with ETS, published a sixteen-page primer on value added modeling. The purpose of the piece is to explain the concept of value added modeling in lay terms.

[|Prof. Daniel Willingham]describes six problems (some conceptual, some statistical) with evaluating teachers by comparing student achievement in the fall and in the spring.[| Wach his Youtube Video Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uONqxysWEk8]

[]

**Teacher Assessment in the News** [|Federal teacher requirement has wide impact] - Elliott Elementary in Lincoln, Ne., is the only school in the town of Lincoln to win money through the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. In an era of the Obama administration's efforts to turn around the bottom 5 percent of schools, read about the how teacher evaluation has overhauled the Elliot school [|(2012)].

[|City to Release Teacher Ratings After Union Loses Suit] - New York Times (February 2012) The United Federation of Teachers sued "to block the release of thousands of New York City teachers’ ratings" to the greater public. The New York State Court of Appeals denied the union's appeal and as a result, paved the way for these results to be publicly published.

[|A Last Minute Deal on Teacher Evaluations] - New York Times (February 2012) In order to secure the Race to the Top funds, the Union and state education officials reached an agreement on how to proceed with teacher evaluations in the future.

[|Grading the Teachers] - Wall Street Journal (February 2012) "New York City ranked about 18,000 fourth- through eighth-grade teachers based on their students' math and English standardized test scores. The model seeks to isolate individual impact on students, but the reports include disputed data and are only one way to evaluate teachers" (WSJ, 2012). You can view the top educators in English and Mathematics or search for a specific teacher/school.

[|Shame is Not the Solution] - New York Times (February 2012) In the is Op-Ed piece Bill Gates responds to the New York State Court of Appeals recent decision to allow teachers' individual assessments to be made public. It is a quick and engaging read in which Gates likens the practice to "public shaming."

[|California Teacher Ratings Should Be Released Publicly, Parents Say In New Survey] - Huffington Post Education (April 2012) Should a teacher's performance results be released to the public? In a California poll, sixty-five percent of the respondents believed that the test results should be made public .

**Critiques of Value Added Teacher Assessment** [|Challenges of Value-Added Assessment] - Educational Leadership (2005) What is the purpose behind value added assessment? How can it be used to generate data about teacher performance? And, what are some of the inherent challenges of using this form of assessment?

[|What Passes for School Reform: "Value-Added" Teacher Evaluation and Other Absurdities]- Huffington Post Blog (2010) Alfie Kohn, who serves as an education expert for the Internet newspaper, published a blog piece about the challenges of value added teacher evaluation.

[|Getting Teacher Evaluation Right] - Washington Post (September 2011) This piece highlights the briefing on teacher evaluation presented to Capitol Hill policy makers. Speakers included leading education experts such as Linda Darling-Hammond from Stanford University who is renowned for her support of K-12 teachers. In particular, experts noted the challenges of using value added modeling as an indicator of teacher effectiveness.

[|Flunking Arne Duncan] - New York Review of Books (March 2012) Diane Ravitch wrote an interesting blog piece about Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, and his performance as an educational leader.

Questions that the teaching world is deliberating. What do Academic Leaders need to know about data (collection, sorting and analysis) in order to write and implement an effective student achievement improvement planning? What type of data might schools collect? What process might schools use to collect and report data? Once we have data, what tools help in sorting process? Once the data is sorted, how can we best share it? With which constituents should we share this data? What is the purpose in sharing the data?

**1- MTEL Test** **2 -Content Knowledge** **3- Lesson Plan Assessment -Methods Class** **4- Student Teaching Benchmarks (supervision documents)** **5- Effect on Student Learning (TWO Parts Part 1-your reflections on Student Learning, Part 2-the TPA)**
 * WHAT DOES VALUE ADDED ASSESSMENT HAVE TO DO WITH ME? **
 * YOUR TEACHER LICENSURE IN SIX STEPS: **
 * 6-Pre-practicum Data **

http://teachb2f.wikispaces.com/Flat+Classrooms
 * CLASS 4/23 PART II Ed. Technology Sanboxing and Digital Presence Rubrics**
 * FLAT CLASSROOMS **