William Sanders (statistician)
Encyclopedia
Dr. William L. Sanders is a senior research fellow with the University of North Carolina
. He developed the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS), also known as the Educational Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS), a method for measuring a teacher's effect on student performance by tracking the progress of students against themselves over the course of their school career with their assignment to various teachers' classes. This system has been used in Tennessee
since 1993, and has been adopted by a number of other school district
s across the United States. Sanders' approach has been used to support the theory that the quality of teachers is central to educational achievement.
The Pennsylvania
and New Hampshire
Departments of Education sponsor pilots, and the Iowa School Board Association sponsors his value-added work in that state. Battelle for Kids
provides interpretation and use trainings for the SAS EVAAS services for the participating districts in Ohio.
“Using mixed model equations, TVAAS uses the covariance matrix
from this multivariate, longitudinal data set to evaluate the impact of the educational system on student progress in comparison to national norm
s, with data reports at the district, school, and teacher levels." The model focuses on academic gains rather than raw achievement scores.
s of value-added estimates are large. Author thinks that value added models are merely one useful tool that should be used as one of many assessments in a comprehensive system of evaluation.
Researchers from the RAND corporation studied Dr. Sanders' method and determined that his approach does not satisfactorily account for bias, cautioning that non-educational effects may be attributed by mistake to teachers, with no way of effectively determining the magnitude of the error. Ballou (2002) and Kupermintz (2003) further support this claim, claiming that non-educational factors have a noticeable impact on the evaluation of teachers despite efforts to account for them in the model.
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
. He developed the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS), also known as the Educational Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS), a method for measuring a teacher's effect on student performance by tracking the progress of students against themselves over the course of their school career with their assignment to various teachers' classes. This system has been used in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
since 1993, and has been adopted by a number of other school district
School district
School districts are a form of special-purpose district which serves to operate the local public primary and secondary schools.-United States:...
s across the United States. Sanders' approach has been used to support the theory that the quality of teachers is central to educational achievement.
The Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
Departments of Education sponsor pilots, and the Iowa School Board Association sponsors his value-added work in that state. Battelle for Kids
Battelle for Kids
Battelle for Kids is a United States not-for-profit organization established through a partnership with the Ohio Business Roundtable and supported by an initial grant from Battelle Memorial Institute. The organization was created in 2001 to improve student achievement in Ohio...
provides interpretation and use trainings for the SAS EVAAS services for the participating districts in Ohio.
“Using mixed model equations, TVAAS uses the covariance matrix
Covariance matrix
In probability theory and statistics, a covariance matrix is a matrix whose element in the i, j position is the covariance between the i th and j th elements of a random vector...
from this multivariate, longitudinal data set to evaluate the impact of the educational system on student progress in comparison to national norm
Psychometrics
Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality traits, and educational measurement...
s, with data reports at the district, school, and teacher levels." The model focuses on academic gains rather than raw achievement scores.
Criticism
Dr. Ballou, in Lissitz (Ed.), 2005, "Value Added Models in Education: Theory and Applications," analyzed the TVAAS and determined that value added-assessment of teachers are fallible estimates of teacher contribution to student learning, stating that standard errorStandard error
Standard error can refer to:* Standard error , the estimated standard deviation or error of a series of measurements* Standard error stream, one of the standard streams in Unix-like operating systems...
s of value-added estimates are large. Author thinks that value added models are merely one useful tool that should be used as one of many assessments in a comprehensive system of evaluation.
Researchers from the RAND corporation studied Dr. Sanders' method and determined that his approach does not satisfactorily account for bias, cautioning that non-educational effects may be attributed by mistake to teachers, with no way of effectively determining the magnitude of the error. Ballou (2002) and Kupermintz (2003) further support this claim, claiming that non-educational factors have a noticeable impact on the evaluation of teachers despite efforts to account for them in the model.