Educators Challenging Teacher Evaluation in a High-Stakes Climate in the States

• In Event: Roundtable Session 36
  In Roundtable Session: Improving Educational Outcomes Through Human Resources and Teacher Evaluation

Abstract

As teacher quality is judged and they are found to be ineffective, teachers are challenging teacher evaluation systems in courts as they adversely affect their employment. Teachers have lost jobs, pay, tenure, and career advancement in eight states and the District of Columbia and have filed complaints. Using three sources of data (the complaint, supporting material, and state policy characteristics), this paper reports on 14 complaints, their causes of action, their arguments, and evidence used and interprets them in light of writings about teacher evaluation with an emphasis on value-added models, the focus of the litigation working its way through the courts. It also offers forecasts about the nature of future litigation in the states

Author

• Helen M. Hazi, West Virginia University