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Evaluating the Validity of Mcas Scores as an Indicator of Teacher Effectiveness PDF

169 Pages·2014·1.28 MB·English
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Open Access Dissertations 2-2013 Evaluating the Validity of Mcas Scores as an Indicator of Teacher Effectiveness Jenna M. Copella University of Massachusetts Amherst, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at:https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations Part of theEducation Commons Recommended Citation Copella, Jenna M., "Evaluating the Validity of Mcas Scores as an Indicator of Teacher Effectiveness" (2013).Open Access Dissertations. 682. https://doi.org/10.7275/xjh7-3c87https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/682 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EVALUATING THE VALIDITY OF MCAS SCORES AS AN INDICATOR OF TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS. A Dissertation Presented By JENNA M. COPELLA Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION February 2013 School of Education Educational Policy Research and Administration Psychometric Methods, Educational Statistics, and Research Methods © Copyright by Jenna M. Copella 2013 All Rights Reserved EVALUATING THE VALIDITY OF MCAS SCORES AS AN INDICATOR OF TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS. A Dissertation Presented By JENNA M. COPELLA Approved as to style and content by: ____________________________________ Lisa A. Keller, Chair ____________________________________ Stephen G. Sireci, Member ____________________________________ George R. Milne, Member ______________________________________ Christine B. McCormick, Dean School of Education DEDICATION For my children: Riley, Aidan, and Caitlin Copella. You bring meaning, purpose, and joy to my life. You are the three best things that have ever happened to me. I love you. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor and committee chair, Dr. Lisa A. Keller. This work would not have been possible without her guidance and encouragement. Lisa, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you. Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge with me, thank you for knowing when to push, thank you for understanding all of the things only another mother could understand, thank you for not judging, thank you for being my advisor, and thank you for being a friend. I hope you know how grateful I am and just how deeply I appreciate you. I would also like to thank the rest of my department at UMASS; Ron Hambleton, Steve Sireci, Craig Wells, Jennifer Randall, April Zenisky, and Peg Louraine. They are a wonderful group of people. Steve Sireci introduced me to psychometrics, for which I will be forever grateful. I would never have found my way to UMASS without Steve. Ron Hambleton was a treasure trove of knowledge, anecdotes, and advice. I will hold dear many memories of Ron. Craig Wells, Jennifer Randall, and April Zenisky were a pleasure to work with and learn from every day. Peg Louraine does everything humanly possible to ease the way for the students in the program. The care and support these people provide their students is amazing. I am so lucky to have been a part of it. My life, both professionally and personally, has been enriched because of my time at REMP. Thank you to Steve Sireci and George Milne for serving on my dissertation committee. Your comments, advice, and feedback have been invaluable. Finally, thank you to my family. I have received so much love and support from everyone. I need to send a special thank you to my mother, Terri Sisson, who has supported me every step of this journey. I simply do not know what I would do without v her. And to my Aunty Jo, Joanne Coyle, who has always been there for me. My Mom and Aunty Jo have listened tirelessly to me talk about school and, more recently, my dissertation. They have both spent hours proofreading. And they both helped me with the dirtiest job of all – email addresses! Without them I would still be copying and pasting! They are incredible women. So to Mom and Aunty Jo… thank you for everything. vi ABSTRACT EVALUATING THE VALIDITY OF MCAS SCORES AS AN INDICATOR OF TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS FEBRUARY 2013 JENNA M. COPELLA, A.A., SPRINGFIELD TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE B.A., WESTFIELD STATE UNIVERSITY Ed.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Lisa A. Keller The Massachusetts Department of Secondary and Elementary Education (DESE) has implemented an Educator Evaluation Framework that requires MCAS scores be used as a significant indicator of teacher effectiveness when available. This decision has implications for thousands of Massachusetts public school teachers. To date, DESE has not provided evidence to support the validity of using MCAS scores to make interpretations about teacher effectiveness. A review of the literature reveals much variation in the degree to which teachers use state-adopted content standards to plan instruction. The findings in the literature warrant investigation into teacher practice among Massachusetts public school teachers. The research questions for this study will be: 1.) Are there variations in the degree to which Massachusetts public school teachers use the Curriculum Frameworks to plan Math instruction?; and 2.) Is MCAS as an instrument sensitive enough to reflect variations in teacher practice in the student’s scores? A survey of Massachusetts public school principals and Math teachers, grades three through eight, investigated the research questions. Survey results revealed that Massachusetts teachers use the Curriculum Frameworks to plan instruction to varying degrees. Survey results also suggest a lack of relationship between teacher practice vii related to the use of the Curriculum Frameworks and student MCAS scores. These findings suggest MCAS scores may not be an appropriate indicator of teacher effectiveness; however, there are limitations to the study that require further investigation into these questions. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …...………………………………………………………….v ABSTRACT ……………...……………………………………………………………..vii LIST OF TABLES ………………..………………………………………………….......xi LIST OF FIGURES ..........................................................................................................xii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………..……1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………………………….…17 The Standards ……………………………………………………………………20 Instructional Alignment …………………………………………………………27 Proposed Alignment Frameworks ……………………………………………….37 Teacher Practice …………………………………………………………………43 Research Questions ……………………………………………………………...47 3. METHODS …………………………………………………………………………...52 Pilot Study ………………………………………………………………………52 Method …………………………………………………………………..53 Full Study ………………………………………………………………………..54 Survey Construction ……………………………………………………..54 Sample …………………………………………………………………...56 Surveys …………………………………………………………………..57 Analyses …………………………………………………………………59 Descriptive Statistics …………………………………………….60 Pearson Product Moment Correlation …………………………...60 Analysis of Variance …………………………………………….61 Linear Regression ……………………………………………….61 4. RESULTS …………………………………………………………………………….65 Pilot Study ……………………………………………………………………….65 Full Study ………………………………………………………………………..69 5. DISCUSSION ……………………………………………………………………….100 APPENDICES A. PILOT STUDY RESPONSES …………………………………………………123 ix

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Copella, Jenna M., "Evaluating the Validity of Mcas Scores as an Indicator of Teacher For my children: Riley, Aidan, and Caitlin Copella. You bring
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