In a study of Milwaukee, VARC researcher Bradley Carl found that year round students who did not change schools between the fall of 2005 and the fall of 2007 made significantly more progress in reading and math than students in traditional calendar schools who did not change schools. (Journal Sentinel Online, 22 March).
Rob Meyer discusses value-added measures with Linda Lutton of Chicago Public Radio, March 2, 2009.
The mission of the Value-Added Research Center is to develop, apply, and disseminate value-added and longitudinal research methods to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of schools and teachers, and educational programs and policies. The Value-Added Research Center performs groundbreaking work on value-added systems, program and policy evaluation, and data-driven decision making. The Center is committed to promoting the use of value-added methods for education reform.
Value-Added Research Center (VARC)
Educators, researchers, and stakeholders have identified value-added models as prime areas of interest in the search for better ways to measure the performance of students, teachers, school districts, and state education organizations.
The Value-Added Research Center is directed by Rob Meyer. A staff of scientists, researchers, and education professionals provide a wide variety of cross-disciplinary expertise to allow for ground-breaking work on value-added systems and evaluation models. The work is rigorous, transparent, and highly collaborative.
Much basic research remains to be done to build high-quality value-added models and indicators that can legitimately support district and state accountability and high-stakes applications such as pay for performance.
