placement test. Students who passed the test (with a score very near the cut-off for eligibility) and enrolled in a rigorous … college degree than similar students who did not take the class. …

students into academic tracks. Accounting for two classroom characteristics—mean classroom achievement and the standard …

accountability systems, affects the value-added estimates of teachers of students with hard-to-predict achievement levels, such as … students who have low prior achievement and receive free lunch. Teachers of these students tend to have less precise value …-added estimates than teachers of other types of students. Shrinkage increases their estimates’ precision and reduces the absolute …