Safe Harbor in the Fight Against VAM
by admin
The United Opt Out administrators realize that many educators are fearful of engaging in direct actions against state and district policy mandates that are not conducive to quality teaching and learning. The use of Value Added Measure (VAM) is one such mandate that most educators realize is a faulty and unfair method to evaluate teacher effectiveness. They also know using VAM has an impact on teaching and learning resulting in a narrowed curricular focus, pervasive cheating, increasing de facto segregation, and other negatives that are difficult to accept.
An Economic Policy Institute Report reveals “For a variety of reasons, analyses of VAM results have led researchers to doubt whether the methodology can accurately identify more and less effective teachers. VAM estimates have proven to be unstable across statistical models, years, and classes that teachers teach. One study found that across five large urban districts, among teachers who
