Florida’s VAM-Based Evaluation System Ruled “Unfair but Not Unconstitutional”
From Diane Ravitch’s blog comes an important update re: on the lawfulness of VAM-based systems that I want to be sure readers of this blog didn’t miss.
She writes: “A federal judge in Florida dismissed a lawsuit against the state evaluation system, declaring that it was unfair to rate teachers based on the scores of students they never taught but not unconstitutional.
The evaluation system may be stupid; it may be irrational; it may be unfair; but it does not violate the Constitution. So says the judge.
An article in the Florida Education Association newsletter described the ruling:
“The federal lawsuit, known as Cook v. Stewart, was filed last year by the FEA, the National Education Association and seven accomplished teachers and the local education associations in Alachua, Escambia and Hernando counties. The lawsuit challenged the evaluation of teachers based on the standardized test scores of students they do not teach or from subjects they do not teach. They brought suit against the Florida commissioner of education, the State Board of Education and the school boards of those three counties, who have implemented the evaluation system to comply with 2011’s Senate Bill 736.
“On Tuesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker dismissed FEA’s challenges to the portions of SB 736 that call for teachers to be evaluated based upon students and/or subjects the teachers do not teach, though he expressed reservations on the practice.
We are disheartened by the judge’s ruling. Judge Walker acknowledged the many Florida’s VAM-Based Evaluation System Ruled “Unfair but Not Unconstitutional” |: