Arguments Heard Over Publicizing Teacher Data Reports

A courtroom near the end of a long hallway in the New York State Supreme Court was filled to capacity last Wednesday with people interested in hearing the arguments over the right to make Teacher Data Scores available to the public.  

In early fall, several media organizations, including The New York Times, The New York Post and NY1, requested under the Freedom of Information Law that the city's Department of Education make the reports that contain the scores public.

The United Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit to prevent the scores, intended to internally rate teachers, from becoming public information. The news organizations joined the suit, taking the same position as the city: the reports have to be distributed under the Freedom of Information Law.

The suit pits teachers against students because what's at stake are both the teachers reputations and the students' education.

The reports rank 12,000 city teachers based on one factor only: how much they were able to increase students' test scores from one year to the next. 

Jackie Bennett, a special representative for the union and a specialist on teacher accountability and evaluation, stated in her affidavit filed before the hearing that the union's review of Teacher Data Scores shouldn't be used to evaluate teachers because the actual data is wrong.

"A large portion of the reports received are materially flawed," her affadavit read.

The flaws include teachers receiving scores for subjects they didn't teach, students' test results being attributed to the wrong teacher and a large number of students missing in some reports, which points to obvious errors, her affadavit states.

Flawed or not, the city argues it is unlawful to withhold the scores. 

"The statute is very clear," said Jesse Levine, a lawyer for the city. "It does not allow us to withhold these statistics." 

David Schultz, an attorney representing news organizations, said American schools are performing "abysmally," and added that the "evaluations are important for holding teachers accountable."

Those arguments do not matter, according to Charles Moerdler, lawyer for the union.

"If it exposes them to shame or embarrassment you should not do it,"  he said.

In Cobble Hill, at least one school's PTA and Principal are against the releasing of the scores.

In late November more than 70 people marched in front of , the elementary school on Henry Street, chanting and making noise with drums, bells and a triangle for Principal Melanie Raneri Woods.

"Teachers are more than test scores!" they yelled.

The night before the rally the PTA met in the auditorium of the school. Woods said she had written Chancellor Joel Klein a two-page letter.

"This is wildly fluctuating stuff," Woods said referring to the data used to rate the teachers.

While many parents at the PTA meeting said releasing the scores would add a level of "transparency" to the otherwise private practice of evaluating teachers, others said they weren't against releasing data, just not this data.

"We're not against any form of evaluation," said ESL teacher and union Chapter Leader Nicole Nadeau at the rally. "But the way this evaluation is doesn't really represent what the teacher does."

State Supreme Court Judge Cynthia Kern did not set a timetable as to when she will make a decision but both sides are expected to appeal once her it is received. 

Reporting was contributed by Georgia Kral.