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12/14/2004: "Value Added"
The Post has a piece on the uses of value-added testing.
Matthews points at the primary reason why some folks have embraced value added: it allows some measurement (however flawed) of where the students began and the progress that they've made. It avoids the high-stakes approach of one test is all that matters.
Good teachers help kids make progress. But so do some bad teachers. And many of the things students learn are impossible to measure-
do they like to read ? do they find joy in escaping into a book?
do they like to write? do they write for purposes other than school?
has math become a series of interesting puzzles or is it a dreaded worksheet?
Yeah, I know that a teacher that helps kids discover these things will probably have higher test scores...but not necessarily.