Following Lawsuit, Florida Releases Teacher Evaluation Scores
Teachers throughout the state have been critical of the value-added model of evaluations.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, shown here in June 2013, said that releasing Florida public school teachers' performance scores is a "grave disservice" to students, parents and teachers.
Performance scores for Florida public school teachers were released Monday by the state Department of Education, following a lawsuit launched by The Florida Times-Union, the Jacksonville newspaper. While other measures of the state's teacher evaluation system had been made open to the public, scores for how much teachers contribute to student growth were previously closed.
Teachers throughout the state – as well as throughout the country – have been critical of the "value-added" model of measuring a teacher's contribution to student growth, which is in place in Florida. The value-added model measures a teacher's contribution to student academic growth by comparing the test scores of an individual teacher's students to the same students' scores from past years, as well as to other students in the same grade.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement that the model is "not an accurate or reliable assessment tool," and that releasing the scores is a "grave disservice" to students, parents and teachers.
"Rather than doing what’s needed to help kids apply knowledge, problem solve, think critically and build trusting relationships, Florida wants to reduce students and teachers to data points," Weingarten said in the statement. "Floridians deserve more.”