Using administrative longitudinal data from five states, we study how value-added measures
of teacher performance are affected by changes in state standards and assessments. We
first document the stability of teachers' value-added rankings during transitions to new
standard and assessment regimes and compare our findings to stability during stable
standard and assessment regimes. We also examine the predictive validity of value-added
estimates during nontransition years over transition-year student achievement. In most …

Policies that require the use of information about student achievement to evaluate teacher
performance are becoming increasingly common across the United States, but there is some
question as to how or whether to use student test-based teacher evaluations when student
assessments change. We bring empirical evidence to bear on this issue. Specifically, we
examine how estimates of teacher value-added are influenced by assessment changes
across 12 test transitions in two subjects and five states. In all of the math transitions we …