Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Characterization Of A Value Added Model And A New Multi-Stage Model For Estimating Teacher Effects Within Small School Systems, Julie M. Garai

Department of Statistics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Work

At both the national and state level there is increasing pressure to develop metrics to determine if school systems are meeting educational objectives. All states mandate some form of assessment by standardized tests. One method currently used to model student test scores is Value Added Modeling (VAM), which models student scores as a product of classroom and school environments. One VAM approach is the Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS) which models student gains from year to year. Teacher effects are included in this layered model, which estimates the teacher’s added value to a student score through best linear unbiased …