Since 2009, when Race to the Top was launched, Arne Duncan has been an avid proponent of evaluating teachers by test scores. Some states evaluate teachers by the scores of students they never taught or subjects they don’t teach. To be eligible for Race to the Top money, states had to agree to evaluate teachers by test scores. To get a waiver from impossible mandates on NCLB, states had to agree to do it.
When Duncan testified, Congresswoman DeLauro asked if he was willing to rethink VAM. He responded that the federal government doesn’t require VAM. Duncan said that while the Feds don’t require VAM, they require evidence of growth in learning.
Sounds like VAM. Can anyone make sense of this?
*I had several spelling errors in the original post, due to composing it on my cellphone in a bumpy car-ride. I fixed them.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Oh, snap! We didn’t need those sate tests?
Maybe report cards data on passing grades for the curricula would have done the trick?
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‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ — from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
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“The Billionaire and the Reformer” (parody of The Walrus and the Carpenter, by Lewis Carroll)
The pol was pining for a charter,
pining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The regulations sleight —
Which wasn’t hard, because the gov
Was charter acolyte
The public was pining sulkily,
Because they thought the pol
Had got no business to be there
After the charter stole —
“Incredible of him,” they said,
“To work for charter dole”
The money was tight as tight could be,
The coffers were bare as bare.
You could not see a dollar, cuz
No dollar was in there:
No Race was funding overhead —
There was no Race to fund.
The Billionaire and the Reformer
Were talking under bleachers;
They wept like anything to see
Such qualities of teachers:
If these were only cleared away,’
Our schools would be like peaches!’
If seven Chetty’s with seven VAMs
VAMmed for half a year,
Do you suppose,’the Billionaire said,
That they could get them clear?’
I doubt it,’ said the Reformer,
And shed a bitter tear.
O students, come and walk with us!’
The Billionaire did beseech.
A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
A better way to teach
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each.’
The eldest student looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest student winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head —
Meaning to say he did not choose
To go with Bill, and fled
But four young students hurried up,
All eager for the fest:
Their hair was brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and best —
And this was odd, because, you know,
They’re going to a test.
Four other students followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more —
All hopping through the student waves
And scrambling to the door.
The Billionaire and the Reformer
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little students stood
And waited in a row.
The time has come,’ the Billionaire said,
To talk of many things:
Of Common Core — and standard tests — of passing scores — and VAMs —
And why the schools are failing [Not!] —
And whether pigs have wings.’
But wait a bit,’ the students cried,
Before we have our talk;
For some of us are out of breath,
And some of us can’t walk!’
No hurry!’ said the Reformer.
As patient as a hawk.
A lot of bread,’ the Billionaire said,
Is what we chiefly need:
Testing and Common Core besides
Are very good indeed —
Now if you’re ready, students dear,
We can begin to weed.’
But not with us!’ the students cried,
Turning a little blue.
After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!’
The day is fine,’ the Billionaire said.
Do you admire the view?
It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!’
The Reformer said nothing but
‘That cut score won’t suffice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf —
I’ve had to tell you twice!’
It seems a shame,’ the Billionaire said,
To play them such a trick,
After we’ve brought them out so far,
And made them test so quick!’
The Reformer said nothing but
The testing’s spread too thick!’
I weep for you,’ the Billionaire said:
I deeply sympathize.’
With sobs and tears he sorted out
The scores of biggest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.
O students,’ said the Reformer,
You’ve had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?’
But answer came there none —
And this was scarcely odd, because
They’d flunked out every one.”
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make that
“The scores of smallest size”
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Empty the following sentence of approval or opprobrium—
Secretary of Eduction Arne Duncan doesn’t pay attention to the words coming out of his mouth.
Read his speech to the AERA [American Educational Research Association] annual meeting of 2013 and ponder how he is somewhat for, somewhat against, and somewhat for/somewhat against standardized testing—all at the same time!
Link: http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/choosing-right-battles-remarks-and-conversation
Read his comments on Campbell’s Law. Then ponder how elsewhere in his speech he not only disconnects himself from being an example [bad!] of its consequences, but actually takes it up the cudgels against those that supposedly don’t understand and misuse high-stakes standardized tests.
And literally, Mr. “Shove the Tests down the Little Tykes’ Throats” delivers himself of this heartfelt comment:
[start]
Most of the assessment done in schools today is after the fact. Some schools have an almost obsessive culture around testing, and that hurts their most vulnerable learners and narrows the curriculum. It’s heartbreaking to hear a child identify himself as “below basic” or “I’m a one out of four.”
[end]
Welcome to the world you had a large hand in creating, Mr. Secretary.
Another example of how the “thought leaders” and chief enforcers and enablers of self-proclaimed “education reform” take no responsibility for their own words and deeds.
I would ask others to mount a rescue mission, but how do you save someone when his own worst enemy is himself?
Long past time to clean house.
That’s the way I see it…
😎
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He did absolutely nothing positive for Chicago Public Schools. Obviously very poor choice for Sec of Ed. None of this surprises me.
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Evidence of growth in “learning,” not “leaning.”
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“deLauro: Ranking teachers by VAM can have unintended consequences.
Duncan: So just to be very clear, we have never advocated ranking teachers by test scores.”
Why of course he hasn’t “advocated ranking teachers by test scores”. But he has advocated for and through RaTT demanded using test scores as part of the teacher evaluation. Hey blARNEy, yep, don’t rank the teachers just fire them. We do understand weasel words you nincompoop! (sorry Betsy just had to do that).
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Arne is a mouthpiece for big $$$$$.
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Arne Duncan serves at the will of his boss. Mr. President, you are responsible for doing grave harm to the most democratic institutions in this nation – public schools. For that you will go down in infamy. The first minority President has done more harm to minority children than any of the rich white men who preceded him. There is no clearer evidence of your malfeasance, Mr. President, than the Chicago public school system, and you can look at any major urban school system and see that you have done more harm than good. Stop deluded yourself Mr. President. There is no bright future on the horizon for your brand of education deform, or for the students your bad ideas are harming.
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Here is a great refutation of SGP’s as growth measures that also comparison them to VAM’s. https://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/take-your-sgp-and-vamit-damn-it/
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Thanks Jon…great link.
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Arne is great at lying without seeming to do so. No legislation may specifically refer to VAM, but definitions of “growth” measures are written into legislation and the effective meaning is “gain in test scores” pre to post-test or year to year.
In fact, USDE has invested millions in supporting research and advocacy for VAM. I have a bunch of links to these operations.
For example, a May 2010 publication from USDE included summaries of research in support of teacher and principal evaluations based on value-added and growth measures. The title is “Great Teachers and Great Leaders.” A majority of the “research” citations are not based on peer-reviewed scholarship but came from advocacy groups, the press, and data from government publications.
Then, USDE funded a “Great Teachers and Great Leaders” website, operated by the American Institutes of Research. There you can find many publications treating value-added measures, including a “timeline” of studies that have helped to propagate the myth that value-added metrics, based on student test scores, have merit.
One of the first studies in that timeline is by Wm. Sanders, whose algorithms helped to create the product marketed by SAS® and known as EVAAS® (Education Value-Added Assessment System), now used in Ohio for 50% of a teacher’s evaluation. Also of course, is the one-stop-shop the very keen critical commentary and extensive references on this sham system of evaluation at Vamboozled.
USDE has also channeled money to centers that promote the use of VAM ratings to determine teacher compensation. One is the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. Another is VARC, the Value-Added Research Center at the University of Wisconsin. VARC provided technical assistance to USDE for Teacher Incentive and other grant programs and several years ago had 17 projects in 11 states, many of these in large metro areas, including New York City.
One of the most infamous examples of promoting VAM via USDE’s arms-length grants-based crusade is the absurd Oak Tree analogy with a slide presentation designed for “professional development” That was a product from Wisconsin’s Value-Added Research Center. Teacher effectiveness initiative. varc.wceruw.org/…/Oak%20Tree%20Analogy%20with%20notes%20- %20Bush.pptx
USDE policies for the use of value-added/growth measures purport to be “evidence-based.” The policies are shaped by using cherry-picked studies as PR. This is true not only for VAM but also or the effort to force “Student Learning Objectives” on the majority of teachers, up to 70%, who have job assignments that do not produce statewide scores of the kind needed for VAM. In order to market that fraud, USDE set up the Reform Support Network, the source of many publications written by often anonymous contractors whose advice USDE circulates without regard to fact-checking or any formal endorsement.
In a belated recognition that something may be amiss with the draconian and non-stop use of unproven and problematic measures to evaluate teachers and administrators, USDE commissioned a study for the purpose of getting “rigorous” evidence on whether the evaluation systems called for in federal policy have their intended effects on teacher and leader performance and student achievement.
This five-year, $16 million study of Teacher and Leader Evaluation Systems, conducted by the American Institutes for Research, will be completed in 2017-2018, long after teachers and principals in almost every state have endured the requirements of evaluation systems known to be unreliable and ineffective as means to improve educational outcomes.
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Despite a statewide evaluation system which already requires multiple measures of student growth, WA was denied an ESEA/NCLB waiver in 2014. As a result, Duncan withheld 40,000,000.00 in Title 1 funding to the state as a means of compelling the Legislature to change the language in the existing law from “MAY use SBA/ “state test scores” as one of the multiple measurements” to “MUST.” Furthermore, Duncan REQUIRED in accordance with NCLB law, that WA families be notified in writing that their children were attending “failing schools”. Without the waiver, WA must adhere to the ESEA expectation that 100% of WA students meet proficiency standards in Math and English. He is on record, calling this NCLB law “unfair and irrational” but he had no reservation in using it to punished us with it because we did not employ VAM in teacher evaluations. HE LIED TO CONGRESS!
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Rebecca…does RICO cover lying to Congress? If not, it should.
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All sounds like “Double Speak” to me. Arne Duncan and many, many others directly associated with the VAM, PARCC, etc. must have gone a special school to learn how to speak in a way that confuses even themselves.
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It sounds as though they are requiring proof of growth in learning that is not attached to teacher evals We should require growth in learning.
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