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Value-Added Article 1Running Head: VALUE-ADDED ARTICLE CRITIQUEValue-Added Article CritiqueRichard RoblesClassroom Assessment (18-EDST-633)November 13, 2008
 
Value-Added Article 2Value-Added Article CritiqueValue-added assessment initially grew out of the 1970’s accountability movement insecondary education (Pickering & Bowers, 1990). As it affected higher education, what initiallybecame an idea to gather empirical data to guide program development and study retention andattrition has now become the means to justify student learning success. Governmental agenciesand state legislatures have raised major concern and pressure on higher education institutions toaddress concerns of rising tuition costs, declining graduation rates, and lengthened time-to-degree completion (Klein, Kuh, Chun, Hamilton, & Shavelson, 2005, Noell & Burns, 2006).The following discusses two recent value-added articles as it relates to higher education. Botharticles consider the institution as the unit of analysis but have differing approaches.Measuring Cognitive OutcomesKlein, Kuh, Chun, Hamilton, and Shavelson’s approach to value-added assessmentconsiders the institution as the unit of analysis over the students (2006). Taking into accountseveral direct and indirect measures of student outcome, the researchers developed constructed-response tests consisting of Graduate Record Examination (GRE) essay prompts (make-an-argument, break-an-argument), open-ended critical thinking tests and response performancetasks. Designed to draw on student analytic reasoning and writing skills, the three-hour testswere administered to over 1,365 students from 14 various institutions around the country using amatrix sampling plan during 2002. Student responses were scored by trained two-person teamsand by machine.As part of the scoring process, Klein et al used students’ SAT scores (ACT scores were
 
Value-Added Article 3converted) and grade point averages as a way to compare results among institutions. Thesefigures were then combined with the assigned raw score from the test evaluation and combinedto arrive at an institution’s score. Through regression analysis and modeling, researchers notedhigh correlation between manual and machine test scoring, and between test scores and students’SAT scores and GPA. Longitudinally (from first-year to senior year), the analysis of the datashowed that the average student test scores increased over time for the institution.Value-Added Assessment of Teacher EducationNoell and Burns presented data from a pilot study which emerged from the LouisianaBlue Ribbon Commission for Educational Excellence (2006). The pilot sought to explore theprocess of adopting a value-added model to assess teacher preparation, study the effectiveness of certified teachers, and establish a benchmark for new teachers through “a comparison of theapparent impact of new teachers’ versus experienced certified teachers’ student testperformance” (Noell and Burns, 2006, p. 39). The highly complex study involved teachers andtheir students in grades four to nine. The sample was divided between recent teachers (with lessthan three years of experience) and experienced teachers (with more than three years of experience and holding a permanent teaching certificate). Based on the number of recentteachers, three Louisiana higher education institutions were identified as the point of origin forinstitutional comparison. The dependent variable of the study was an analysis of Englishlanguage arts and math domain scores from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and the LouisianaEducational Assessment Program for the 21
st
Century.Through a series of regression and hierarchical linear modeling, the test scores were
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