What do we know about using alternative student growth measures to evaluate teacher performance? The following three updates from The Institute of Education Sciences provide research-based answers to that question.
States increasingly are interested in incorporating measures of student achievement growth in teacher evaluations. But the typical measure of student growth—progress on state assessments from one school year to the next—usually covers only reading and math and only in grades 4–8. Members of REL Mid-Atlantic’s Teacher Evaluation Research Alliance wanted to understand more about the alternatives, and the REL produced this research review at the link below in response:
How are states defining and applying Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) in their teacher evaluation systems?
REL Northeast and Islands provides an overview of how states are using SLOs, based on a review of state education websites. SLOs are an alternative to the more generally used value-added modeling with standardized test scores. See http://1.usa.gov/1fYQ6EY
How does research inform practical questions about using alternative student growth measures?
Dr. Brian Gill, an expert on teacher evaluation, hosted this REL Mid-Atlantic webinar to discuss his research on alternative student growth measures and to answer questions from the audience. The fall 2013 webinar recording, slides, and FAQs are available at the link below. To access the materials, visit http://bit.ly/1qP99sK
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The Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) build the capacity of educators to use data and research to improve student outcomes. Each REL responds to needs identified in its region and makes learning opportunities and other resources available to educators throughout the United States.
