Whitman Elementary - Tulsa Public Schools

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The District rolled out its value-added reporting in the fall of 2011, including background information about how
value-added works and detailed reports regarding each school’s value added estimates. This information is available at
the TPS Student Progress Portal. Value-added reporting is a project of the District's Teacher and Leader Effectiveness
initiative made possible by community donor funds and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. At present, Tulsa
Public Schools is the only district in the state reporting such information. In 2013-2014, other districts in the state
will be required to calculate and report value-added data.
There are school-level and teacher-level reports. In addition to grade/course reporting, there is rich detail in
each school and teacher-level report regarding the school/teacher’s impact on different subgroups—in particular, their
impact on students of different prior achievement levels, ELL students, and special education students.
TPS data teams of District administrators, school principals, staff development teachers, and teachers are using
value-added analysis to measure the effectiveness of our practices and programs, identify and respond to our strengths
and challenges, and improve student achievement. Value-added analysis is a core strategy being modeled and
developed in the District’s year-long plan for principal development for rollout to the individual school sites.
Value-added data is incorporated into schools’ WISE plans as an indicator related to the selection and retention of
teachers. In In the future, pursuant to state law, TPS also plans to use this value-added data as one of the components
of teachers’ and principals’ evaluations.
Value-added information provides schools and teachers with important diagnostic information that was not
previously available with traditional achievement reporting. Value-added information allows educators to assess their
impact on student learning and can help initiate conversations about the efficacy of curriculum, instructional practices
and programs. Educators can use the information to modify their instruction and practices to maximize student learning.
Value-added information also allows educators to better identify what is working well and areas for improvement to
help individual students and groups of students.
The primary use of value-added data is to help identify the practices that have the greatest impact on student
growth so that they can be replicated elsewhere. Teachers with value-added data use the detail within their individual
reports to identify their strengths and areas for improvement.
In the following pages, there is:
• Value added and achievement data (priority school detail (table) and District-wide detail (scatterplot)
• Example of value-added reporting provided to every school and available to all stakeholders on our TPS Student
Progress Portal (school-level reports for each Priority School are provided within their individual responses
regarding Historical Data Analysis)
• Examples of training on and reflection of value-added data
• Agendas and materials from Principal Leadership Conferences in which value-added data was analyzed and
incorporated into school improvement planning.