Ohio state legislators just last week introduced a bill to review the value-added measurements required when evaluating schools as per the state’s A-F school report cards (as based on Florida’s A-F school report card model). The bill is to be introduced by political members of the Republican side of the House who, more specifically, want officials and/or others to review how the state comes up with their school report card grades, with emphasis on the state’s specific value-added (i.e., Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS)) component.
According to one article here, “especially confusing” with Ohio’s school reports cards is the school-level value added section. At the school level, value-added means essentially the same thing — the measurement of how well a school purportedly grew its students from one year to the next, when students’ growth in test scores over time are aggregated beyond the classroom and to the school-wide level. While value-added estimates are still to count for 35-50% of a teacher’s individual evaluation throughout the state, this particular bill has to do with school-level value-added only.
While most in the House, Democrats included, seem to be in favor of the idea of reviewing the value-added component (e.g., citing parent/user confusion, lack of transparency, common questions posed to the state and others about this specific component that they cannot answer), at least one Democrat is questioning Republicans’ motives (e.g., charging that Republicans might have ulterior motives to not hold charter schools accountable using VAMs and to simultaneously push conservative agendas further).
Regardless, that lawmakers in at least the state of Ohio are now admitting that they have too little understanding of how the value-added system works, and also works in practice, seems to be a step in the right direction. Let’s just hope the intentions of those backing the bill are in the right place, as also explained here. Perhaps the fact that the whole bill is one paragraph in length speaks to the integrity and forthrightness of the endeavor — perhaps not.
Otherwise, the Vice President for Ohio policy and advocacy for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute — a strong supporter of value added — is quoted as saying that “it makes sense to review the measurement…There are a lot of myths and misconceptions out there, and the more people know, the more people will understand the important role looking at student growth plays in the accountability system.” One such “myth” he cites is that, “[t]here are measures on our state report card that correlate with demographics, but value added isn’t one of them.” In fact, and rather, we have evidence directly from the state of Ohio contradicting this claim that he calls a “myth” — that, indeed, bias is alive and well in Ohio (as well as elsewhere), especially when VAM-based estimates are aggregated at the school level (see a post with figures illustrating bias in Ohio here).
On that note, I just hope that whomever they invite for this forthcoming review, if the bill is passed, is well-informed, very knowledgeable of the literature surrounding value-added in general but also in breadth and depth, and is not representing a vendor or any particular think tank, philanthropic, or other entity with a clear agenda. Balance, at minimum for this review, is key.
