This paper uses a rich set of student background characteristics to estimate the value added of second-level schools in Ireland. We show that there is a considerable degree of reranking of schools when we move from analysing raw outcomes to value added; in many cases the best performing schools in raw terms are not the best in value-added terms.…

Business schools need to maintain student academic satisfaction. A key component of a business school's curriculum is its core or required courses. This study compared graduating business student perceptions about core course scales, their combined quantitative versus qualitative and challenging versus added value impact, on types of student…

In the present study, we examine whether characteristics of student teaching sites and cooperating teachers predict teacher candidates' edTPA scores. Using data from North Carolina, we find that candidates earn higher edTPA scores if they student-taught in a high value-added school and with a cooperating teacher earning higher evaluation ratings.…

School value-added models are widely applied to study, monitor, and hold schools to account for school differences in student learning. The traditional model is a mixed-effects linear regression of student current achievement on student prior achievement, background characteristics, and a school random intercept effect. The latter is referred to…

There is no final consensus regarding which covariates should be used (in addition to prior achievement) when estimating value-added (VA) scores to evaluate a school's effectiveness. Therefore, we examined the sensitivity of evaluations of schools' effectiveness in math and language achievement to covariate selection in the applied VA model. Four…

This study compares the estimated grammar school effect in different regression models, and explains why previous evidence of the effectiveness of grammar school is mixed. Like most studies of school effectiveness evaluation, previous research on grammar school effect usually applies regression to control for confounding between-school factors and…

International branch campuses are an important form of transnational education. Although there exists a substantial literature on the rationale and the motivation to study in International Branch Campuses, research on the customer value offered by the international branch campuses has been overlooked. In order to fill this research gap, this study…

There is an enduring issue on whether student- and school-level covariates should be included in value-added school effects models, in addition to prior achievement. Proponents argue that the addition of covariates allows fairer comparisons of schools, whereas opponents argue that it excuses poorly performing schools and obscures policy-relevant…

Helping students engage with complex texts has been a longstanding challenge, though teachers have received little guidance about practices that help students in engaging with texts. This paper provides a range of empirical evidence about a tool designed to provide formative insight into text-focused teaching, which we used to reliably score more…

We study the relative performance of two policy-relevant value-added models--a one-step fixed effect model and a two-step aggregated residuals model--using a simulated data set well grounded in the value-added literature. A key feature of our data generating process is that student achievement depends on a continuous measure of economic…

We examine the relationship between district level student achievement and teacher average salary in Ohio from academic year 2013-14 to academic year 2018-19. Utilizing panel data, the following district level characteristics were controlled for: average teacher experience, average teacher degree-level, student socioeconomic status, race, student…

We used longitudinal data on high school students in Washington State to assess the relationships between English Language Arts (ELA) teacher qualifications and the high school and postsecondary outcomes of their students, and whether these relationships differed for students with and without disabilities. We found that students assigned to…

In the UK, USA and elsewhere, school accountability systems increasingly compare schools using value-added measures of school performance derived from pupil scores in high-stakes standardised tests. Rather than naïvely comparing school average scores, which largely reflect school intake differences in prior attainment, these measures attempt to…

It is widely believed that the teacher is one of the most important factors influencing a student's success at school. In many countries, teachers' salaries and promotion prospects are determined by their students' performance. Value-added models (VAMs) are increasingly used to measure teacher effectiveness to reward or penalize teachers. The aim…

Existing research on "school effectiveness" indicates that differences at the school level contribute significantly towards variation in student outcomes; however, less is known about the effectiveness of schooling in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper addresses this gap using quantitative analysis of data from two…