New York court decision throws out use of 'VAM' for teacher evaluations... New York's highest court notes that the VAM system is bogus.
In a case that has huge implications for Chicago teachers, Sheri Lederman, desecribed as "a beloved fourth-grade teacher from Great Neck, New York," just won a lawsuit to have her 2013-14 VAM score of “ineffective” rating vacated and set aside by the Supreme Court of New York State. Like many states and school districts, New York was trying to utilize the so-called "Value Added" measures of student performance (VAM for short) to evaluate teacher effectiveness. Lederman challenged the practice in state court and won.
A New York State court on Tuesday threw out a teacher’s evaluation for the 2013-14 school year, based on a controversial state rating system, saying that it had been “arbitrary and capricious.”
www.nytimes.com/...
New York Justice Roger D. McDonough, who heard the case, recognized that score for what it was — “arbitrary” and “capricious.” The same type of scores are used to evaluate teachers and can be used to lay off teachers out of seniority according to the agreement with Chicago Public Schools and Illinois State law.
In his written decisions, Judge McDonough said he based his decision on the following five factors:
-- the convincing and detailed evidence of VAM bias against teachers at both ends of the spectrum (e.g. those with high-performing students or those with low-performing students);
-- the disproportionate effect of petitioner’s small class size and relatively large percentage of high-performing students;
-- the functional inability of high-performing students to demonstrate growth akin to lower-performing students;
-- the wholly unexplained swing in petitioner’s growth score from 14 to 1 despite the presence of statistically similar scoring students in her respective classes;
-- the strict imposition of rating constraints in the form of a “bell curve” that places teachers in four categories via pre-determined percentages regardless of whether the performance of students dramatically rose or dramatically fell from the previous...
According to the justice, the state failed to make its case in rationally explaining how Lederman’s score could so wildly swing in one year. The judge added that the petitioner met the high burden of proof needed for his ruling. The assessment system using the VAM method was developed when John King, the new U.S. education secretary, was the New York State education commissioner.
Chicago teachers who have studied the problems with VAM have regularly criticized the Chicago Board of Education's practice of utilizing the mismeasure. Three years ago, Chicago teachers heard from Jim Horn, whose book "The Mismeasure of Education" exposed the fraud of VAM. Nevertheless, CPS continued to pay a "Chief Accountability Officer" originally hired by Barbara Byrd Bennett after the disgraced former CEO was gone. John Barker, a VAM proponent who had been hired from Memphis, was only eliminated from Chicago a few months ago.
Here is the message from her attorney (and husband) Bruce Lederman:
"I am very pleased to attach a 13 page decision by J udge Roger McDonough which concludes that Sheri has “met her high burden and established that Petitioner’s growth score and rating for the school year 2013-2014 are arbitrary and capricious.”
nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/...
The decision should qualify as persuasive authority for other teachers challenging growth scores throughout the County. Court carefully recites all our expert affidavits, and discusses at some length affidavits from Professors Darling-Hammond, Pallas, Amrein-Beardsley, Sean Corcoran and Jesse Rothstein as well as Drs. Burris and Lindell . It is clear that the evidence all of these amazing experts presented was a key factor in winning this case since the Judge repeatedly said both in Court and in the decision that we have a “high burden” to meet in this case. The Court wrote that the court “does not lightly enter into a critical analysis of this matter … [and] is constrained on this record, to conclude that petitioner has met her high burden” ...To my knowledge, this is the first time a judge has set aside an individual teacher’s VAM rating based upon a presentation like we made.
Sources:
- NY teacher victorious in having court throw out VAM score - Network For Public Education. (2016). Retrieved May 12, 2016, from networkforpubliceducation.org/...
- A master teacher went to court to challenge her low evaluation. What her win means for her profession. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2016, from www.washingtonpost.com/...
- Judge calls evaluation of N.Y. teacher ‘arbitrary’ and ‘capricious’ in case against new U.S. secretary of education. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2016, from www.washingtonpost.com/...
- Sheri G. Lederman Ed.D. vs. New York suarezepr68.wordpress.com/...
NY Judge finds rating teachers through growth (test) scores "arbitrary and capricious"p>
CROSSPOSTED @
www.substancenews.net/...§ion=Article