Educational Researcher 44卷2期

Special Issue: Value Added Meets the Schools: The Effects of Using Test-Based Teacher Evaluation on the Work of Teachers and Leaders

1. Editors’ Introduction: The Use of Teacher Value-Added Measures in Schools: New Evidence, Unanswered Questions, and Future Prospects

Author: Douglas N. Harris and Carolyn D. Herrington

Source: Educational Researcher 44.2(Mar. 2015): 71-76.

Abstract: Teacher accountability based on teacher value-added measures could have far-reaching effects on classroom instruction and student learning, for good and for ill. To date, however, research has focused almost entirely on the statistical properties of the measures. While a useful starting point, the validity and reliability of the measures tell us very little about the effects on teaching and learning that come from embedding value added into policies like teacher evaluation, tenure, and compensation. We pose dozens of unanswered questions, not only about the net effects of these policies on measurable student outcomes, but about the numerous, often indirect ways in which these and less easily observed effects might arise. Drawing in part on other articles in the special issue, we consider perspectives from labor economics, sociology of organizations, and psychology. Some of the pathways of these policy effects directly influence teaching and learning and in intentional ways, while other pathways are indirect and unintentional. While research is just beginning to answer the key questions, a key initial theme of recent research is that both the opponents and advocates are partly correct about the influence of these policies.

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2. Using Student Test Scores to Measure Teacher Performance: Some Problems in the Design and Implementation of Evaluation Systems

Author: Dale Ballou and Matthew G. Springer

Source: Educational Researcher 44.2(Mar. 2015): 71-76.

Abstract: Our aim in this article is to draw attention to some underappreciated problems in the design and implementation of evaluation systems that incorporate value-added measures. We focus on four: (1) taking into account measurement error in teacher assessments, (2) revising teachers’ scores as more information becomes available about their students, and (3) and (4) minimizing opportunistic behavior by teachers during roster verification and the supervision of exams.

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3. Exploring the Potential of Value-Added Performance Measures to Affect the Quality of the Teacher Workforce

Author: Dan Goldhaber

Source: Educational Researcher 44.2(Mar. 2015): 87-95.

Abstract: The past decade has seen a tremendous amount of research on the use of value-added modeling to assess individual teachers, and a significant number of states and districts are now using, or plan to use, value added as a component of a teacher’s summative performance evaluation. In this article, I explore the various mechanisms through which the use of value added might affect teacher quality and describe what we know empirically about the potential of each mechanism. Given that many of these mechanisms work through the behavioral response of teachers to the high-stakes uses of evaluation, I argue that the jury is still out on how the use of value added will affect the quality of the teacher workforce.

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4. Exploring the Potential of Value-Added Performance Measures to Affect the Quality of the Teacher Workforce

Author: Ellen Goldring, Jason A. Grissom, Mollie Rubin, Christine M. Neumerski, Marisa Cannata, Timothy Drake, and Patrick Schuermann

Source: Educational Researcher 44.2(Mar. 2015):  96-104.

Abstract: Increasingly, states and districts are combining student growth measures with rigorous, rubric-aligned teacher observations in constructing teacher evaluation measures. Although the student growth or value-added components of these measures have received much research and policy attention, the results of this study suggest that the data generated by high-quality observation systems have potential to inform principals’ use of data for human capital decisions. Interview and survey data from six school districts that have recently implemented new evaluation systems with classroom observations provide evidence that principals tend to rely less on test scores in their human capital decisions. The consistency, transparency, and specificity of observation data may provide benefits for principals seeking to use these data to inform their decision making.

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5. Teacher Perspectives on Evaluation Reform: Chicago’s REACH Students

Author: Jennie Y. Jiang, Susan E. Sporte, and Stuart Luppescu

Source: Educational Researcher 44.2(Mar. 2015): 105-116.

Abstract: In the 2012–2013 school year, Chicago Public Schools unveiled its new teacher evaluation system in all of its almost 600 schools. This study draws on 32 interviews from a random sample of teachers and 2 years of survey data from more than 12,000 teachers per year to measure their perceptions of the clarity, practicality, and cost of the new system. Relationships between these measures and teacher characteristics and indicators of leadership and school community are also explored. We find teachers are positive about the new system—especially the observation process. However, they have concerns about the inclusion of student growth in their evaluation. We find teacher perceptions about evaluation are positively correlated with their perceptions of leadership and professional community.

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6. Will VAMS Reinforce the Walls of the Egg-Crate School?

Author: Susan Moore Johnson

Source: Educational Researcher 44.2(Mar. 2015): 117-126.

Abstract: Throughout the United States there is an increasing trend toward using value-added methods (VAMs) for high-stakes decisions. When policymakers use VAMs to identify, reward, and dismiss teachers, they may perpetuate the egg-crate model of schooling and undermine efforts to build instructional capacity schoolwide. At any time, in any school, some teachers are more knowledgeable, experienced, and skilled than others. Schools function best when they continuously leverage teachers’ expertise so that all students in all classrooms are well served. Drawing from research about the incentives and norms that influence teachers’ work within schools, this article illustrates what can happen when these methodologies are used to make job decisions and it identifies the hazards of using VAMs for this purpose. Contextualizing this within the larger discussion about performance evaluation systems, the article suggests how VAMs can be used productively as one source of information to promote improvement schoolwide.