Factor Analysis Shows Facets of Teaching
The Empirical team has illustrated quantitatively what a lot of people have suspected. Basic classroom management, keeping things moving along, and the sense that the teacher is in control are most closely associated with achievement gains. We used teacher evaluation data collected by the Measures of Effective Teaching project to develop a three-factor model and found that only one factor was associated with VAM scores. Two other factors—one associated with constructivist pedagogy and the other with positive attitudes—were unrelated to short-term student outcomes. Val Lazarev and Denis Newman presented this work at the Association for Education Finance and Policy Annual Conference on March 13, 2014. And on May 7, Denis Newman and Kristen Koue conducted a workshop on the topic at the CCSSO’s SCEE Summit. The workshop emphasized the way that factors not directly associated with spring test scores can be very important in personnel decisions. The validation of these other factors may require connections to student achievements such as staying in school, getting into college, or pursuing a STEM career in years after the teacher’s direct contact.