Teacher Evaluation and Student Achievement

A broadly implemented and equally controversial practice, value-added measures (VAM), as it is called, has resulted in major change in the evaluative practices across the United States. Federal funding was dependent on states including student achievement based on standardized test scores as an element in teacher evaluations. Value-added measures are based on a business model in which decisions are based on data. A huge surge in empirical research has occurred in the last decade regarding the effectiveness of using test scores to evaluate teachers. In Polikoff and Porter analysis of 327 fourth and eighth grade math and English teacher evaluations, the researchers found a weak to non-existent relationship between test scores and teacher effectiveness. Stanford professor Edward Haertel has long been a respected voice regarding educational research. The research has now begun to catch up with implementation, and the findings are mixed at best and often alarming.