Getting Value Out of Value-Added: Report of a Workshop

97 Pages·2010·0.49 MB·English

by  Program Evaluation

Getting Value
Out of
Value-Added
REPORT OF A WORKSHOP
Committee on Value-Added Methodology for Instructional Improvement,
Program Evaluation, and Educational Accountability
Henry Braun, Naomi Chudowsky, and Judith Koenig, Editors
Center for Education
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL and NATIONAL ACADEMY OF EDUCATION
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Gov-
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appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Award No. B 8204 between the National Academy of
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vided support for the project.
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Suggested citation: National Research Council and National Academy of Educa-
tion. (2010). Getting Value Out of Value-Added: Report of a Workshop. Committee on
Value-Added Methodology for Instructional Improvement, Program Evaluation,
and Educational Accountability, Henry Braun, Naomi Chudowsky, and Judith
Koenig, Editors. Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences
and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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COMMITTEE ON VALuE-ADDED METHODOLOgy
FOR INSTRuCTIONAL IMPROVEMENT, PROgRAM
EVALuATION, AND EDuCATIONAL ACCOuNTAbILITy
Henry braun (Chair), Lynch School of Education, Boston College
Jane Hannaway, Education Policy Center, Urban Institute,
Washington, DC
Kevin Lang, Department of Economics, Boston University
Scott F. Marion, National Center for the Improvement of Educational
Assessment, Dover, New Hampshire
Loretta A. Shepard, School of Education, University of Colorado at
Boulder
Judith D. Singer, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Mark R. Wilson, Graduate School of Education, University of
California, Berkeley
Naomi Chudowsky, Costudy Director
Judith A. Koenig, Costudy Director
Stuart W. Elliott, Director, Board on Testing and Assessment
Kelly Duncan, Senior Program Assistant


Preface
bACKgROuND
Value-added methods refer to efforts to estimate the relative con-
tributions of specific teachers, schools, or programs to student test
performance. In recent years, these methods have attracted considerable
attention because of their potential applicability for educational account-
ability, teacher pay-for-performance systems, school and teacher improve-
ment, program evaluation, and research. Value-added methods involve
complex statistical models applied to test data of varying quality. Accord-
ingly, there are many technical challenges to ascertaining the degree to
which the output of these models provides the desired estimates. Despite
a substantial amount of research over the last decade and a half, overcom-
ing these challenges has proven to be very difficult, and many questions
remain unanswered—at a time when there is strong interest in imple-
menting value-added models in a variety of settings.
In 2005 the National Research Council (NRC) and the National Acad-
emy of Education decided to jointly plan a workshop to help identify
areas of emerging consensus and areas of disagreement regarding appro-
priate uses of value-added methods, in an effort to provide research-based
guidance to policy makers who are facing decisions about whether to
proceed in this direction. The project was funded by the Carnegie Corpo-
ration. A steering committee was formed to plan the event, facilitate the
workshop discussions, and oversee the writing of the report. The commit-
tee members were chosen for their expertise in educational testing and
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iii PREFACE
accountability, valued-added methodology from both the economics and
statistical traditions, and state and local data systems.
The Workshop on Valued-Added Methodology for Instructional
Improvement, Program Evaluation, and Educational Accountability was
held on November 13 and 14, 2008, in Washington, DC. The workshop
agenda and a list of participants are in Appendix A. Biographical sketches
of committee members and staff appear in Appendix B. The background
papers and workshop transcript are posted on the NRC website at http://
www7.nationalacademies.org/bota/VAM_Workshop_Agenda.html.
This report is a summary of discussions at the workshop. It should
be noted that the report summarizes the views expressed by workshop
participants. While the committee is responsible for the overall quality
and accuracy of the report as a record of what transpired at the workshop,
the views contained in the workshop report are not necessarily those of
the committee.
Acknowledgments
Many people contributed to the success of this project. We would
first like to thank the members of the National Academy of Education’s
Research Advisory Committee, who helped to formulate the project. They
include Alan Schoenfeld, University of California, who chairs the group;
Richard Atkinson, University of California; James Banks, University of
Washington; Margaret Eisenhart, University of Colorado at Boulder;
Michael Feuer, National Research Council; Robert Hauser, University of
Wisconsin–Madison; Ellen Lagemann, Bard College; Michael McPherson,
Spencer Foundation; Lauren Resnick, University of Pittsburgh; Lorrie
Shepard, University of Colorado at Boulder; and Marshall Smith, William
and Flora Hewlett Foundation. We would also like to thank Laura
Desimone, University of Pennsylvania, who assisted in development
of a concept proposal on value-added methods. The committee is also
indebted to Gregory White, executive director, and Andrea Solarz, direc-
tor of research initiatives, at the National Academy of Education, for their
helpful suggestions throughout the course of this project.
We are also grateful to senior staff members of the National Research
Council’s (NRC’s) Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Educa-
tion who helped to move this project forward. Michael Feuer, executive
director, and Patricia Morison, associate executive director and acting
director of the Center for Education, provided support and guidance at
key stages in this project. Eugenia Grohman, associate executive director,
and Kirsten Sampson Snyder, senior report review officer, offered their
knowledge and experience with NRC procedures to guide the report
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