| A Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ) white paper links national assessment reform and the need to advance teaching as a results-oriented profession. The paper raises cautions about the use of value-added models (VAMs) as “the preferred method” to estimate the effects of individual teachers on student achievement. Even highly accomplished teachers who embrace accountability, the authors say, “are skeptical of using VAMs as a central measure of their effectiveness,” citing the narrowness of what the models measure and reports from researchers of significant and high error rates. However, the paper supports “the strategic use of value-added data, with the models’ limitations in mind” and urges the engagement of expert teachers in efforts “to sharpen those models and their underlying student assessments to improve accountability systems in ways that support more effective teaching.” The new CTQ brief is one of 13 white papers commissioned by the Advancing Consortium Assessment Reform (ACAR) project of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in an effort to “present information on the latest research and innovation, and provide discrete recommendations on critical assessment issues.” To read the full report, see http://www.acarseries.org/papers/Barnett_Berry-New_Student_Assessments.pdf Core Education advocates for the design of evaluation systems that are tools for continuous improvement of educators. Our inclusive design process makes teachers the biggest part of the solution. For more information, see www.CoreEducationLLC.com/page5.php. |
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