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How to Use Value-Added Analysis to Improve Student Learning
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How to Use Value-Added Analysis to Improve Student Learning
A Field Guide for School and District Leaders

Foreword by Douglas B. Reeves



November 2011 | 200 pages | Corwin

A step-by-step guide to transforming student learning with value-added analysis

Value-added analysis is the most robust, statistically significant method available for helping educators quantify student progress over time. This powerful tool also reveals tangible strategies for improving instruction. Built around the work of Battelle for Kids, this book provides a field-tested continuous improvement model for using value-added information to increase student learning. The five-step process shows how to:

  1. Create the conditions for success
  2. Examine district, school, and classroom reports to assess strengths and challenges
  3. Use these reports to create an improvement plan
  4. Implement instructional changes
  5. Evaluate and adjust the changes as the new school year starts

Each chapter includes case studies, real-life examples, action steps, and reflective questions in addition to numerous tools, samples, and protocols for implementing the model. By focusing on specific professional practices associated with gains in student performance, conversations shift from blame to analysis, from defensiveness to professional learning, and from micromanagement to inquiry—a fresh perspective that results in student success!


 
List of Figures
 
Foreword
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
1. Step I: What Is Value-Added Analysis?
 
2. Step I: Jump into Value-Added Analysis
 
3. Step I: The Framework for Systemic Improvement
 
4. Step II: Assess District-Level Value-Added Reports to Determine Strengths and Challenges
 
5. Step II: Assess Building-Level Value-Added Reports to Determine Strengths and Challenges
 
6. Step II: Assess Teacher-Level Value-Added Reports to Determine Strengths and Challenges
 
7. Steps III and IV: Identify Root Causes and Produce an Improvement Plan
 
8. Step V: Take Action, Monitor, and Adjust
 
Afterword
 
Glossary
 
References
 
Index

“This book offers a practical, engaging introduction to value-added assessment — it should be read by educators at all levels. The authors demystify a complex topic, and give educators the tools they need to use value-added data to help students learn.”

Bob Taft, Former Governor of Ohio, Distinguished Research Associate
University of Dayton, OH

"Value-Added Assessment is an extraordinarily important breakthrough in education research that provides a direct empirical measure of instructional effectiveness at the classroom level. This book could not be more timely, given the sea change now underway in how teachers and administrators are being evaluated and compensated."

Theodore Hershberg, Professor, Public Policy & History
Center for Greater Philadelphia, PA

“A welcome, plain-spoken and eminently practical guide to making the most of value-added analysis to strengthen data-driven decision making and boost achievement in our schools.”

Chester E. Finn, Jr., President
Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Washington, DC

"As districts across the country rapidly ramp up for using value-added performance measures in teacher evaluations, this book will provide invaluable information on making that data positive and productive, rather than frightening and antagonizing.”

Daniel F. McCaffrey, Senior Statistician
The RAND Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA
Key features
  • The book is organized around a field tested, five-step continuous improvement process that includes creating the conditions for success; examining district, school and classroom reports to assess strengths and challenges; using these reports to create an improvement plan; implementing instructional changes; and evaluating and adjusting the changes as the new school year starts.
  • Each chapter describes how to use that step in the spirit of school improvement. Included are case studies, real-life examples, end of chapter action steps, and reflective questions that will lead educators and Professional Learning Communities in discussions about how to incorporate successful data analysis practices into their schools and classrooms.
  • A Hands-On Resource Guide at the end of most chapters includes samples, protocols, and other tools to accompany the action steps for using value-added analysis. These short, one-page pieces can be reproduced and used by teachers and leaders.

For instructors

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ISBN: 9781452269450

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