Unpacking Value-Added Measures of Teacher Performance: Implications for Disadvantaged Students and the Parents and Teachers Who Support Them

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Researchers and practitioners increasingly use value-added (VA) estimates to measure teacher effectiveness. Despite the prevalence of VA, little research documents whether assumptions underlying this estimation strategy hold for all subgroups and if these estimates are meaningful for all stakeholders. Papers in this session attempt to close this gap by examining technical aspects of VA for students who are English learners, in special education, or low achieving, as well as whether VA across all student groups matches parents’ perceptions of teacher quality. As importantly, this session considers the policy implications of using VA to measure the quality of teachers who serve these students.

Sub Unit

• Division L - Educational Policies and Politics / Section 6: Human Capital

Chair

• Susanna Loeb, Stanford University

Papers

• Do We Measure What We Value? Estimating Value-Added for English Language Learners Across Content and Scales - James Soland, Kingsbury Center at NWEA

• The Stability of Value-Added for Teachers of Special Education Students - Christopher Andrew Candelaria, Stanford University

• Using Multiple Dimensions of Teacher Value-Added to Improve Student-Teacher Assignments - Lindsay A. Fox, Stanford University

• What Can Parents Tell Us About Teacher Quality? Examining the Contributions of Parent Perspectives in Comparison to a Portfolio of Alternative Teacher Evaluation Measures - Benjamin Master, Stanford University

Discussants

• James Soland, Kingsbury Center at NWEA

• Benjamin Master, Stanford University