Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in discussion-list
post "Is the 'Teacher Effect' the Dominant Factor in Students'
Academic Gain?" [Hake (2011)].
The abstract reads:
**************************************
ABSTRACT: In his PhysLrnR post Rob Spencer pointed out that Sanders &
Rivers (1996) in "Cumulative and Residual Effects of Teachers on
Future Student Academic Achievement" concluded that "Within grade
levels, the single most dominant factor affecting student academic
gain is teacher effect." This post considers four items relevant to
Spencer's post:
I . VALUE-ADDED ASSESSMENT (VAA) criticized earlier in (a) "First,
Let's Fire All the Teachers!" [Hake (2010a,b)], and (b) "Value-Added
Inequities: Should Value-Added Measures Be Used to Evaluate
Teachers?" [Hake (2011a,b)]; and in this post by reference to (c)
"Using Student Progress To Evaluate Teachers: A Primer on Value-Added
Models" [Braun (2005) <http://bit.ly/gZiJdH>], (d) "Challenges of
Value-Added Assessment" [Doran & Fleischman (2005)
<http://bit.ly/dF6CuB>], (e)"Problems with the use of student test
scores to evaluate teachers" [Baker, Barton, Darling-Hammond,
Haertel, Ladd, Linn, Ravitch, Rothstein, Shavelson, & Shepard (2010)
<http://bit.ly/h8k5Fw>], (f) "The Death and Life of the Great
American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining
Education"[Ravitch (2010) <http://amzn.to/faJ9JZ>].
II. SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (SES) stressed by Bernard Ricca, who pointed
to Toni Feder's 2009 "Physics Today" report on Marder & Bansal
(2009). Their statistical-mechanics study of "Flow and diffusion of
high-stakes test scores"<http://bit.ly/hYbbLe> indicated that:
"Poverty is a more powerful influence on test scores than value added
by teachers and schools." The case that poverty is an overriding
influence on students' classroom achievement has been forcefully
argued by David Berliner in "Our Impoverished View of Educational
Reform" [Berliner (2009) <http://bit.ly/ff8BVj>], and "Poverty and
Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success" [Berliner (2010)
<http://bit.ly/fqiCUA>].
III. LESSONS FROM THE PHYSICS EDUCATION REFORM EFFORT suggest that:
(a) high school, college, and university courses employing
"Interactive Engagement" (IE) methods result in average normalized
gains <g> in conceptual understanding that are about two standard
deviations greater the <g>'s achieved by traditional (T)
passive-student lecture courses [Hake (1998a,b; 2008); (b) "Teachers
who possess both content knowledge and 'pedagogical content
knowledge' are better equipped to deliver IE instruction" [Hake
(2002)]; and (c) paraphrasing Wells et al. (1995): "teacher expertise
is the critical factor in improving introductory physics
instruction." I suspect that the growing body of educational research
in disciplines other than physics will eventually show that these
same lessons apply to most other academic subjects.
IV. IS THE 'TEACHER EFFECT' THE DOMINANT FACTOR IN STUDENTS' ACADEMIC
GAIN?" Judging from the all above:
(a) if "academic gain" means "gain in higher-level learning for *U.S.
K-12 students*," then the answer is: "NO! POVERTY is the dominant
factor" - see 'I' and 'II' above, and the next most important factor
is the degree to which 'Interactive Engagement' is provided by
courses and teachers - see III above";
(b) if "academic gain" means "gain in higher-level learning for
*students in higher education* then the answer is: "The dominant
factor in promoting academic gain is the degree to which 'Interactive
Engagement' in provided by courses and teachers - see III above."
"The [Race to the Top] initiative should support research based on
data that links student test scores with their teachers, but should
not prematurely promote the use of value-added approaches (which
evaluate teachers based on gains in their students' performance) to
reward or punish teachers."
"Letter Report to the U.S. Dept. of Education on the Race to
the Top Fund"
[NRC (2009)]
REFERENCES [All URL's accessed on 07 March 2011 and shortened by
<http://bit.ly/>.]
Hake, R.R. 2011. "Is the 'Teacher Effect' the Dominant Factor in
Students' Academic Gain?" online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at
<http://bit.ly/g6UWUZ>. Post of 7 Apr 2011 17:51:59-0700 to AERA-L
and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being
transmitted to various discussion lists and are also on my blog
"Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/ifvkSz>.
NRC. 2009. National Research Council, Board on Testing and Assessment
(chaired by E.H. Haertel), "Letter Report to the U.S. Department of
Education on the Race to the Top Fund," online at
<http://bit.ly/dOg8v6>.