Dissertation writing help - The Case of Vaughn Elementary

Custom Dissertation Writing Service - The Relationship Between Measures of Teacher Quality and Student Achievement

This study examined the validity of a performance-based teacher assessment system by analyzing the relationship between student achievement and teacher evaluation scores at an elementary school implementing an innovative, subject-specific, staff-developed teacher evaluation system. From a policy perspective, establishing validity was important because it is embedded in a knowledge-and skills-based pay system, which attached high stakes to evaluation scores.

In the first stage of the study, hierarchical linear modeling was used to evaluate value-added teacher effects, which were then correlated with teacher evaluation scores in literacy, language arts, mathematics and a composite measure of student achievement. Additionally, teacher evaluation scores, teacher certification status, and teachers' years of experience were inserted into the hierarchical linear models as subject-specific predictors of student achievement. Results show a strong, positive and statistically important relationship between teacher evaluation scores and student achievement in reading and a composite measure of teacher and student performance, and a positive, though not statistically important relationship in mathematics. Traditional teacher characteristics variables (certification status, years of experience) were not statistically important predictors of variation in student achievement.

The second stage of the study used document analyses and interviews with teachers to explore factors affecting the relationship between teacher evaluation scores and student achievement across subjects. Findings suggest that the relationship is stronger in reading than mathematics because both teachers and evaluators have more pedagogical knowledge and better alignment to standards and assessments in reading than in math.