A New Book about VAMs “On Trial”
I recently heard about a new book that was written by Mark Paige — J.D. and Ph.D., assistant professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and a former school law attorney — and published by Rowman & Littlefield. The book is about, as per the secondary part of its title “Understanding Value-Added Models [VAMs] in the Law of Teacher Evaluation.” See more on this book, including information about how to purchase it, for those of you who might be interested in reading more, here, and also via Amazon here.
Clearly, this book is to prove very relevant given the ongoing court cases across the country (see a prior post on these cases here) regarding teachers and the systems being used to evaluate them when especially (or extremely) reliant upon VAM-based estimates for consequential decision-making purposes (e.g., teacher tenure, pay, and termination). While I have not yet read the book, I just ordered my copy the other day. I suggest you do the same, again, should you be interested in further or better understanding the federal and state law pertinent to these cases.
Notwithstanding, I also requested that the author of this book — Mark Paige — write a guest post so that you too could find out more. Here is what he wrote:
Many of us have been following VAMs in legal circles. Several courts have faced the issue of VAMs as they relate to employment law matters. These cases have tested a chief selling point (pardon [or underscore] the business reference) of VAMs: that they will effectuate, for example, teacher termination with greater ease because nobody besides the advanced statisticians and econometricians can argue with their numbers derived. In other words, if a teacher’s VAM rating is bad, then the teacher must be bad. It’s to be as simple as that. How can a court deny that, reality?
Of course, as we [should] already know, VAMs are anything but certain. Bluntly stated: VAMs are a statistical “hot mess.” The American Statistical Association, among many others, warned in no uncertain terms that VAMs cannot – and should not – be trusted to make significant employment decisions. Of course, that has not stopped many policymakers from a full-throated adoption of their use in employment and evaluation decisions. Talk about hubris.
Accordingly, I recently completed this book, again, that focuses squarely at the intersection of VAMs and the law. Its full title is “Building a Better Teacher: Understanding A New Book about VAMs “On Trial” | VAMboozled!:
