Teacher value-added using Young Lives Ethiopia school survey data - diagnosing the learning crisis: potential applications of value-added analysis

Low learning levels in Ethiopia affect the majority of pupils. Teachers in much of sub-Saharan Africa face large and heterogenous classes in challenging and poorly resourced conditions. The ‘best’ teachers, in terms of teacher skill and effectiveness, are not placed in areas where they are needed the most. While reducing inequality (dispersion) in learning levels is desirable, it is desirable only to the extent that this reduction comes from ‘raising the floor’, not at the expense of pupils who are on target to succeed. Where data are available, there is diagnostic potential in analysing which teachers add more value to pupils’ learning and under what conditions. Estimates of ‘differential teacher value-added’ may serve as a diagnostic tool to help identify which teachers add more value to the learning of particular groups of pupils and under what conditions. Teachers may be more or less effective for particular groups of students depending on factors such as the curriculum or the ability to adapt the curriculum to pupils’ needs.