As you have likely noticed, lawsuits continue to emerge whereby (typically) state’s “new and improved” teacher evaluation systems, based in part on value-added model (VAM) output, are at legal issue.
If you have lost track, Education Week just published an article with all lawsuits currently filed, underway, or completed across the nation. In sum, there have been 14 cases filed thus far across seven states: Florida n=2, Louisiana n=1, Nevada n=1, New Mexico n=3, New York n=3, Tennessee n=3, and Texas n=1.
While I won’t try to recreate Education Week‘s user-friendly chart for this particular post, I do suggest that you click here to read more about each lawsuit, as well as the charges or alleged allegations per lawsuit, who has filed each one, and each lawsuit’s current status.
the Ed Week article missed at least one other, Martinez v. New Mexico filed on behalf of several parents and public school children by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in April 2014. The suit claims, in part, that New Mexico’s 50% inclusion of student test scores into teacher evals is arbitrary and inhibits school districts’ ability to provide a “sufficient” education to the students (as required under the NM state constitution) by driving high quality teachers away from high need schools and high need students. This incredibly comprehensive suit can be found here: https://www.maldef.org/news/releases/maldef_amends_landmark_suit_to_address_eo_for_nm_students/
Thanks for adding!