Posts Tagged ‘
value-added model ’
T.J. Chandler is the founder of EdZapp, Oregon’s statewide online employment application, and is now the Regional Director of Operations for Netchemia, LLC working with K-12 teacher and administrator evaluations. T.J. was formerly the Director of Business Applications for the New York City Board of Education, and has worked with over one hundred school districts across the country on operational and human capital issues. T.J. holds degrees from Willamette University and Princeton University.
As some celebrate the 10th anniversary of NCLB and others curse it, I ask, “What have we learned from it?” In particular, I am intrigued by certain parallels between evaluating “student achievement” and “teacher performance.”
Some Parallels
Like the discussions 10-15 years ago about students “falling behind” and “dropping out,” policy-makers realize that there is a problem with teacher effectiveness and attrition. The tough part for both problems, of course, is specifying–in meaningful and legally-defensible terms–which individuals are having trouble, and even more importantly how to help them improve.
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Category:
curriculum, Early Learning, education achievement gap, education reform, student achievement, Student Success, Teacher Effectiveness, teacher performance evaluations, teaching strategies |
1 Comment »
Tags: Danielson Framework for Teaching, EdZapp, Head Start, INTASC, NCLB, New Teacher Project, T.J. Chandler, teacher evaluations, value-added model, VAM, Widget Effect
The goal of determining how much a teacher or school contributes to student academic achievement growth is a complicated and difficult aspiration. Under ideal conditions, reasonable estimates can be theoretically determined. But, the real world is far from ideal and the risk of classification errors is high.
A classification error occurs when a student, teacher or school is incorrectly assigned to a performance category. For instance, a school may be labeled as exceeding expectations for achievement growth, when, in reality, it only meets expectations – or vice versa.
Since many decisions ranging from public disclosures to employee compensation are at stake, we need to pursue the best VAM available and fully explain the level of uncertainty that goes with each rating. And if the uncertainty is too great, decisions should be deferred.
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Category:
student achievement, Student Success |
1 Comment »
Tags: cognitive ability, Ron Smith, value-added model, VAM
This past week the LA Times revealed that LAUSD holds seven years of data about its 3rd through 5th grade teachers’ student test scores. The LA Times is planning to publically release a ranking of all LAUSD teachers based on whether, over the time period the data was collected, they advanced their students’ test scores or caused them to slide backwards within the course of the year (value added analysis). You can read the article at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-teachers-value-20100815,0,2695044.story
Most of the outcry has been, and rightly so, over the privacy rights of those teachers not to have their rank printed in the Times. Americans love lists and the LA Times is delivering to their readers a list that is provocative and sells papers. The real issue, as I see it, is the public cry for quality teaching at a time when public money is tight and every student/teacher interaction is at its most valuable.
Instead of focusing on punitive measures as the printing of such a list suggests, we should be moving forward to enhance the teaching skills of all teachers in a positive and collaborative manner. As stated in the article there were teachers with different styles; some delivering content in an effective manner, the others it seemed were ineffective. What struck me was that the “ineffective” teachers didn’t know that they were not as effective. Teachers, like all professionals want to be good at what they do. (more…)
Category:
education reform, professional development for educators, student achievement, Teacher Effectiveness, teacher performance evaluations, teaching strategies |
1 Comment »
Tags: teacher data, teacher effectiveness, teacher performance, value-added model
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