Student test scores can identify effective teachers, new study says
Student standardized test scores can accurately identify effective teachers, along with other performance measures such as classroom observations and pupil surveys, according to a major national study released Tuesday.
The study of 3,000 teachers in seven school districts by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation found that the controversial method of measuring student academic growth, known as value-added, was a valid indicator of how well teachers helped boost their students’ achievement over time.
As school districts across the country move to improve what is commonly viewed as ineffective teacher evaluation systems, the Gates study may accelerate the use of value-added, along with other measures of teacher performance.
That method, which calculates student academic growth after controlling for income, English ability and other factors outside an instructor’s control, has been criticized as invalid by many teacher unions and some researchers. They argue that the method cannot accurately isolate a teacher’s effect on student learning from other factors, such as disruptive classrooms.
But the Gates study found that teachers who were highly rated with their regular classes performed equally well