34justice

Tag: VAM

  • Is VAM a Sham? Depends on the Question You’re Asking.

    “Does data source X provide useful information?” and “Should data source X be used for purpose Y?” are two very different questions.  Unfortunately, conflation of these questions by education researchers, writers, and advocates far too frequently results in bad policy recommendations. This problem surfaces especially often in debates about value…

  • Eric Lerum and I Debate Teacher Evaluation and the Role of Anti-Poverty Work (Part 2)

    StudentsFirst Vice President Eric Lerum and I recently began debating the use of standardized test scores in high stakes decision-making.  I argued in a recent blog post that we should instead evaluate teachers on what they directly control – their actions.  Our conversation, which began to touch on additional interesting…