The School Administrator

Dec 04 Cover

December 2004Revelations of Value-AddedAssessing the impact of instruction on student growth

Features

  • The Revelations of Value-Added

    by Ted Hershberg, Virginia Adams Simon and Barbara Lea Kruger

    A relatively new approach to student assessment isolates the impact of instruction on learning, offering diagnostic information on performance at the classroom level. In time, as teachers and administrators grow more comfortable, value-added may serve as the basis for holding individual educators accountable.

    Similar Reading: Additional Resources

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  • Why Add Value in Assessment?

    by James W. Mahoney

    A pilot project in Ohio involving 78 school districts is creating some enthusiasm among school leaders about the merits of value-added assessment as a management tool. A nonprofit affiliate of the Ohio Business Roundtable created the project, which involves urban, suburban and rural schools.read more | purchase issue
  • Districts Pilot Value-Added Assessment

    by Brett Schaeffer

    Bill Sanders has been talking about a new way to analyze school test data for more than 20 years. Of late, school system leaders in several states are finding the advantages of measuring a student’s performance not against that of fellow students but against his or her own past performance.

    Similar Reading: S&P in the value-added business and Growth Measures: Don’t Call ’em ‘Value Added’

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  • Using Student Performance Data Humanely

    by Carl K. Chafin

    Educators and the public are in danger of losing perspective about how standardized testing data can be used legitimately to encourage better performance by students. If this happens — and the author suggests it may already be occurring — the entire enterprise of public education will be seriously harmed.read more | purchase issue
  • Accountability for Noncognitive Skills

    by Richard Rothstein

    Society values traits among young people that are not covered on academic tests, so why aren’t they measured in school, asks the author of Class and Schools.read more | purchase issue

Profile

    Dennis W. Roseleip: Big Hopes for a Small Town by Jay P. Goldman


    Superintendent Dennis Roseleip remains forward thinking despite the shrinking size of the Cut Bank, Mont., schools.read more

    Departments

    Punchback: Answering Critics

    Does District Leadership Really Matter? by John Forsyth


    The president of the Educational Research Service counters the view that the school-level focus of No Child Left Behind diminishes the importance of district leadership in school improvement efforts.read more
    Focus

    Breakfast Fare That Includes Rumor Control by Michael W. Jinks


    The merits of a superintendent’s monthly breakfast meeting with other community leaders in Warrensburg, Mo.read more
    Guest Columns

    Is That Limburger on Your Colleague’s Breath? by William W. Wayson


    When you shield your staff from hearing legitimate complaints from the public, school personnel never learn to do it right the next time. More than that, competent staff members and the public lose confidence in the administrator’s judgment.read more

    Sometimes You Just Need a Bigger Budget by Gary Lee Frye


    A Texas school leader expands a nontraditional funding stream for program support through coordinated grant seeking.read more
    People

    People


    News of AASA members’ appointments, retirements, honors and deaths. The Sidelight shines on Robert McKanna, a superintendent in Palatine, Ill., with a passion for old organs.read more
    Tech Leadership

    Planning for Technology-Enthused Classrooms by Jim Hirsch


    To harness enthusiasm for learning, students must have access at school to those technology resources they use in their personal lives. How do you pursue this objective? A veteran technology leader has an answer: Ask the students themselves.read more
    President’s Corner

    The President’s Wish List by Don Kussmaul, president, AASA


    AASA’s president finds no place better for gaining important information and inspiration than the association ’s national conference.read more
    Executive Perspective

    Ode to Joy by Paul D. Houston, executive director, AASA


    After dodging a bullet (literally), AASA’s executive director now realizes how much we live our lives in that narrow geography between peril and possibility.read more

    Book Reviews

    Assessing Educational Leaders by Douglas B. Reeves