Scaling Teacher Effectiveness

A crucial decision rule in the pretest-posttest system is assigning a teacher to one of five effectiveness levels from Least Effective to Most Effective based on the amount of gain shown by the class taking a course. This level is combined with other measures in the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System known as OTES (at the time of preparation, there were two other measures: classroom observation against Ohio teaching standards and a set of alternative measures that includes student surveys, peer surveys, portfolios, etc.)

Clearly, more gain should translate into greater effectiveness on the student gain component of OTES. CETE obtained recommended performance standards for teacher effectiveness using Ohio CTE educator input via online survey during 2015 and again in 2018.  Questions on this survey asked teachers and administrators to relate amounts of gain to teacher effectiveness levels. This is the same process that CETE uses with Ohio educators to obtain input in recommending student performance standards. The Effectiveness Scaling in use is shown below. Note that 5/40 is a 12.5% gain.

How is Teacher Effectiveness calculated?

Teacher Effectiveness is calculated using the results of an Instructor-Administrator survey for Relating Teacher Effectiveness to Student Gain. WebXam psychometric staff conducted a second online survey of Ohio CTE Instructors and local Administrators between 2016 and 2018 (based on “opportunity to learn” the system since its launch). Over 500 CTE stakeholders began the survey, and complete data was provided by many respondents. Gain scores were recalculated for the 2018-2019 school year based on these additional Instructor-Administrator judgments.

Analysis of responses resulted in the following values for the five levels of teacher effectiveness, based on raw scores (0-40 range on a WebXam pretest).

LEVELS→

Most Effective

Above Average Average Approaching Average Least Effective
Gain >=5 4 3 2

<=1

*The previous score mappings have been superseded by the results from a “Scaling Teacher Effectiveness” survey conducted during 2017-18.

Notes:: Gain is calculated as the number of correct posttest answers minus the number of correct pretest answers.

Student gain scores will be made available to local district staff for transmission to eTPES, the statewide data collection system for the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System.