Red Beads and Profound Knowledge: Deming and Quality of Education

• Activity Number: 420
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 5, 2014 : 4:00 PM to 5:50 PM
• Sponsor: Deming Lectureship Committee
• Author(s): Sharon Lohr*+
• Companies: Westat
• Keywords: educational evaluation ; mixed models ; quality improvements ; statistics profession ; value-added models

Abstract

Value-added models are being implemented in many states in an attempt to measure the contributions of individual teachers and schools toward students' learning. Scores from these models are increasingly used for high-stakes purposes such as setting compensation, hiring or dismissing teachers, awarding tenure, and closing schools. W. Edwards Deming wrote extensively about improving quality in education and the damage caused by performance rankings. We examine uses and misuses of value-added models in the context of Deming's System of Profound Knowledge, and discuss contributions statisticians can make to improving education.