Justification for Reversal: Teacher Data Reports

Forwarded from Aminda Gentile, UFT Teacher Center:

The DOE sparked the legal battle in October by deciding to turn over value-added test data, including the names of all 12,000 Teachers in the reports, to the city’s daily newspapers and other organizations that requested the TDRs via a Freedom of Information Law request.The UFT sued to stop the data’s release, saying that it was unproven, flawed and rife with errors and noting that when the union agreed to the value-add program, the DOE had pledged to keep the Teachers’ names secret. In that written agreement of 2008, then-Deputy Chancellor Christopher Cerf had assured then-UFT President Randi Weingarten that the reports “will not and should not be disclosed.”But the city Law Department’s response to the UFT lawsuit argued that “[DOE’s] agreement to maintain confidentiality is of no consequence if it is obligated under FOIL to disclose required information.”

The response, authored by Mr. Levine, says that the FOIL request outweighs any commitments the DOE might have made to the UFT, and suggests that this is a widely accepted fact.

“Public employees generally lack an expectation of privacy in information concerning their performance of public functions,” Mr. Levine wrote. “Records relevant to the job performance of public employees (as the Teacher Data Reports are) must be disclosed under FOIL even when they identify particular employees.”'So What If Data's Wrong?'

The UFT argued that the data behind the TDRs is unproven and flawed, with many errors reported by its members, but the city said, “No case law supports the withholding of statistical data solely because it contains errors...in any event, the TDR process included a recertification process and individual claims of error are addressed by DOE.”

Teachers are indeed invited to report any errors to the DOE, but they are generally not cleared up until the following year’s report. Mr. Levine also dismissed the idea that Teachers who performed badly on the reports will be singled out by parents, who will attempt to keep their children out of those classrooms. Give Parents Important Tool“The TDRs...provide parents with considerable information to make their own judgments of both the effectiveness of their children’s Teachers and the utility of the reports themselves,” he wrote. “This is precisely the sort of disclosure that FOIL was intended to ensure.”Asked about victimization of Teachers in a phone interview, he said, “We’re saying we’re required to do it. FOIL requires it, and it’s up to people how they interpret and use the information, we’re just required to give it.”“There is a strong public interest in disclosing the requested information,” he wrote. “In being entrusted with the futures of the large majority of New York City’s children, Teachers are perhaps the most important public servants in the lives of New York’s youngest citizens and their families. TDRs provide parents with objective means to measure effectiveness.”

Because the reports are data-based and thus supposedly objective, as opposed to performance reviews, the TDRs are no different than any other “statistical tabulations” which are not exempt from FOIL requests, Mr. Levine argued.He also made sure to address the previous FOIL requests, made by the New York Times, the Daily News and the NAACP, which resulted in the DOE releasing data with schools and Teacher names redacted.He said neither paper sought the names, so they weren’t provided.“The New York Times [request] explicitly stated that Teacher names were not being requested; the two remaining requesters implicitly indicated as much by omitting any mention of Teacher names,” he said.The Daily News FOIL request, made by reporter Meredith Kolodner, simply asked for “access to and if necessary copies of Teacher Data Reports produced between 9/1/08 and 8/1/09.”The UFT will submit its reply to the city by Dec. 6, with oral arguments in court scheduled for Dec. 8.Mayor Taps Educator To Assist Black, Save Her Chancellor's JobBy DAVID SIMS

As this newspaper went to press Nov. 29, Mayor Bloomberg’s choice of Cathie Black as Schools Chancellor finally won the approval of State Education Commissioner David Steiner, but only after the Mayor capitulated to his demand to appoint a Chief Academic Officer, with education experience, as her second-in-command.Deputy Chancellor Shael Polakow-Suransky, a former Principal who is currently in charge of performance and accountability at the Department of Education, will serve as Ms. Black’s deputy. Mr. Steiner offered the compromise but was initially rebuffed by Mr. Bloomberg until a panel considering the waiver she needed to serve as Chancellor heeded Mr. Steiner’s recommendation and rejected her application.