D.C. Council considers steps to restrict public access to teacher evaluations
The Washington Teachers Union and open-government advocates are urging the D.C. Council to slow down a vote that would curb access to information related to teacher evaluations, one of the most controversial aspects of education reform efforts in the District.
A proposed amendment, included in the Budget Support Act that the council is scheduled to vote on Tuesday, would block public record requests for individual education evaluations, “effectiveness ratings,” observations, and other assessments. Summary or aggregate-level data would not be exempted from public release.
Elizabeth Davis, president of the Washington Teachers Union, said the wording of the measure is confusing and could potentially have broad effects, including limiting the union’s ability to represent its members.
She called it a “secrecy provision” that the public should have more time to weigh in on.
“Without access to this data, there’s no way for the public or our union to tell whether the strategies DCPS uses —l ike mayoral control — are helping students or simply creating school closures and high teacher turnover,” she wrote last week in a letter to Phil Mendelson, chairman of the D.C. Council.
Many states have recently passed or amended laws to protect teacher evaluations from being made public. Unions frequently advocate to keep such information private.
In 2010, the Los Angeles Times sparked a national debate when it published teachers names alongside value-added scores that attempt to measure a teacher’s effectiveness based largely on standardized tests. Many educators consider the scores misleading and their publication unfair.
District officials said individual-level records are already exempt from public records requests from D.C. Public Schools because they are considered D.C. Council considers steps to restrict public access to teacher evaluations - The Washington Post: