Great Neck Teacher Sues NYSED Over "Ineffective" Rating

[Chris_Wendt]

Here it is, the first lawsuit by a teacher harmed by the Common Core APPR evaluation process (as I had predicted, months and months ago)...

"Sheri G. Lederman, a veteran teacher in the Great Neck elementary schools has filed a lawsuit against the state Education Department, challenging the teacher evaluation model after receiving an “ineffective” on the portion of her rating tied to students’ test performance — one year after she was scored as “highly effective.” Lederman is a fourth-grade teacher with a doctorate in education. She alleges the evaluation system is statistically flawed, lacks a proper appeals process and can be particularly unfair to teachers whose students consistently score well on state standardized tests." Nov. 3, 2014 (Credit: Newsday / Chuck Fadely)

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"A veteran teacher in the Great Neck elementary schools has filed a lawsuit against the state Education Department, challenging the teacher evaluation model after receiving an "ineffective" on the portion of her rating tied to students' test performance -- one year after she was scored as "highly effective."

Sheri G. Lederman, a fourth-grade teacher with a doctorate in education, alleges the evaluation system is statistically flawed, lacks a proper appeals process and can be particularly unfair to teachers whose students consistently score well on state standardized tests.

She is quoted as saying: "After 17 years of devotion to my career, it made me seriously think about walking away from my classroom," in an interview Monday in her Jericho home(emphasis added).

The rating system, known as Annual Professional Performance Review, or APPR, has drawn ire from educators opposed to having students' progress on tests as a key measure of teacher effectiveness. Teachers and principals receive composite ratings of "highly effective," "effective," "developing" and "ineffective."

Performance is determined by scores in three areas, with 20 percent based on students' state test scores, 20 percent on assessments chosen locally and 60 percent on an array of other objective measures, such as classroom observations.

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The court papers, filed Oct. 27 in Albany, name Education Commissioner John B. King Jr., Assistant Commissioner Candace H. Shyer and the department's Office of State Assessment.

The student growth measure "punishes excellence in education through a statistical black box which no rational educator or fact-finder could see as fair, accurate or reliable," the lawsuit states.

Sheri Lederman scored a 1 out of 20 in the "student growth" portion of her 2013-14 assessment, making her rating in that category "ineffective" and lowering her composite rating to "effective."

In the 2013-14 school year, 72.2 percent of her students met or exceeded state standards on standarized math tests and 61.l percent met or exceeded the standards on English Language Arts tests, the lawsuit said. That was more than twice the state average for fourth-graders' performance, it said.

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The teacher said as her feelings went from shock to distress to anger, she decided to fight the score she calls "offensive."

"This is not [teacher] union versus state Ed," Lederman said. "This is about individual teachers and bringing down people who have a passion for the education of children."

Thomas P. Dolan, superintendent of Great Neck schools, and Sharon Fougner, principal of the Elizabeth M. Baker Elementary School, where Lederman teaches, submitted affidavits supporting her.

Dolan, in his affidavit, called Lederman's teaching record "flawless."

"In an era where teacher statistics are sometimes published, or may eventually become public information, either through freedom of information requests or otherwise, improper identification of exceptional teachers as ineffective cannot be allowed to occur," his affidavit said.

Sheri Lederman received her bachelor's degree from Brandeis University, her master's from LIU Post and her doctorate in education from Hofstra University, where her dissertation won a universitywide award given for exceptional work.

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"Sheri Lederman is the type of teacher that any parent would want their children to have, and it is a travesty when the state assessment system improperly labels them ineffective, encouraging them to resign," said Bruce Lederman, her attorney and husband.

Quoted and paraphrased material written by CANDICE FERRETTE with John Hildebrand, published at Newsday.com (Link: www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/great-neck-teacher-sues-state-over-teacher-evaluation-system-1.9581397?cmpid=Newsday_Now)

Sobering.

Chris Wendt

[rr]

hmmm...interesting timing for this. I like to think there's two sides (usually more) to each story and it doesn't surprise me that her lawyer/husband from their Jericho home thinks his wife is a teacher that all parents would want.

Sorry but I don't usually buy just one side of the story, smoke usually equals fire and there's likely more to this story that will have to come to light.

It's really not all that sobering to me, a major transition is not something that comes quickly or easily, real change is hard to work through. I can understand that it might be shocking for a 17 year veteran to break from their history and experience, to be told you're exceptional for so many years and then be told that you're not that exceptional might be sobering for the people being told you're just 'effective'...

The real sobering, I would call it sickening, part is that BS like this, teachers suing their schools for being told they're 'effective', could do damage to meaningful and needed change. It's ridiculous and anger inducing, this is the type of news that simply confirms some of my feelings.

[rr]

Just as a correction - the title of the thread implies that multiple teachers are suing, it's just one...

[Chris_Wendt]

Well, this is a real lawsuit, filed in a real court of competent jurisdiction. So, feelings aside, we will have to watch and wait to see how this is adjudicated.

This scenario is also reflective of what happens when the federal government tries to meddle in State education policy, as in this case, shoving one law onto the NYSED, without the State Legislature concurrently amending the controlling laws of the State of New York (including, inter alia, NY Ed Law §3020a) to conform to APPR, which will probably never happen, or at least not in my lifetime.

What we have, here, are the horns of a dilemma: APPR threatening to fire ineffective teachers, but, §3020a promising to protect tenured teachers from anything like APPR-related discipline (linked to the "Common Core Assessments").

Why is this such a dilemma?  Because when the government (a school district or NYSED) takes action detrimental to a citizen (teachers are citizens, too) without due process (§3020a), the victim has a right to sue for redress.  However, children whose education may have been impaired by ineffective teachers anywhere along their 14-year schooling path have no such right to redress...whom are such kids going to sue? 

Forget this teacher, and the 100 teachers in that class action suit upstate.  The APPR sanctions would violate §3020a at every turn, any time any teacher anywhere in NY State is fired or threatened, or even gigged as being "ineffective" on an annual appraisal.  Bring on the lawyers!

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(I corrected the title of the thread = "Teacher". Thank you!)

Anticipating (disruption of the status quo....)

Chris Wendt