Kate Thesis Slide

Like any evaluation model, VAM is not without weaknesses. There are issues of reliability and validity when it comes to the student performance measures and their interpretations. Which brings up questions like: do student performance measurements accurately represent a teacher’s contribution to student learning? Is the teacher’s value-added score consistent across various student performance measurements and over time? Beyond concerns regarding the statistical accuracy of VAM, critics contend that Value-Added dehumanizes the evaluation process and relies too heavily on accountability. Sure enough, VAM has been used for performance-based pay and as a basis for hiring and firing. Because of this, we see a lot of negative teacher perceptions of VAM in current research. We hear and understand these concerns, However we also argue that VAM, despite its limitations, is a necessary tool and deserves a seat at the table in the teacher evaluation process.