Author Grant Wiggins’ recently published a lengthy critique of the use of Value Added Measures for teacher evaluation — Value added – why its use makes me angry (OR: a good idea gone bad, again, in education).

I learned about it from a post by The Washington Post’s Jay Mathews, who wrote a good summary of it.

Wiggins’ briefly discusses his ideas for alternatives, but says he’ll lay it out more in detail in the future. Something he wrote last year might give an idea of what he has in mind.

His piece is definitely worth reading, and I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Value-Added” Approach Towards Teacher Evaluation.

I’d still say, though, that Linda Darling-Hammond’s report that was published last week is still the best VAM critique and the best description of alternatives.