William Sanders

William Sanders is famous as the father of the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System. Until recently, he was a math professor and director of the Value-Added Research and Assessment Center at University of Tennessee. He now hangs his hat in North Carolina, where he heads up the SAS in School program. He hopes to bring the power of his methods to school districts nationally.

Sanders stands for a hopeful and controversial view: teacher effectiveness dwarfs all other factors as a predictor of student academic growth. His position challenges decades of assumptions that student family life, income, or ethnicity has more effect on student learning. Sanders believes, in brief, that teachers matter most.

His work is the foundation of the entire accountability system in Tennessee. Since 1992, it's been changing the way that teachers assess students, the way that principals assess teachers, and the way that superintendents assess principals. Of course, it has enabled the public to better assess schools, as well.

Sanders' work has enabled citizens and lawmakers to better assess how effectively teachers teach. This is part of the hidden power of his view of gain score. It is certain to keep him at the center of the accountability debates.

To find out more about Sanders' groundbreaking work, take a look at the items below.

He's Got Your Number. This feature article in the May 2000 issue of Teacher Magazine is a lively and complete introduction to the man and his ideas. It's an easy read, and a good place to start. The skeptics and challengers to Sanders' work are also interviewed. The impact of his work in Tennessee schools is clearly outlined, too. Many other articles are cross-referenced here.

Tennessee System for Gauging Results Angers Some Educators but Gains Acceptance Elsewhere. Jay Mathews, one of the best education reporters in the U.S., provided this overview of Sanders work in the Washington Post in March 2000. Mathews stresses the impact of Sanders' measures on teachers' views of their own work. He relates the conversion of one teacher from skeptic to true-believer. A great starting point to learn more which offers links galore to other material.

Sanders 101: In May 1999, Education Week published this feature that explains William Sanders methods, and which tells the story of the political evolution of the Tennessee law based on his work. The Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System was made possible by William Sanders work. But the fascinating story of the law's passage reveals much about the obstacles limiting its acceptance elsewhere.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About the Tennessee Value Added Assessment System. This easy-to-read introduction is written by William Sanders and Sandra Horn. It focused on the core findings, that the effect of teachers on the rate of student learning is the most important factor of all.

Value-Added Assessment: An Accountability Revolution. This major research article by J.E. Stone is aimed at educators and policy people. But if you're ambitious, it's worth wading through. The author is an advocate of Sanders' work. His article combs the literature, and offers dozen of citations useful to anyone giving serious study to the research.

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