Random assignment of students to teachers would solve this problem, but random assignment doesn't happen in practice, so statisticians have invented adjustments to control for
student background factors that predict future achievement.
One issue likely causing this level of bias is that
student background factors are not accounted for in the EVAAS model.
Research shows that value - added models that do not account for
student background factors (such as race, ethnicity and social class) correlate highly with models that do.
Analysis of these rich curriculum data, along with our more curriculum - sensitive measures of student achievement, revealed that the mathematics content teachers covered in their classrooms was significantly related to their students» performance even when researchers adjusted this relationship for
student background factors (ethnicity, parent education level, socioeconomic status, and so on).
Not exact matches
They carefully matched these FRI
students with peers who did not participate but were otherwise comparable in terms of socioeconomic
background, gender, race, ethnicity, scores on standardized tests and other
factors.
«The recommendation for counselors would be to learn more about the high school and
background a
student is coming from instead of just present, college - focused
factors or personal
factors.
Parent involvement is the number one
factor affecting
student success — regardless of socio - economic status, ethnic / racial
background, or the parents» education level.
As noted previously, there are multiple
factors that impact
students» ability to learn, including age, demographics, cultural
background and the level of education, to name a few.
The opposite — a «fixed mindset» — is a belief that external
factors such as
students» socioeconomic
backgrounds, available school resources or current levels of achievement limit what is possible and make further improvement unlikely.
In general, VAMs
factor in the gains the
student was expected to make based on past performance, and in some cases, control for elements such as peer characteristics and
background, including poverty level and family education.
The Program for International
Student Assessment (PISA) tested 125,000 15 - year - olds in 52 countries and economies to analyse how well they work together as a group, their attitudes towards collaboration and the influence of
factors such as gender, after - school activities and social
background.
While these
background factors can affect all
students, among low performers the combination of risk
factors is much more detrimental to disadvantaged than to advantaged
students.
The study compared
student growth in classrooms led by teachers in Opportunity Culture roles to
student growth in non-Opportunity Culture classrooms in both the same schools and in different schools, controlling for various
factors including
student background and prior performance.
Factors from
student backgrounds, including their parents, communities, and individual characteristics, have a strong influence on achievement.
They discuss the Coleman Report's finding that family
background explained more about
student achievement than
factors within the control of the school or other things that education policy can influence.
Still, the finding that family -
background factors powerfully affect
student achievement is not and never has been disputed.
Student factors include prior test score, gender, ethnic
background, parents» education, income and economic activity, and whether the family receives government benefits.
The sponsor of the SAT and the testing service that administers it appear to be at odds over the potential uses of forthcoming research on
students who, based on such
factors as racial, social, or family
background, exceed expectations on the widely used college - entrance exam.
Only after these
background factors are fully accounted for is the second step taken — a look at the characteristics of the schools that make the biggest difference in determining the variation in
student achievement.
Once family
background and the nature of the peer group at school were taken into account,
student achievement was unaffected by per - pupil expenditure, school size, the science lab facilities, the number of books in the library, the use of tracking by ability levels to assign
students to classrooms, or other
factors previously assumed to be indicators of what makes for a good school.
More transparency is good, provided the information is meaningful and takes into account non-school
factors such as family
background that we know influence
student outcomes.
High - quality teacher -
student relationships are another critical
factor in determining
student engagement, especially in the case of difficult
students and those from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds (Fredricks, 2014).
The version we use takes into account
student background characteristics and schooling environment
factors, including
students» socioeconomic status (SES), while simultaneously calculating school - average
student test - score growth.
As research has demonstrated, school
factors explain only about 20 percent of achievement scores — about one - third of what
student and family
background characteristics explain.
You maximise learning opportunities for your
students by understanding their
backgrounds and diverse individual characteristics and the impact of those
factors on their learning.
First, we made a straightforward comparison of the average test - score gains in classrooms run by TFA and non-TFA teachers, controlling for a variety of
factors known to influence academic achievement, including
students»
backgrounds, the
students» previous performance on the TAAS, characteristics of their schools, and characteristics of their classmates.
The report concluded that
students» socioeconomic
background was a far more influential
factor.
They employ propensity score matching methods where they compare voucher
students with similar
students in public schools by matching across a variety of observable
background factors, including baseline test scores.
Family
background was far and away the most important
factor in determining
student achievement.»
The
background survey will include five core areas — grit, desire for learning, school climate, technology use, and socioeconomic status — of which the first two focus on a
student's noncognitive skills, and the third looks at noncognitive
factors in the school.
TPACK may be influenced by contextual
factors such as grade level, curricular standards,
student characteristics and
background, instructional and social interactions, teacher motivation and beliefs, classroom layout, school - related expectations, support for technology, and types of technology available (Mishra & Koehler, 2006; Rosenberg & Koehler, 2015).
Unless assessments are sensitive to important differences in instructional content coverage,
student achievement gaps can be misattributed to individual
background factors that are not within schools» control.
The relationship of socioeconomic
background to scientific literacy achievement and the influence of other
student - and school - level
factors are also examined in this report.
This latest report from OECD uses data from the 2012 PISA mathematics section to examine
factors associated with the performance gap between
students from different socioeconomic
backgrounds.
Accordingly, and also per the research, this is not getting much better in that, as per the authors of this article as well as many other scholars, (1) «the variance in value - added scores that can be attributed to teacher performance rarely exceeds 10 percent; (2) in many ways «gross» measurement errors that in many ways come, first, from the tests being used to calculate value - added; (3) the restricted ranges in teacher effectiveness scores also given these test scores and their limited stretch, and depth, and instructional insensitivity — this was also at the heart of a recent post whereas in what demonstrated that «the entire range from the 15th percentile of effectiveness to the 85th percentile of [teacher] effectiveness [using the EVAAS] cover [ed] approximately 3.5 raw score points [given the tests used to measure value - added];» (4) context or
student, family, school, and community
background effects that simply can not be controlled for, or
factored out; (5) especially at the classroom / teacher level when
students are not randomly assigned to classrooms (and teachers assigned to teach those classrooms)... although this will likely never happen for the sake of improving the sophistication and rigor of the value - added model over
students» «best interests.»
Acknowledging that no two schools are the same, the assessment also collects information on
students»
backgrounds and their schools to identify
factors that may influence
student performance.
When helping a teacher select an appropriate goal - sharing technique for a given lesson, what
factors about the lesson or about
students (e.g., age, readiness level,
background knowledge) do you consider?
These systems will easily allow analysts to look at teachers» educational
background (e.g. where they got their degree or certification) and use that data to assess it's impact on
students, net of whatever other
factors are measured in the database.
Family
background was by far the most important
factor in determining
student achievement.
Going back to the famous Coleman report in the 1960s, social scientists have contended — and unquestionably proved — that
students» socioeconomic
backgrounds vastly outweigh what goes on in the school as
factors in determining how much they learn.
By engaging in a conversation with people who represent other
backgrounds and experiences,
students become more aware of the role that many
factors (e.g., social class, occupation, gender, age) play in shaping one's attitudes and perspectives on historical events.
The 90 percent goal is a key element in a 387 - page ESSA plan the Illinois State Board of Education submitted last month to the federal government, outlining how
students of all
backgrounds will be assessed and grow academically, as well as how schools will be rated under myriad
factors other than test scores.
The report cites the well - established principle that teaching quality is the most powerful school - based
factor in
student learning — one that outweighs
students» social and economic
background in accounting for differences in
student learning.
As research has found, school
factors explain only about 20 percent of achievement scores — about a third of what
student and family
background characteristics explain.
Students represent a broad diversity of
backgrounds, experiences and learning styles - many
factors outside of the classroom impact their engagement and behaviors.
If value - added scores are sensitive to these
factors, we can revise the analysis to ensure that the classrooms being compared are similar on measures of
student background and school composition, thus reducing the risk of bias.
Instead, its enduring legacy has been its finding that schools and resources matter little independent of
student family
background and social
factors.
Her primary focus in education is on building capacity to ensure that all
students achieve, regardless of
background factors or personal circumstances.
Factors such as race, gender, ethnicity, level of English proficiency, socioeconomic
backgrounds, sexual orientation, and gender identity should not become barriers to opportunities for gifted
students.
Under teacher evaluation reforms, as of 2015, all but eight states have committed to using an objective measure of
student achievement — such as performance on standardized assessments — as a part of teacher and principal evaluation systems.40 However, given the challenges of fairly incorporating
student test performance in evaluations, all states and districts engaged in these reforms must account for
factors like the variation in
student background and other external influences on performance.