“Value-Added” Measure Should Be a Small Part of New Teacher Evaluations, State Says

Some educators have questioned plans to use “value-added” scores as part of Ohio’s new teacher evaluation model. (Value-added scores are basically statistical measures of how much a teacher’s students learn in a particular school year, regardless of their level at the start of the school year.)

Each district is supposed to develop its own way to evaluate teachers–within the guidelines of the state-sanctioned model.

Now, Ohio Department of Education officials are encouraging schools to dial back the emphasis on value-added scores. Instead, schools are supposed to use other ways of incorporating student performance into teacher evaluations, one state official says.

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• Source: Cincinnati
• Via: Cincinnati Enquirer

Meanwhile, Ohio education officials are trying to get the word out that they don’t want 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation to be based solely on one value-added score. The Ohio Department of Education recommends starting that at 10 percent of a teacher’s evaluation and working it upward over time.

“We want multiple measures” of teacher effectiveness, said Michael Sawyers, Ohio’s deputy superintendent of public instruction.

Read more at: news.cincinnati.com