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Florida Educaton Association, Local Teachers To Appeal Teacher Evaluation Case
June 6, 2014
Opponents of a 2011 Florida law that tied teacher evaluations to student performance will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that upheld the constitutionality of the system, according to a document filed Wednesday.
Plaintiffs in the case, which is spearheaded by the Florida Education Association and includes four Escambia County teachers, gave notice that they will appeal to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
The lawsuit, filed last year, raised constitutional due-process and equal-protection arguments. It took issue with part of the law that has allowed some teachers to be evaluated based on the test scores of students who were not in their classrooms. Similarly, teachers could be evaluated on student test scores in subject areas they didn’t teach.
But U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, while raising questions about the fairness of the system, issued a ruling last month that sided with the state and school districts named as defendants in the case.
Walker wrote, in part, that “the state defendants could rationally conclude that the evaluation policies further the state’s legitimate interest in increasing student learning growth. The same can be said of the district defendants.”
Local teachers named as plaintiffs in the case at the time of filing were Emily Jefferis, an art teacher at Ransom Middle School, Cathy McConnell, a music teacher who teaches orchestra at Tate High and Ransom Middle schools, Shauna Paedae, a math teacher in the IB program at Pensacola High, and Catherine Boehme, a biology teacher at West Florida High School. The Escambia Education Association is also a plaintiff in the case.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this story.
Comments
One Response to “Florida Educaton Association, Local Teachers To Appeal Teacher Evaluation Case”
The article needs to explain how teachers are being harmed by this evaluation system. The general public does not understand that Value Added Model (VAM) scores are a projected score that the teachers have little control. A student who is very high on FCAT math and reading and has made adequate yearly progress (AYP) might still not make the VAM score. Since I researched VAM I have come to the conclusion that it is a way to make public schools look bad and not better them. I think that we are being scammed by VAM.