A Seminal Round-up on VAM–and Why It Doesn’t Work
Two years ago, the Economic Policy Institute drafted a joint statement by a group of prominent scholars of education and assessment.
Well before the current crisis over value-added assessment, this ad hoc group warned that there were many reasons to doubt the value of test-based evaluation.
Since that report was published there have been many more demonstrations of the invalidity of student tests as a measure of teaching quality.
In time, it will be clear to everyone who cares about education that this is not a good way to judge teacher quality.
Well before the current crisis over value-added assessment, this ad hoc group warned that there were many reasons to doubt the value of test-based evaluation.
Since that report was published there have been many more demonstrations of the invalidity of student tests as a measure of teaching quality.
In time, it will be clear to everyone who cares about education that this is not a good way to judge teacher quality.
Great Column by Eric Zorn on Misuse of Tests
Please read this article.
Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune has taken the time to read research.
This is especially important because the Trib has been hostile to the CTU strike.
I am especially pleased that he read Gary Rubinstein’s careful dissection of VAM in New York City.
Gary’s posts should go viral.
He shows that VAM doesn’t work.
It is meaningless.
Richard Rothstein Explains Flaws of VAM
Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune has taken the time to read research.
This is especially important because the Trib has been hostile to the CTU strike.
I am especially pleased that he read Gary Rubinstein’s careful dissection of VAM in New York City.
Gary’s posts should go viral.
He shows that VAM doesn’t work.
It is meaningless.
Richard Rothstein Explains Flaws of VAM
Richard Rothstein explains that VAM is an unproven methodology with negative consequences for the quality of education.
Rothstein says he is not surprised that Chicago teachers oppose its use. He wonders why other teachers have not gone on strike for the same reason.
It has not worked anywhere.
It narrows the curriculum.
It relies too heavily on tests that were not designed to measure teacher quality.
The teachers are being used as guinea pigs for an unproven methodology that will harm education.
Rothstein says he is not surprised that Chicago teachers oppose its use. He wonders why other teachers have not gone on strike for the same reason.
It has not worked anywhere.
It narrows the curriculum.
It relies too heavily on tests that were not designed to measure teacher quality.
The teachers are being used as guinea pigs for an unproven methodology that will harm education.
The Gates Foundation Responds to Anthony Cody
The Gates Foundation, on its blog-site called “Impatient Optimists,” responds to Anthony Cody’s searing critique of the foundation’s support for market-based reforms.
Please read Anthony’s post, then the Gates’ response.
Also read Anthony’s post about poverty, and Gates’ response.
I think it is shameful that the foundation’s representative begin by questioning whether Anthony believes that poor children can learn. This is the standard reformer tactic to anyone who raises the issue of poverty as an impediment to learning. They would have us believe that being hungry and homeless is just an excuse for bad teachers; that it doesn’t matter if children can’t see the front of the room, can’t hear the teacher, because they
Please read Anthony’s post, then the Gates’ response.
Also read Anthony’s post about poverty, and Gates’ response.
I think it is shameful that the foundation’s representative begin by questioning whether Anthony believes that poor children can learn. This is the standard reformer tactic to anyone who raises the issue of poverty as an impediment to learning. They would have us believe that being hungry and homeless is just an excuse for bad teachers; that it doesn’t matter if children can’t see the front of the room, can’t hear the teacher, because they
Which Job Is Tougher: Teacher or Rocket Scientist?
A reader comments in response to a post complaining about the quality of teachers:
I am one of those people with an elite STEM degree.
I have volunteered at school as a guest speaker, a parent-chaperone, and occasionally given a lesson in an
I am one of those people with an elite STEM degree.
I have volunteered at school as a guest speaker, a parent-chaperone, and occasionally given a lesson in an
Why Do Conservatives Love High-Stakes Testing?
Marcus Winters recommends using value-added assessment to get rid of “ineffective” teachers. His paper was published by the conservative Manhattan Institute, which regularly issues his and others’ critiques of unions, tenure, seniority and any kind of job protection for teachers.
Many studies–and practical experience–have demonstrated that value-added assessment is unstable, unreliable and inaccurate. A teacher with a high rating may have a low rating the next year. The National Academy of Education and the American Educational Research Association published a joint paper warning that VAA says
Many studies–and practical experience–have demonstrated that value-added assessment is unstable, unreliable and inaccurate. A teacher with a high rating may have a low rating the next year. The National Academy of Education and the American Educational Research Association published a joint paper warning that VAA says
Why the “Nixon-to-China” Tactic in Education?
John Thompson has a good article at Huffington Post asking why President Obama did a “Nixon-to-China”maneuver with education.
That phrase “Nixon-to-China” comes up again and again, and Thompson makes a telling point: It describes a political decision, not an education policy. The President’s education policy is indeed very little different from that of the GOP. As Thompson puts it, “It is a political gamble designed to beat up on two of the Democrats’ most
That phrase “Nixon-to-China” comes up again and again, and Thompson makes a telling point: It describes a political decision, not an education policy. The President’s education policy is indeed very little different from that of the GOP. As Thompson puts it, “It is a political gamble designed to beat up on two of the Democrats’ most
What Are We Doing to the Little Ones?
A pre-K teacher in New York City expresses alarm at the proliferation of developmentally inappropriate mandates:
The debate is already on about what constitutes quality early childhood education and, private schools not withstanding, in NYC and thanks to NYS for including common core in pre-k, it is not a good thing.
In our continuing effort to “win the gold medal” in education, we have lost sight of what it means to be a child in the United States.
Despite volumes of research on the subject of early childhood learning, many have pushed down the curriculum
Mired in the Past?
The debate is already on about what constitutes quality early childhood education and, private schools not withstanding, in NYC and thanks to NYS for including common core in pre-k, it is not a good thing.
In our continuing effort to “win the gold medal” in education, we have lost sight of what it means to be a child in the United States.
Despite volumes of research on the subject of early childhood learning, many have pushed down the curriculum
Mired in the Past?
A reader responds to a post that contained advice from Margaret Haley, written almost a century ago:
It’s truly amazing how little has changed in America’s fundamental view of education in the past century. Despite all the changes in the outward trappings of schooling, i.e., technology and science, we keep clinging to the fantasy that schools are factories that produced “educated” children; and that education can be managed like any other business: Teachers became factory workers, children became workpieces or products, and administrators became floor bosses and executives. All of this was done in the name of “efficiency”, which really meant “on the cheap”, and reduced the idea of education to little more than test taking. The few who tried
It’s truly amazing how little has changed in America’s fundamental view of education in the past century. Despite all the changes in the outward trappings of schooling, i.e., technology and science, we keep clinging to the fantasy that schools are factories that produced “educated” children; and that education can be managed like any other business: Teachers became factory workers, children became workpieces or products, and administrators became floor bosses and executives. All of this was done in the name of “efficiency”, which really meant “on the cheap”, and reduced the idea of education to little more than test taking. The few who tried
An Intelligent Editorial about the Strike
The Los Angeles Times printed a thoughtful editorial about the teachers’ strike and about evaluating teachers by student test scores.
These days it is unusual to find an editorial or opinion column asking whether the tests were designed to measure teacher quality. They were not. Frankly, the test publishers ought to be yelling bloody murder about the inappropriate use of the tests, but they are making so much money that it’s hard to hear their complaints or to expect them.
I wish more writers would look at the research about the inaccuracy and instability of value-added assessment. I
These days it is unusual to find an editorial or opinion column asking whether the tests were designed to measure teacher quality. They were not. Frankly, the test publishers ought to be yelling bloody murder about the inappropriate use of the tests, but they are making so much money that it’s hard to hear their complaints or to expect them.
I wish more writers would look at the research about the inaccuracy and instability of value-added assessment. I
