The attached contract and statement of work identify three broad areas that will be investigated.  In Task 1 (a-d) Education Analytics will study various district tests that are used in teacher evaluation and, through item analysis, recommend further changes in items and tests.  In Task 2 they will investigate further the relationship between written evaluation and value-added scores in an attempt to answer several questions such as “Are some parts of the written evaluation more directly linked to student achievement than others?” and “How does the stability of written evaluations compare to the stability of value-added over time?”  Task 3 focuses on professional development; Education Analytics will help develop new materials which will build upon the explanations that have been demonstrated through VARCs “Oak Tree Analogy” which has helped educators in the district learn more about value-added models.