Teacher groups sue over evaluations
Associations decry state plans to link performance with students’ results
Two professional teacher groups sued the Texas education commissioner Wednesday seeking to block a new job evaluation system that would rate teachers based on their students’ academic results.
The lawsuits, filed in Travis County, reflect growing opposition to the state’s move to hold teachers more accountable.
The Texas State Teachers Association alleges in its suit that the evaluation tool violates the law because it includes more than “observable, job-related behavior.” The state’s recommended system calls for one-fifth of a teacher’s rating to be based on students’ performance, such as their scores on standardized exams.
The other suit, brought by the Texas Classroom Teachers Association, claims the state education commissioner does not have authority to set specific evaluation criteria.
Both associations have local chapters that represent tens of thousands of educators in the greater Houston area.
“Teachers are not robots, and their performance should be evaluated by an easily understood, transparent system that helps them perfect their job performance,” Noel Candelaria, president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said in a statement. “Educators’ compensation and jobs are potentially on the line here, and their work must be evaluated fairly — and legally.”
The lawsuits add to a growing list of teachers suing states over similar student test-based systems. Locally, the Houston Federation of Teachers union sued the Houston Independent School District in 2014 over its evaluation method. That case is set for jury trial in September.
HISD was one of the first large school districts in the country in 2011 to link teachers’ job ratings to their students’ test scores. Traditionally, school principals graded teachers based solely on observing them in the classroom.
The Houston school district, however, has struggled to find ways to rate all teachers in the student performance category. State exams, for example, are not offered in certain grade levels or for elective courses. Last year, 43 percent of HISD’s
“Teachers are not robots, and their performance should be evaluated by an easily understood, transparent system that helps them perfect their job performance” Noel Candelaria, president of the Texas State Teachers Association
teachers got student performance ratings.
Even so, Zeph Capo, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said the state should not move to a similar testbased evaluation system.
“It’s affected kids in that it has detrimentally impacted the way that instruction is delivered,” Capo said. “That’s all anyone does anymore is teach to the test, period.”
Texas law does not require districts to use the new rating system, but they are supposed to adopt one by the 2017-18 school year that includes student performance as a factor. Specifically, the statute says the evaluations must look at discipline management and “the performance of teachers’ students.” Performance can include test scores or portfolios of student work.
A spokeswoman for state Education Commissioner Mike Morath declined to comment.
An Austin-based advocacy group, the Texas Institute for Education Reform, condemned the lawsuit by the larger Texas State Teachers Association as “an affront to teacher quality.”
“This tactic will not assist teachers in any way, and actually contributes to stagnation in student learning and a one-sizefits-all model of the teaching profession,” said Courtney Boswell, executive director of the institute. “I don’t know one teacher who wants that.”