Maybe Sheri Lederman's lawyer will take on 65 thousand NYC teachers.
I guess my question of the day is - can the UFT/NYSUT be embarrassed into going to court? My guess is if there is enough demand what they will do is do a faux court case to deflect people from real action - they will gather names, etc and then strangle the case from backstage.
Why? Because as Arthur points out the UFT is in favor of APPR. You can surmise why they are but maybe that is not the important issue, though many of us suspect the links to ed deformers might the issue, the seat at the table and even money changing hands.
Carol Burris covered the case at WAPO- The Answer Sheet
The exasperated New York Supreme Court judge, Roger McDonough, tried to get Assistant Attorney General Galligan to answer his questions. He was looking for clarity and instead got circuitous responses about bell curves, “outliers” and adjustments. Fourth-grade teacher Sheri Lederman’s VAM score of “ineffective” was on trial.I think the judge's reaction is a sign this case could be won. Which must scare the hell out of our union leaders.
The more Ms. Galligan tried to defend the bell curve of growth scores as science, the more the judge pushed back with common sense. It was clear that he did his homework. He understood that the New York State Education Department’s VAM system artificially set the percentage of “ineffective” teachers at 7 percent. That arbitrary decision clearly troubled him. “Doesn’t the bell curve make it subjective? There has to be failures,” he asked.
The defender of the curve said that she did not like the “failure” word.
The judge quipped, “Ineffectives, how about that?” Those in attendance laughed.
