Evaluating the validity evidence surrounding use of value-added models to evaluate teachers: A systematic review

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.8201

Keywords:

validity/reliability, school/teacher effectiveness, teacher evaluation, education policy, value-added models

Abstract

Local education agencies (LEAs) continue to use value-added models (VAMs) for  teacher evaluation policies and purposes, often with consequences attached. Although the Every  Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides more flexibility to LEAs, few have discontinued VAM use, suggesting they interpret VAMs as a valid measure of teacher effectiveness. In this systematic review, we used a framework built on the Standards of Educational and Psychological  Testing (AERA et al., 2014) to examine validity evidence contained in 75 articles published in  high-quality, peer-reviewed journals in which article authors supported or challenged user  interpretations and uses of VAMs. Results with implications for educational policy are presented.

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Author Biographies

Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, Arizona State University

Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on the use of value-added models (VAMs) in and across states before and since the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). More specifically, she is conducting validation studies on multiple system components, as well as serving as an expert witness in many legal cases surrounding the (mis)use of VAM-based output.

Matthew Ryan Lavery, South Carolina Education Oversight Committee

Matthew Ryan Lavery, Ph.D., serves as the Deputy Director for the South Carolina Education  Oversight Committee. Prior to the EOC, he taught at the secondary level for eight years before  earning a Ph.D. in Educational Research Methodology, Measurement, and Analysis from the  University of Central Florida. His research focuses on the valid use of educational data to  inform the improvement of educational leadership, policy, programs, and student outcomes. 

Jessica Holloway, Australian Catholic University

Jessica Holloway, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Fellow within the Institute for Learning Sciences
and Teacher Education (ILSTE) at the Australian Catholic University. Her research draws on
political theory and policy sociology to ask how metrics, data, and digital tools produce new
conditions, practices, and subjectivities, especially in relation to teachers and schools. Her recent
books include Expertise (2023, with Jessica Gerrard) and Metrics, Standards and Alignment in Teacher
Policy: Critiquing Fundamentalism and Imagining Pluralism (2021).

Margarita Pivovarova, Arizona State University

Margarita Pivovarova, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College
at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on the relationship between student
achievement, teacher mobility, and school contextual factors. More specifically, she explores the
factors associated with teacher attrition from public and charter schools, and immigrant student
achievement in schools with varied student demographics.

Debbie L. Hahs-Vaughn, University of Central Florida

Debbie L. Hahs-Vaughn, Ph.D., is a Professor in Methodology, Measurement, and Analysis at
the University of Central Florida. Her primary research relates to methodological issues
associated with applying quantitative statistical methods to survey data obtained under complex
sampling designs and using complex survey data to answer substantive research questions. She is
the author of six quantitative statistics textbooks and over 60 articles in professional outlets.

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Published

2023-10-24

How to Cite

Amrein-Beardsley, A., Ryan Lavery, M., Holloway, J., Pivovarova, M., & L. Hahs-Vaughn, D. (2023). Evaluating the validity evidence surrounding use of value-added models to evaluate teachers: A systematic review. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 31. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.8201

Issue

Vol. 31 (2023)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, Matthew Ryan Lavery, Jessica Holloway, Margarita Pivovarova, Debbie L. Hahs-Vaughn

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.