Do Value-Added Models (VAMs) Tell Truth About Teachers? Analyzing Validity Evidence From VAM Scholars

• In Event: 31.012 - Cross-Cutting Session 3. On Measuring and Evaluating Education: Why Culture, Context, and Ways of Knowing Matter

Abstract

In recent years, states have used value-added models (VAMs) in teacher evaluation, often with consequences attached (e.g., tenure, merit pay, termination). The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides states more flexibility, but many have continued VAM use suggesting VAM estimates are valid measures of teacher effectiveness. Researchers investigated the validity evidence surrounding VAM use to determine whether the evidence provided by (co)authors of the literature published in leading, peer-reviewed journals supports valid inferences about teacher effectiveness based on VAMs. Researchers also administered an anonymous survey of a very similar set of (co)authors to assess their self-reported perspectives in the same regards. Researchers found that the overall weight of the evidence did not favor the use of VAMs to evaluate teachers.

Authors

• Matthew Ryan Lavery, South Carolina Education Oversight Committee

• Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, Arizona State University

• Margarita Pivovarova, Arizona State University

• Jessica Holloway, Deakin University

• Tray Geiger, Arizona State University

• Debbie L. Hahs-Vaughn, University of Central Florida