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New Measure Would Judge Schools on Student Growth
Produced by Linda Lutton on Monday, March 02, 2009
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WBEZ/Linda Lutton |
This week, public elementary school students are sharpening their number-two pencils for the annual state test—the ISAT. In Chicago, school officials have already begun implementing a new way to evaluate results from the exam.
Teachers in tough schools have complained for years that they can take students miles in terms of achievement. But unless kids meet state standards, their school still gets a failing grade. The new “value added” measure will judge teachers and schools on how much kids learn from one year to the next.
MEYER: If we’re trying to figure out what 8th grade teachers did at a school, let’s look at the growth from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
Rob Meyer is head of the Value Added Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is contracting with Chicago.
The new measure will also take into account the way family income can affect student performance. Last week Chicago schools chief Ron Huberman said he wants to let parents see how well individual teachers are doing. This measure could help with that.
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Bernard, Northside // Wednesday, March 04, 2009 @ 5:19 AM
How can a score on a single standardized test tell me how my child is doing or how good or bad any one of his teachers is teaching? This is Huberman's hoax--a substitute for real, authentic assessment and evaluation that will encourage a test-prep curriculum where individual teachers are paid on the basis of test scores.
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Anthony, Chicago // Wednesday, March 04, 2009 @ 11:38 AM
This is a step in the right direction toward meaningful data analysis. This will help give credit to those teachers who do a great job with challenging populations, as well as hold accountable teachers who coast because their classrooms are filled with higher-achieving kids.
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Liz Brown, Chicago // Thursday, March 05, 2009 @ 9:49 PM
I did a quick analysis of the value-added results by comparing school areas 2 and 15. These measures also align near perfectly with income levels.
When different measures based on one standardized test, how can you expect different outcomes?
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