On the stability of value added indicators

Abstract

This paper shows how relevant concepts in educational effectiveness can support public policy in order to improve the performance of educational systems. Specifically, value-added indicators and the property of their stability over time is addressed with reference to application to school/teacher improvement. Findings of a longitudinal study developed in Portugal concerning primary education in mathematics are presented. Variance component models are fitted in order to obtain those indicators yearly to class-school units. Results of this study reveal that value-added indicators can be a useful instrument for progressive improvement in education, particularly in countries with high rates of student retention and evasion. The novelty of this paper is to measure value added over a single year rather than all stage of schooling that refers to more than 1 year.

Value-Added Modeling and Educational Accountability

“…Goldhaber and Hansen (2013) used a time series approach to demonstrate that, although there is a component of the teacher effect that is stable across time, that component is small. Ferrão (2012) ranked teachers by quartile using a VA model and found that only about 65% of teachers stayed within the same level of performance (quartile) for at least 2 years and very few remained within the same quartile for all 3 years of the study. Kersting et al (2013) found only 30% changed among three performance groups across years, and only 1% shifted between the lowest and highest groups.…”

A Cross-Sectional Evaluation of Student Achievement Using Standardized and Performance-Based Tests

“…Second, seniors' scores might be biased due to their having taken the pretest as first-year students. We know of only two relevant longitudinal assessments; however, both assessed students' progress over a relatively short period: not 4 years, but one primary school year (Farrao, 2012) or one college semester (Price et al, 1994). In the latter study, students enrolled in introductory psychology at a rural 2-year college showed significant pre-to posttest gains in knowledge, critical thinking, and writing.…”

The use of a school value-added model for educational improvement: a case study from the Portuguese primary education system

“…The school VA indicators obtained suggest that at least 26% of the schools presented positive levels of VA effects over 3 years, 15% of schools presented negative levels for the same period, and 85% of schools stayed at the same level for at least 2 adjacent years. Tracking of the same primary education classes from the first to the third grades revealed that 65% of the educational units (classes) remained at the same level of VA (quartiles) for at least 2 consecutive years (Ferrão, 2012). The findings reveal a systematic pattern of educational units' performance that is more than just randomness.…”

“…Thus, 65% of the units maintained a stable level for at least 2 years, and 12% maintained a stable level for 3 years. Both Kyriakides and Creemers (2008) and Ferrão (2012) focused on students' progress in mathematics. In addition, McCaffrey, Sass, Lockwood, and Mihaly (2009) found a moderate year-to-year correlation between teacher VA rankings from five large Florida school districts.…”