Assessing Teachers with Value- Added Models (VAMs) Erik Ruzek October 14, 2010 UCI Department of Education, Chair’s Advisory Board Presentation

Bringing Attention to Teachers

What are Value Added-Models (VAMs)? They address the weaknesses of current methods by focusing on changes over time in achievement and answer the following types of questions: 1.How did the contribution of school or teacher “X” to student achievement gains compare with that of the average teacher? 2.How different are teachers across a school or district in terms of their students’ achievement gains?

What are Typical Teacher Effects? Teacher Effects on Student Achievement Change ▫What is the achievement gain associated with having an above average teacher? | | | | | -.5 Average.5 Teacher 1/5 sd increase in student achievement.

Problems with Current VAMs Technical 1.Complex 2.Continuing methodological debates about how best to estimate them. Conceptual 1.Non-random assignment of students to teachers is a real problem. 2.VAMs make no attempt to answer the question of how teachers influence student achievement. 3.Is achievement the only outcome we care about?

What about Teacher Effects on Student Motivation to Learn and Achieve? Mastery achievement goals ▫One of my main goals in math is to improve my skills. ▫My main goal in math is to learn as much as I can. ▫Really understanding my math work is important to me. Mastery motivation is related to: ▫Intrinsic motivation, increased effort, self-efficacy (related to achievement), task persistence, preference for challenge, self-regulated learning, employment of deep learning strategies

Student Motivation in Middle and High School Middle school is a time of declining student motivation that then flattens out in high school. Student achievement goals are malleable – they are susceptible to teaching differences. We know how teachers influence student goals, but we don’t know how much teachers differ in their ability to influence student goals.

Are Teacher Effects on Achievement a Good Proxy for Motivation? If so, we should find that teachers who boost achievement also boost motivation. ▫We did not find this to be true. What we found : ▫Teachers who boosted student mastery motivation also tended to boost student achievement, but to a much smaller degree.  Correlation of.25

Does Motivation Matter for Student Outcomes (a.k.a. My Next Project)? Need to establish that teacher influence on student motivation matters for important educational outcomes: ▫High school exit examinations ▫Taking advanced courses ▫High school graduation ▫College enrollment

Thank you.