State of North Carolina will use a suite of software from SAS to analyze just how effective – or not – educators are performing, the bottom line being student growth.
The state’s Department of Public Instruction has contracted to use a package called SAS Education Value-Added Assessment System to benchmark and track student performance.
The data will be used in evaluations of more than 100,000 educators, including some 97,000 teachers.
The SAS system measures students based on a variety of test scores.
The contract totals $1.85 million, but it could be “expanded to accommodate DPI’s expanded use of the software to support the growth model standard,” a SAS spokesperson said.
“SAS Education Value-Added Assessment System collects student growth data that drives improvements in teaching and learning in North Carolina public schools,” said State Board of Education Chairman Bill Harrison in a statement. “This tool helps educators gauge student progress and identify students who are falling behind. It provides another resource for teachers and school leaders as they prepare students for success in college and careers.”
DPI said information about individual teachers will not be reported but reports about standards at schools will be public.
The results also will be added to a “student growth standard” that currently includes five measures.
Principals will now be evaluated on eight measures with the SAS addition.
The SAS system has been available for use across the state since 2006 and is employed at schools across 20 states.
North Carolina used information gathered from the SAS system which showed ”independent progress in several areas, including using student test data” to appeal for and win a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
[SAS ARCHIVE: Check out a decade of SAS stories as reported in WRAL Tech Wire.]
(Editor’s note: This story has been corrected that individual teacher information will not be reported.)
