Adding value to value-added: Getting more out of the data we have

September 9, 2010

Since our special Ohio Education Gadfly last month about changes to Ohio’s value-added analysis methodology, we’ve received much interest from the media, local superintendents and school leaders, lawmakers, business leaders, and others on this issue.  The Fordham Institute believes strongly in academic accountability based on high-quality standards, assessments, and data systems.  We think Ohio has done well in this area, but acknowledge there is more to be done.  Toward that end, we have engaged our colleagues at the education policy and research firm Public Impact to explore this issue for Gadfly readers and offer their insights and guidance about changes Ohio can make to how it measures student progress and, most importantly, how to use that data to evaluate students, teachers, and schools and help them improve.

Increasingly, states, districts, and parents are assessing educational quality using data. In Ohio, state-issued report cards contain a wealth of metrics and analyses designed to evaluate school performance. And since 2007, the state has included a value-added analysis in its report card, which measures how much schools are contributing to student learning.

Although Ohio’s value-added analysis can help us evaluate school quality, there are other ways to use value-added analysis and the data collected for it. Stakeholders want to know – and need to know – how teachers and students are doing, and the data Ohio

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Adding value to value-added: Getting more out of the data we have