Los Angeles Times sues LAUSD over teacher performance data

[Starry Messenger]

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_21804083/los-angeles-times-sues-lausd-over-teacher-performance?source=rss

The Los Angeles Times has asked a judge to order the Los Angeles Unified School District to release records that would allow the newspaper to update its online database which uses student test scores to rate the performance of individual teachers.

In its lawsuit filed Oct. 12 in Los Angeles Superior Court, the Times claims the school district illegally denied or omitted details of the information it requested under the California Public Records Act.

Although Los Angeles Unified provided updated test scores it used to gauge a teacher's performance - a formula known Academic Growth over Time - the district withheld the teachers' names and the schools where they worked, citing privacy concerns, the suit said.

The district also changed the teacher identification numbers it had used to release test scores from 2002-2009, making it impossible for the Times to connect teachers with AGT scores for subsequent years, the suit said.

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RIP Rigoberto Ruelas

[Confusious]

1. I guess they didn't learn their lesson

When a couple of good teachers commited suicide because of the times printing the list.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Its public data and the attempt to hide it is most likely illegal

While I sympathize with the teachers, bureaucrats just don't get to rewrite the rules when they want to.

Get the state to change the law...

[HiPointDem]

8. they rewrote the rules to attack teachers.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. The teachers have enough political pull left in the CA legislature to fix this

I am surprised that they have not.

[HiPointDem]

12. lol. sure they do, that's why they're being laid off, fired, chartered & slandered in the papers.

because of all their political pull.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

13. Education unions have still have some pull in the CA legislature

YMMV in your locale

[bluestateguy]

4. The aggregate data should be enough

Each school has aggregate data for their test scores and that should be enough.

The media cannot demand performance evaluations of every person who happens to be a public employee. Next thing you know they'd be able to look into people's tax returns, or other details of their personal life.

This would not set a good precedent.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. In many cases they can get access to public employee pay grades and salaries

Welcome to being a public employee

[Reader Rabbit]

6. The lawsuit seems bass-ackwards.

Even if LAUSD wasn't suing the times, maybe UTLA would. Or at least Rigoberto Ruelas' family.

[Starry Messenger]

9. I thought the same thing.

I had to reread the headline to realize what it actually said. Horrifying.

[LWolf]

10. UTLA

needs to file a counter-suit ASAP.

In my opinion.

[HiPointDem]

7. asshats.

[savebigbird]

14. I don't get it

How does public humiliation of teachers benefit students? Does it make teachers work harder? Nope. Teachers already work hard because they take their jobs seriously and care about their students deeply. So while newspapers such as these may shed light on the ineffective teachers, think of how many effective teachers are taunted by the prospect of having their names slandered for all to see. This does not benefit our children. It just makes it more difficult and more stressful to teach them.