Poverty vs Student Achievement and Ethnic Composition

With few exceptions, low-poverty schools have high percentages of proficient readers and high-poverty schools have lower percentages–regardless of the school’s ethnic makeup (see selected states below).  This evidence argues against the view that the generally low percentages of proficient readers in high minority schools are the result of racial discrimination.  Rather, it is consistent with the view that the low reading proficiencies of high-minority schools are principally a function of their high percentages of economically disadvantaged students.  Most economically disadvantaged … Read More

Tennessee’s Value-Added Assessment

Since 2005, the Education Consumers Foundation has collected and analyzed value-added data from the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS), the most sophisticated value-added system in the country. The Foundation has used that data to identify and reward effective school leaders, help consumers determine how effective their local schools are, uncover information on the relationship between poverty and effectiveness, and identify practices common to effective schools.  Follow the links below to learn more about school effectiveness in Tennessee:   … Read More

School Ranking Charts

Tennessee was the first state to systematically gather and disseminate district and school-level value-added data in 1995.  It was and is the most statistically sophisticated methodology in use.  The Education Consumers Foundation was the first to compile Tennessee’s TVAAS scores into online, interactive and printable graphics that allow users to see schools statewide ranked on the basis of their effectiveness in lifting student achievement.  Since that time, numerous states and school districts have adopted what is essentially the same … Read More

Achievement vs. Growth “Birdshot” Chart

Tennessee Growth vs. Achievement “Birdshot” Chart   Tennessee school performance is measured on two factors: achievement, assessed with the TCAP and ACT tests; and growth, seen in TVAAS (i.e., value-added) results. Parents can compare the performance of their child’s school with others across the district or the state by viewing ECF’s interactive Growth vs. Achievement Charts. Links to charts of recent years are listed below.  Note that the 2011 charts for elementary and middle grades rely on a “Growth … Read More

Are Tennessee’s Children Learning to Read?

Reading is the most essential skill that children learn in school. It is taught over a 4-5 year period that begins in preschool or kindergarten and extends to 3rd grade. Beyond 3rd grade, schooling turns from learning to read, to reading to learn. Promoting children to the 4th and subsequent grades without sound reading skills not only reduces their chances of success, it misleads their parents about the child’s progress, it unloads poorly equipped and discouraged learners on … Read More