Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 October 2025
A continued example of testing misuse involves standardized tests administered in K-12 education. The results of such tests have been used to not only evaluate students, but also the schools, school personnel (e.g., teachers, principals, superintendents) and programs. We focus on one highly touted methodology, value-added models (VAM), that have been advocated as a rigorous scientific solution to what was previously an area rife with subjectivity. Proponents of VAM claim that a better measure of teacher performance is the amount of academic growth students experience after receiving instruction from that teacher. We discuss both the technical and logical flaws of these models. First, claims that changes in student test scores are caused by teachers, administrators, or schools are extremely weak given zero control. Second, the assumptions that achievement tests given at the end of one grade compared to the others can be equally scaled are nothing short of heroic – and very weak. Finally, missing data and small sample sizes make yearly growth estimates anything but reliable or valid. VAM is simply a well-intentioned, very bad idea.
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