Elementary School Data Issues: Implications for Research Using Value-Added Models

Elementary School Data Issues: Implications for Research Using Value-Added Models

Working Paper 23
Published: Oct 30, 2013
Publisher: Chicago, IL: Mathematica Policy Research

Associated Project

Value-Added Assessment System for DC Schools and Teachers

Time frame: 2009-2015

Prepared for:

District of Columbia Public Schools

Authors

Eric Isenberg

Bing-ru Teh

This working paper compares teacher/student links that have undergone a roster confirmation process—whereby teachers verify the subjects and students they taught—to teacher/student links from unconfirmed administrative data. Due to the departmentalization of instruction in math and reading/English language arts in grades 4 and 5, about one in six teachers in these grades and subjects is linked in the unconfirmed data to a subject that he or she does not teach. The authors discuss the circumstances in which using unconfirmed teacher/student links in value-added models most affect research.

Efficiency Meets Impact.
That's Progress Together.

To solve their most pressing challenges, organizations turn to Mathematica for deeply integrated expertise. We bring together subject matter and policy experts, data scientists, methodologists, and technologists who work across topics and sectors to help our partners design, improve, and scale evidence-based solutions.

Work With Us