Teacher Value-Added Systems "at Issue" Across U.S. Courts: Critical Measurement Issues

• In Event: 41.083 - Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: 41.083-2 - Educator Responses to Accountability Policies

Abstract

The researchers conducted a case study analysis of the documents submitted and recorded as per four of the 15 ongoing teacher-evaluation lawsuits ongoing throughout the U.S., in which teacher effects are being measured using value-added models (VAMs) as a key component of states’/districts’ teacher evaluation systems. Findings are framed and made explicit as per the most-current Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, as surrounding more specific issues with: (1) reliability, (2) validity, (3) bias, as related to validity, (4) transparency, and (5) fairness, also with emphases on whether VAMs are (6) being used to make consequential decisions as based on sound, rational, and non-arbitrary evidence and whether 7) VAMs’ unintended consequences are also legally pertinent and of note.

Authors

• Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, Arizona State University

• Kevin Close, Arizona State University