The in box. CReATE: Value Added Measures (VAM) are neither valid or reliable.

Media Release:
For Immediate Distribution

Contact information:
Isabel Nunez, Professor, Concordia University Chicago,
isabel.nunez@cuchicago.edu, 708-209-3518
Erica Meiners, Professor, Northeastern Illinois University,
e-meiners@neiu.edu, 773-816-6561

Chicago, IL. As the Chicago Teachers Union begins the second week of
their strike, some political leaders and media commentators are quick to
blame teachers for resisting a system for evaluating teachers that other
states and school districts across the country have already adopted.

But the research is clear: student test scores and “value added measures”
are neither valid nor reliable for evaluating teachers. Half a year ago, a
network of 88 education professors from 16 universities in the Chicago
area, called CReATE (Chicagoland Researchers and Advocates for
Transformative Education), issued the attached open letter, explaining
why this evaluation system is neither research-based nor beneficial to our
city’s children. CReATE is re-releasing this open letter, and urges
public debate, policy decisions, and contract negotiations to draw on
such research expertise.