Measuring Improvements in Learning Outcomes: Best Practices to Assess the Value-Added of Schools

Introduction | Table of contents
How to obtain this publication | Additional material | Contact

Introduction

With education systems in all OECD countries coming under increasing pressure to enhance their effectiveness and efficiency, there is a growing recognition of the need for accurate school performance measures. Assessments of student performance are now common in many OECD countries, and the results are often widely reported and used in public debate as well as for school improvement purposes. There are diverging views on how results from evaluation and assessment can and should be used. Some see them primarily as tools to reveal best practices and identify shared problems in order to encourage teachers and schools to improve and develop more supportive and productive learning environments. Others extend their purpose to support contestability of public services or market-mechanisms in the allocation of resources, e.g. by making comparative results of schools publicly available to facilitate parental choice or by having funds following students. Regardless of the objectives of measuring school performance it is important that they truly reflect the contributions which individual schools make rather than merely or partly the different socio-economic conditions under which teachers teach and schools operate. If this is not the case, resources can be misallocated and perverse incentives created if, for example, schools can receive a higher performance measure through academic selection or through selecting students from privileged socioeconomic backgrounds, rather than improving outcomes through investment in better instructional methods.

• Complete introduction

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Value-Added Modelling: A Definition
• Format of this Report

Part I. Objectives and Use of Value-Added Modelling

• Chapter 1. Policy Objectives of the Development of a System of Value-Added Modelling
• Chapter 2. Presentation and Interpretation of Value-Added Models
• Chapter 3. Application of Value-Added Models for Internal School Improvement
• Annex: Implementation of a System of Value-Added Modelling; Key Steps in the Implementation Phase

Part II. The Design of Value-Added Models

• Chapter 4. Design Considerations
• Chapter 5. Illustrative Value-Added Models
• Chapter 6. Model Choice: Statistical and Methodological Issues

Part III. Implementation of a System of Value-Added Modelling

• Chapter 7. Setting Policy Objectives and Choosing the Appropriate Value-Added Model
• Chapter 8. Further Development and Use of Value-Added Modelling
• Bibliography

How to obtain this publication

Readers can access the full version of Measuring Improvements in Learning Outcomes: Best Practices to Assess the Value-Added of Schools choosing from the following options:

• Subscribers and readers at subscribing institutions can access the online edition via SourceOECD, our online library.
• Non-subscribers can purchase the PDF e-book and/or paper copy via our Online Bookshop.
• Order from your local distributor
• Government officials with accounts (subscribe) can go to the "Books" tab on OLIS.
• Access by password for accredited journalists

Additional material

• Podcast: How Well are Schools Really Doing?

Contact

For any questions related to this report, please contact

Ben Jensen

Directorate for Education

Tel: (33 1) 45 24 98 05

Email: Ben.Jensen@oecd.org