VARC staff are participating in a series of webinars sponsored by the department of education to provide support for districts considering implementing performance incentive systems as part of Race to the Top, Teacher Incentive Fund, or local initiatives. Michael Christian will be presenting in the session on Structuring Your Alternative Compensation Program: Challenges and Opportunities (to register click here). Chris Thorn and Peter Witham are the hosts of a session on Anticipating the Data Quality Challenges in TIF: Delivering Student-Teacher Linkages and Managing and Presenting Complex Data (to register click here). Recorded webinars will also be available after the fact on the CECR web site.

Amy McIntosh, New York City Department of Education Chief Talant Officer, discusses VARC’s contribution to the district’s teacher data initiative (New York City Department of Education website).

The Racine [WI] Unified School Board on Monday approved a new partnership with the [Value-Added Research Center at the] University of Wisconsin-Madison that will allow the district to identify which specific schools and teachers advance student achievement (Racine Journal Times, 16 March, 2010).

VARC Job Candidate Talks

Developing a Value-Added System with Madison Metropolitan School District

The project focuses on producing value-added estimates for the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD, in Madison, WI) in 2008. Special focus is also on district-wide growth of students in different demographic groups, such as race, those eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, or parents' education. Results for Madison are presented before the MMSD instructional council and before MMSD principals.

Contact

Michael Christian
Phone: (608) 263-4235
Office: 886 Ed Sciences
mchristian2@wisc.edu