Measuring Progress and Achievement... "The Power of Two"

Contact:

Heather Adams, (518) 464-3995
hadams@gw.neric.org

900 Watervliet-Shaker Road, Suite 102
Albany, NY 12205

Overview

Value-Added Analysis is a statistical method used to measure schools' impact on the academic progress rates of individual students and groups of students from year to year. Value-Added is not a replacement for the analysis of student achievement data which shows where students and schools are in relation to their proficiency toward State Standards. Through Value-Added, achievement and progress are measured, providing districts with "The Power of Two."

Capital Region BOCES offers Value-Added Analysis as a service for districts to initiate the use of the Value-Added Analysis and professional development to improve teaching and learning. The BOCES has entered into a statewide contract with "Battelle for Kids," a not-for-profit agency from Columbus, Ohio, who has pioneered the training in understanding and using Value-Added Analysis throughout the nation, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.

Read educator testimonials

Participating Districts

We began our Value-Added pilot in the 2005-2006 school year with seven districts. Based on the feedback from participating districts and the enthusiasm expressed across the state for Value-Added, we began taking Value-Added statewide in the 2007-2008 school year. We currently have 39 districts from 20 BOCES participating in the Value-Added Analysis and training program. Currently we have districts participating from Erie County to Eastern Suffolk County and many in between.

How to Participate in Value-Added

To implement Value-Added Analysis, districts engage in two processes:

Data

First, a district must be able to provide the required prior and current achievement test scores for all of their students in grades 4-8 in the 2009-2010 school year (see data points chart, a PDF document). This data will provide districts with 2009-2010 Value-Added reports for grades 4-8.

District Team

Secondly, the district must commit to the training of at least a three-person team who will serve as district turnkey trainers. The team should be comprised of the person in the district who has system-wide responsibility for curriculum and staff development, a building or subject area administrator, and a teacher leader.

The training involves five full days spread out over a five- to seven-month period with reading and opportunities for application between sessions. The training is designed to prepare the team to provide Value-Added implementation training within their district. Capital Region BOCES would require a training group of at least six teams from any BOCES/Region in order for us to conduct localized training.

View current professional development opportunities (Value-Added and others)

BOCES Aidable

Value-Added is BOCES aidable in three areas:

Student Analysis (Aidable through cross contract with Capital Region BOCES under BOCES COSER 604 RIC activity code 7710) — $3.00 per student in grades 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in the 2009-2010 school year. SAS, the nationally well-regarded statistical analysis firm using the Value-Added metric developed by William Sanders, will carry out the analysis and produce the Web-based reports.

Data Formatting and Transmission — Your district will need to work with your local Regional Information Center (RIC) to organize and format the data allowing for the transmission of the data to SAS. Your local RIC will determine if there is a cost associated with this service.

Team Training (Aidable if your district participates in your BOCES School/Curriculum Improvement COSER – cross contract with Capital Region BOCES under 507 School/Curriculum Improvement activity code 6211) — $3,750 for the three-person district team participating in the 5 days of training. This fee encompasses the training, lunches and break refreshments, and a comprehensive set of resource materials to assist the team in implementing Value-Added in their district (if the district is part of a six or more team training location see information about this under “district team” above).

Districts at their option may send up to three additional staff as part of their team at an additional cost of $500 per person. Capital Region BOCES will discuss cost options with districts choosing to send more than one team. One Training Tool Kit is included in the cost for a team of up to six participants. Capital Region BOCES will discuss cost options for districts wanting to participate in localized training without the necessary six teams in the area for a training cohort.

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