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).

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VARC Job Candidate Talks

• ABOUT VARC
• METHODOLOGY
• PROJECTS
• STAFF
• PARTNERS
• TUTORIALS
• CONTACT

Value-Added Tutorials

Introduction

• Value-Added Analogy (Oak Tree)

Going from Attainment to Growth

• An Introduction of Attainment and Growth
• The Equitable Nature of Growth Measures
• Scale Scores and NCLB
• Proficiency Index Limitations

Value-Added Presentations

• 4/09 Introduction to Value-Added
• 11/02 Introduction to the MPS Value-Added System

Quadrant Analysis

• Quadrant 1 – Understanding Quadrant Analysis, Michael Christian
• Quadrant 3 – The Ceiling Effect Myth, Brad Carl
• Quadrant 2 – High Value-Added, Low Attainment, Elisabeth Geraghty
• Quadrant 4 – Low Value-Added, Low Attainment, Sara Kraemer

Videos

• Deborah Hoffman's Welcome Video (5:47 minutes)
  Deborah Hoffman from Lincoln Elementary in Madison, WI talks about how her school is using Value-Added. Download MPEG video
• Dr. Robert H. Meyer's Welcome Video (6:31 minutes)
  This welcome video was presented to the 2nd and 3rd cohorts of the Wisconsin Statewide Value-Added project in February 2010. Download MPEG video
  

Value-Added Toolkit

• Version 1.1: Download ZIP file
  This zip file contains the contents of the first revision of the "Value-Added Toolkit". Download this zip file, unzip it to a folder on your computer, and then double click "StartHere.html". This folder, once unzipped, can also be burned on a CD. Updated March 2010.
  

Materials Under Development