Value-added assessment from student achievement data: Opportunities and hurdles

Let me share with you how honored I am to receive an award named after the late Dr. Jay Millman. In 1983, after completing the first of our research studies that began our continuing work in value-added, our report was sent by officials in the Tennessee Department of Education for review by Dr. Millman. It is no secret that many in the Department at the time were assuming that his anticipated critical review would put an end to such a preposterous idea-that student achievement data could be used as part of teacher evaluation. Days turned into weeks; each time that I would inquire of the Department as to when we would hear from the review, I was always told that they had not received it. One day I called Dr. Millman and explained my frustration of not hearing from the review and inquired as to when it might be available. He immediately interrupted and explained that he had sent the review several weeks previous to that day and that he would be glad to send me a copy of his remarks, obviously very angry that they had not been passed on to me. Upon receiving and reading his review, it became obvious why I had not received a copy from the Department. Even though he raised many important questions, his review was most objective and generally very positive. Later, he asked us to submit chapters to the book on student outcomes assessment models that he edited. In all of my interactions with Jay, I developed the utmost respect for this distinguished scholar, and I am glad that fate let our paths cross. © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers.