Over the past decade, the use of value‐added models (VAM) in teacher and administrator evaluation has grown nationally, while becoming one of education’s most controversial issues. Research evidence on the reliability and validity of VAM, and the consequences of using such indicators in educator evaluation, is still accumulating. In recent years, AERA’s journals have examined many aspects of VAM.
The following compendium of articles, provided "toll free" here, are inclusive of all substantive AERA journal content regarding VAM published since 2009. This page will be updated as new articles are published.
AERA Statement on Use of Value-Added Models (VAM) for the Evaluation of Educators and Educator Preparation Programs Educational Researcher, November 2015 In this official statement, the American Educational Research Association advises those using or considering use of value-added models about the scientific and technical limitations of these measures for evaluating educators and programs that prepare teachers. Authors: AERA Council The Use of Teacher Value-Added Measures in Schools: New Evidence, Unanswered Questions, and Future Prospects Educational Researcher, March 2015 In the introduction to a special, VAM-focused issue of Educational Researcher, the special issue's editors pose questions and consider perspectives from labor economics, sociology of organizations, and psychology. Authors: Douglas N. Harris, Carolyn D. Herrington The Use of Teacher Value-Added Measures in Schools: New Evidence, Unanswered Questions, and Future Prospects Educational Researcher, March 2015 The authors focus on four unappreciated problems in the design and implementation of evaluation systems that incorporate value-added measures. Authors: Dale Ballou, Matthew G. Springer Exploring the Potential of Value-Added Performance Measures to Affect the Quality of the Teacher Workforce Educational Researcher, March 2015 This article explores various mechanisms through which the use of value-added might affect teacher quality, describing what researchers know empirically about the potential of each mechanism. Author: Dan D. Goldhaber Make Room Value Added: Principals’ Human Capital Decisions and the Emergence of Teacher Observation Data Educational Researcher, March 2015 The results of this study suggest that the data generated by high-quality observation systems have potential to inform principals' use of data for human capital decisions. Authors: Ellen Goldring, Jason A. Grissom, Mollie Rubin, Christine M. Neumerski, Marisa Cannata, Timothy Drake, Patrick Schuermann Teacher Perspectives on Evaluation Reform: Chicago’s REACH Students Educational Researcher, March 2015 This study draws on 32 interviews from a random sample of teachers in the Chicago Public Schools and 2 years of survey data from more than 12,000 teachers per year to measure their perceptions of the clarity, practicality, and cost of the district's new teacher evaluation system, finding that teacher perceptions about evaluation are positively correlated with their perceptions of leadership and professional community. Authors: Jennie Y. Jiang, Susan E. Sporte, Stuart Luppescu Will VAMs Enforce the Walls of the Egg-Crate School? Educational Researcher, March 2015 Drawing from research about the incentives and norms that influence teachers’ work within schools, this article illustrates the hazards of using VAMs to make job decisions and suggests how VAMs can be used productively as one source of information to promote improvement school-wide. Author: Susan Moore Johnson The Value in Value Added Depends on the Ecology Educational Researcher, March 2015 This commentary emphasizes the need to continually revisit the topics treated in the March 2015 issue of Educational Researcher, noting that researchers have much to learn learn about how VAMs are actually used in a variety of settings. Author: Henry Braun Can Value Added Add Value to Teacher Evaluation? Educational Researcher, March 2015 This commentary reflects on the five articles published in Educational Researcher's special issue on VAM in light of other work in this field, offering the author's own thoughts about whether and how VAMs may add value to teacher evaluation. Author: Linda Darling-Hammond Value Added: A Case Study in the Mismatch Between Education Research and Policy Educational Researcher, March 2015 This commentary questions a simplistic notion of how policy makers might make effective use of research by sketching how the various levels of the education hierarchy might collaborate, noting that in combination with a wide range of related research and a coherent theory of action, research on teacher effectiveness indicators can increase the potential for educational improvement. Author: Stephen Raudenbush Practical Differences Among Aggregate-Level Conditional Status Metrics: From Median Student Growth Percentiles to Value-Added Models Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, February 2015 This article provides a framework for aggregate-level conditional status metrics (ACSMs), including value-added models. Authors: Katherine E. Castellano, Andrew D. Ho Instructional Alignment as a Measure of Teaching Quality Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, December 2014 This article is the first to explore the extent to which teachers’ instructional alignment is associated with contributions to student learning and effectiveness on composite evaluation measures. Authors: Morgan S. Polikoff, Andrew C. Porter
The Test Matters: The Relationship Between Classroom Observation Scores and Teacher Value Added on Multiple Types of Assessment Educational Researcher, August/September 2014 This study examined how the relationships between an observational protocol and value-added measures shift when different tests are used to assess student achievement. Authors: Pam Grossman, Julia Jackson Cohen, Matthew Ronfeldt, Lindsay Brown
Is a Good Teacher a Good Teacher for All? Comparing Value-Added of Teachers With Their English Learners and Non-English Learners Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, June 2014 This article contributes to research about whether value-added measures are consistent across student subgroups by examining teachers’ value-added measures with English learners to the same teachers’ value-added measures with non-English learners. Authors: Susanna Loeb, James Soland, Lindsay Fox
The Random Assignment of Students Into Elementary Classrooms: Implications for Value-Added Analyses and Interpretations American Educational Research Journal, April 2014 This study’s findings, that overwhelmingly students are not randomly assigned into classrooms, have implications for value-added analyses and the extent to which nonrandom assignment practices might impact teachers’ value-added scores. Authors: Noelle A. Paufler, Audrey Amrein-Beardsley
How Teacher Evaluation Methods Matter for Accountability: A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Effectiveness Ratings by Principals and Teacher Value-Added Measures American Educational Research Journal, February 2014 Quantitative analysis of thirty schools finds that teacher value-added measures and informal principal evaluations are positively, but weakly, correlated. Authors: Douglas N. Harris, William K. Ingle, Stacey A. Rutledge
A Correlated Random Effects Model for Nonignorable Missing Data in Value-Added Assessment of Teacher Effects Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, December 2013 This article examines the concern that ignoring the presence of missing values can bias teachers’ value-added scores. Authors: Andrew T. Karl, Yan Yang, Sharon L. Lohr
Who Would Stay, Who Would Be Dismissed? An Empirical Consideration of Value-Added Teacher Retention Policies Educational Researcher, August/September 2013 Examining data from the state of Florida and policies that deny or revoke tenure from teachers who receive poor evaluation ratings based on quantitative measures of performance, the authors of this article show that specific policy design determines the extent of the potential for value-added to improve the overall quality of the teaching workforce. Authors: Marcus A. Winters, Joshua M. Cowen
Teacher Value-Added at the High-School Level: Different Models, Different Answers? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, June 2013 The authors examine the relationship between teacher effect estimates derived from value-added model specifications employing different student learning assumptions. Authors: Dan D. Goldhaber, Pete Goldschmidt, Fannie Tseng
Including Students With Disabilities and English Learners in Measures of Educator Effectiveness Educational Researcher, May 2013 The research examines value-added scores in the context of the challenges of accounting for students with disabilities and English learners. Authors: Nathan D. Jones, Heather M. Buzick, Sultan Turkan
What Are Error Rates for Classifying Teacher and School Performance Using Value-Added Models? Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, April 2013 This article addresses likely error rates for measuring teacher and school performance in the upper elementary grades using value-added models applied to student test score gain data, finding results that suggest policymakers must carefully consider likely system error rates when using value-added estimates to make high-stakes decisions regarding educators. Authors: Peter Z. Schochet, Hanley S. Chiang
Multidimensional Assessment of Value Added by Teachers to Real-World Outcomes Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, April 2012 The authors of this paper develop a multiresponse approach to value-added assessment models that allows responses to be either continuous or categorical, leading to multidimensional estimates of value added by teachers and allowing the correlations among these dimensions to be explored. Authors: Jennifer Broatch, Sharon L. Lohr
Using Subject Test Scores Efficiently to Predict Teacher Value-Added Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, March 2012 This article shows how efficient use of information across subjects can improve the predictive ability of value-added models using data from North Carolina. Authors: Lars Lefgren, David Sims
A Validity Argument Approach to Evaluating Teacher Value-Added Scores American Educational Research Journal, June 2011 This article uses case studies to illustrate problems in using value-added scores in pay-for-performance plans and also compares 24 middle school mathematics teachers’ value-added scores, finding that scores correlate not only with teachers’ mathematical knowledge and quality of instruction but also with the population of students they teach. Authors: Heather C. Hill, Laura Kapitula, Kristin Umland
Different Tests, Different Answers: The Stability of Teacher Value-Added Estimates Across Outcome Measures American Educational Research Journal, February 2011 Using data from a large, urban school district, this study examines value-added estimates from three reading achievement tests and finds that test timing and measurement error contribute to the instability of value-added estimates across tests. Author: John P. Papay
Amrein-Beardsley, Audrey - [email protected] -The Random Assignment of Students Into Elementary Classrooms: Implications for Value-Added Analyses and Interpretations
Ballou, Dale - [email protected] -Using Student Test Scores to Measure Teacher Performance: Some Problems in the Design and Implementation of Evaluation Systems Braun, Henry - [email protected] -The Value in Value Added Depends on the Ecology Broatch, Jennifer - [email protected] -Multidimensional Assessment of Value Added by Teachers to Real-World Outcomes
Brown, Lindsay - [email protected] -The Test Matters: The Relationship Between Classroom Observation Scores and Teacher Value Added on Multiple Types of Assessment
Buzick, Heather M. - [email protected] -Including Students With Disabilities and English Learners in Measures of Educator Effectiveness
Cannata, Marisa - [email protected] -Make Room Value Added: Principals’ Human Capital Decisions and the Emergence of Teacher Observation Data
Castellano, Katherine E. - [email protected] -Practical Differences Among Aggregate-Level Conditional Status Metrics: From Median Student Growth Percentiles to Value-Added Models Chiang, Hanley S. - [email protected] -What Are Error Rates for Classifying Teacher and School Performance Using Value-Added Models?
Cowen, Joshua A. - [email protected] -Who Would Stay, Who Would Be Dismissed? An Empirical Consideration of Value-Added Teacher Retention Policies Darling-Hammond, Linda - [email protected] Can Value Added Add Value to Teacher Evaluation? Drake, Timothy - [email protected] -Make Room Value Added: Principals’ Human Capital Decisions and the Emergence of Teacher Observation Data Fox, Lindsay - [email protected] -Is a Good Teacher a Good Teacher for All? Comparing Value-Added of Teachers With Their English Learners and Non-English Learners
Goldhaber, Dan D. - [email protected] -Teacher Value-Added at the High-School Level: Different Models, Different Answers? -Exploring the Potential of Value-Added Performance Measures to Affect the Quality of the Teacher Workforce Goldring, Ellen - [email protected] -Make Room Value Added: Principals’ Human Capital Decisions and the Emergence of Teacher Observation Data
Goldschmidt, Pete - [email protected] -Teacher Value-Added at the High-School Level: Different Models, Different Answers? Grissom, Jason A. - [email protected] -Make Room Value Added: Principals’ Human Capital Decisions and the Emergence of Teacher Observation Data
Grossman, Pam - [email protected] -The Test Matters: The Relationship Between Classroom Observation Scores and Teacher Value Added on Multiple Types of Assessment
Hill, Heather C. - [email protected] -A Validity Argument Approach to Evaluating Teacher Value-Added Scores Ho, Andrew D. - [email protected] -Practical Differences Among Aggregate-Level Conditional Status Metrics: From Median Student Growth Percentiles to Value-Added Models
Ingle, William Kyle - [email protected] -How Teacher Evaluation Methods Matter for Accountability: A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Effectiveness Ratings by Principals and Teacher Value-Added Measures Jiang, Jennie. Y - [email protected] -Teacher Perspectives on Evaluation Reform: Chicago’s REACH Students Johnson, Susan Moore - [email protected] -Will VAMs Enforce the Walls of the Egg-Crate School?
Jones, Nathan D. - [email protected] -Including Students With Disabilities and English Learners in Measures of Educator Effectiveness
Kapitula, Laura - [email protected] -A Validity Argument Approach to Evaluating Teacher Value-Added Scores
Karl, Andrew T. - [email protected] -A Correlated Random Effects Model for Nonignorable Missing Data in Value-Added Assessment of Teacher Effects
Lefgren, Lars - [email protected] -Using Subject Test Scores Efficiently to Predict Teacher Value-Added
Loeb, Susanna - [email protected] -Is a Good Teacher a Good Teacher for All? Comparing Value-Added of Teachers With Their English Learners and Non-English Learners
Lohr, Sharon L. - [email protected] -A Correlated Random Effects Model for Nonignorable Missing Data in Value-Added Assessment of Teacher Effects -Multidimensional Assessment of Value Added by Teachers to Real-World Outcomes Luppescu, Stuart - [email protected] -Teacher Perspectives on Evaluation Reform: Chicago’s REACH Students Neumerski, Christine M. - christine.m.neumerski@vanderbilt -Make Room Value Added: Principals’ Human Capital Decisions and the Emergence of Teacher Observation Data
Papay, John - [email protected] -Different Tests, Different Answers: The Stability of Teacher Value-Added Estimates Across Outcome Measures
Paufler, Noelle A. - [email protected] -The Random Assignment of Students Into Elementary Classrooms: Implications for Value-Added Analyses and Interpretations
Polikoff, Morgan S. - [email protected] -Instructional Alignment as a Measure of Teaching Quality
Porter, Andrew C. - [email protected] -Instructional Alignment as a Measure of Teaching Quality Raudenbush, Stephen W. - [email protected] -Value Added: A Case Study in the Mismatch Between Education Research and Policy
Ronfeldt, Matthew - [email protected] -The Test Matters: The Relationship Between Classroom Observation Scores and Teacher Value Added on Multiple Types of Assessment Rubin, Mollie - ADD -Make Room Value Added: Principals’ Human Capital Decisions and the Emergence of Teacher Observation Data
Rutledge, Stacy A. -How Teacher Evaluation Methods Matter for Accountability: A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Effectiveness Ratings by Principals and Teacher Value-Added Measures Schuermann, Patrick - [email protected] -Make Room Value Added: Principals’ Human Capital Decisions and the Emergence of Teacher Observation Data
Schochet, Peter Z. - [email protected] -What Are Error Rates for Classifying Teacher and School Performance Using Value-Added Models?
Sims, David - [email protected] -Using Subject Test Scores Efficiently to Predict Teacher Value-Added
Soland, James - [email protected] -The Test Matters: The Relationship Between Classroom Observation Scores and Teacher Value Added on Multiple Types of Assessment Sporte, Susan E. - [email protected] -Teacher Perspectives on Evaluation Reform: Chicago’s REACH Students Springer, Matthew G. - [email protected] -The Use of Teacher Value-Added Measures in Schools: New Evidence, Unanswered Questions, and Future Prospects
Turkan, Sultan - [email protected] -Including Students With Disabilities and English Learners in Measures of Educator Effectiveness
Tseng, Fannie - [email protected] -Teacher Value-Added at the High-School Level: Different Models, Different Answers?
Umland, Kristin - [email protected] -A Validity Argument Approach to Evaluating Teacher Value-Added Scores
Winters, Marcus A. - [email protected] -Who Would Stay, Who Would Be Dismissed? An Empirical Consideration of Value-Added Teacher Retention Policies
Yang, Yan - [email protected] -A Correlated Random Effects Model for Nonignorable Missing Data in Value-Added Assessment of Teacher Effects