2026 AAEA Summer Conference

In education policy and practice, "growth" is often assumed to mean doing better on a test than last year. But is improvement the same as growth? This session unpacks the critical differences between intuitive notions of student progress—such as higher scores or gains from one year to the next—and how "growth" is formally defined within the Arkansas Department of Education Value-Added Model (VAM).


Participants will explore how the Arkansas VAM conceptualizes growth as a statistical estimate of student performance relative to predicted outcomes, rather than simple score increases. Participants will examine how this distinction affects teacher evaluation, accountability decisions, and classroom practice. Through clear examples and practical scenarios, attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how growth models work, what they measure (and what they do not), and why the definition of growth matters for educators, leaders, and policymakers.


This session invites educators to think critically about what it truly means for students and schools to grow.