In a victory for teachers and the UFT, the Department of Education on Oct. 21 agreed not to release the Teacher Data Reports of more than 12,000 teachers to the media pending a court hearing on Nov. 24.
The DOE made that commitment before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Cynthia Kern as the UFT was in court trying to block the release of the individual names and ratings.
“We’re glad that parents won’t be subjected to more unreliable information from the DOE,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. “Our teachers can now focus on the real task of moving education forward.”
The union contends that the Teacher Data Reports, which are based solely on student performance on standardized math and English Language Arts exams in Grades 4 through 8, rely on an unproven methodology and are marred by inaccurate information and invalid test scores.
The data reports use a complicated and unreliable method for ranking teachers that involves predicting how much students should improve on tests after trying to take into account variables such as poverty and class size that a teacher can't control. Each teacher’s value-added score is determined based on how the predicted scores compare with students' actual scores and then the teacher is ranked based on a peer group of teachers.
In a 2008 letter, former Deputy Chancellor Christopher Cerf assured then-UFT President Randi Weingarten that the reports “will not and should not be disclosed.”
The DOE said it was going to release the data to the media on Oct. 22.
Sincerely,
Michael Mulgrew
UFT President
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