Selected Projects

Understanding Value-Added Models and Measuring Teacher Performance

Sponsor: National Center on Performance Incentives

Vanderbilt University’s National Center on Performance Incentives is partnering with CNA Education to lead a project designed to clarify some of the issues surrounding value-added assessments and their use in assessing teacher performance.

Measuring teacher performance well requires separating the effects of instruction from other influences on learning. Unfortunately selection of the best method of controlling for student and community characteristics is by no means straightforward. All known methods are subject to various biases, leaving practitioners in need of guidance as to which method to use and the likely magnitude of the bias that will remain even when the optimal choice has been made.

The final report will compare the principal methods of controlling for student and community factors and the quality of the resulting estimates of teacher performance. This study includes a theoretical analysis revealing the potential for bias and the trade-offs between methods, and a real-world application illustrating that the concerns raised in the theoretical analysis have real consequences for teachers and for the quality of personnel decisions based on value-added assessments.

Learn More about the National Center on Performance Incentives
Read REL Appalachia's Reference Desk response Using Growth Models and Value-added Models to Inform Instruction
Read REL Appalachia's Reference Desk response Value Added Measures of Teacher Effectiveness