What is Value
Added?
WHAT IS VALUE ADDED?
“A progress metric that
estimates teachers’, schools’,
and districts’ impact on students
academic performances over
time.”
p.3 Kennedy, Peters, & Thomas (2012)
WHAT DOES IT MEASURE?
PROGRESS
ACHIEVEMENT
VA MEASURES PROGRESS
BASED ON ACHIEVEMENT


WHAT IS
ACHIEVEMENT?
MEASURES STUDENTS’
PERFORMANCES AT
A SINGLE POINT IN
TIME
COMPARES
STUDENTS’
PERFORMANCE TO A
STANDARD


WHAT IS PROGRESS?
MEASURES STUDENTS’
PROGRESS BETWEEN
TWO POINTS IN TIME
COMPARES STUDENTS’
PERFORMANCE TO
THEIR OWN PRIOR
ACHIEVEMENT
(BATTELLE FOR KIDS, 2012)
WHAT IS VALUE-ADDED
BEING USED FOR?
1. To show progress made by individual
students
2. To show extent that teachers and districts
contributed to that progress
3. To examine effectiveness of instructional
practices
4. To determine root causes of weaknesses
5. To inform communities of districts’
progress rather than just reporting
passage rates on assessments
6. To create research and policy
development
7. To evaluate teachers
WHAT TYPES OF REPORTS ARE
AVAILABLE?
DISTRICT
LEVEL
REPORTS
TEACHER
BUILDING
LEVEL
LEVEL
MOST TEACHERS WILL BE
PRIMARILY INTERESTED IN
THE TEACHER-LEVEL
REPORTS
WHAT WILL TEACHER LEVEL
REPORTS SHOW?

Relative growth that a teacher produces
during a particular school year


Disaggregated data about specific student
groups’ growth patterns


Determined by comparing teacher growth to
the “average” teacher to which they are being
compared
Special needs, gender, ELL, etc.
A percentile rank of where a teacher’s valueadded falls
What can we learn from this student’s
report?
POINTS TO CONSIDER…
 This
report shows the progress of a 4th
grader.
 This student completed a normreferenced test (NRT) in 2nd and 3rd grade.
He also completed a state test in 4th
grade.
Although this student is well
below district and state
averages, he is making
significant progress.
WHAT CAN A TEACHER
TELL FROM THIS REPORT BASED ON THE “SCHOOL EFFECT” &
“TESTING POOL AVG” COLUMNS?
POINTS TO CONSIDER…



TESTING POOL- Set of school districts that
forms the comparison group for value-added
analysis. Pooled districts have the same
testing history.
SCHOOL EFFECT- Average impact the school
has on students’ progress in a specific grade
level and subject area.
STANDARD ERROR- Statistic that establishes a
level of certainty associated with estimated
mean gain. Generally, the smaller the
standard error, the more precise the estimate
of the effect.
ANSWER:
 5TH
AND 8TH GRADES WERE BELOW
EXPECTED GROWTH IN YEAR 2.
 7TH GRADE WAS ABOVE EXPECTED
GROWTH IN YEAR 2.
 6TH GRADE WAS ABOVE EXPECTED
GROWTH IN BOTH YEARS.
SO WHAT?
 TEACHERS
IN 5TH AND 8TH GRADE NEED TO
EXAMINE THEIR INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS
AND EVALUATIONS TO DETERMINE THE
ROOT CAUSES OF THESE DECLINES.
WHO BENEFITED THE MOST
FROM YOUR INSTRUCTION?
POINTS TO CONSIDER


QUINTILE- Subgroups produced when an
entire data set is divided into 5 groups of
equal size. For this report, students are placed
based on their prior academic performance.
MEAN PREDICTED SCORE- Average predicted
score for a particular group of students based
on their prior achievement and the
relationships that exist between the
assessments they have taken.
ANSWER:



STUDENTS IN 2ND, 4TH, AND 5TH QUINTILES BENEFITED THE MOST.
STUDENTS IN THE 1ST AND 3RD QUINTILES BENEFITED THE LEAST.
This is because the 11 students in the 1st quintile scored an average
7.5 scale score points below where they were expected to score,
and the 24 students in the 3rd quintile scored almost 5 points below
where they were expected to score.



Students in the 2nd, 4th and 5th quintiles scored below where they
were expected to score but within one standard error of expected
results.
The means in the 1st and 3rd quintiles are statistically significant at
one standard error.
This means that the 8th grade social studies teachers produced
lower than expected scores with students in these two quintiles.
SO WHAT?
 TEACHERS
NEED TO DETERMINE HOW TO
BETTER MEET THE NEEDS OF STUDENTS IN
THE 1ST AND 3RD QUINTILES.
WHAT ELSE CAN A TEACHER
DO WITH THIS INFORMATION?
 Determine
for which specific groups of
students their instruction is being effective
 Identify their strengths and weaknesses as
a teacher
 Examine effectiveness of their instruction
and assessment
 Create an action plan for improvement
 Obtain specific professional development
based on identified weaknesses
SOURCES:

Battelle for Kids. (2010). Understanding and
using value-added analysis: A toolkit for
educators. Columbus, OH: Battelle for Kids.

Kennedy, K., Peters, M., & Thomas, M. (2012).
How to use value-added analysis to improve
student learning: A field guide for school and
district leaders. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
 Further
information and actual school
data can be found at
https://ohiova.sas.com/evaas/login.jsp