Teacher data made public by the DOE

The names and ratings of approximately 18,000 fourth- through eighth-grade math and English teachers were made public by the Department of Education last week. 

Teacher Data Reports were released on Feb. 24 after a New York State Court of Appeals decision ended a two-year legal battle between the United Federation of Teachers and the DOE that began under former School Chancellor Joel Klein.  

In the end, the DOE responded to media outlets’ Freedom of Information Law requests for the information — requests that The New York Times reported were encouraged by DOE officials. 

The information contained in the reports, which the Department of education released with several caveats,  had always been available to principals and the teachers themselves. 

The UFT’s outside counsel, Riverdalian Charles Moerdler, was one of those who argued the case for the teacher’s union. In May, he told The Press the ratings are “an error compounded by a guess.” 

He has since revised his viewpoint. 

“They’re an error compounded by a guess distorted by misconstruction,” he said in a phone interview. 

Upon their release to the public, the DOE warned news media that the data were outdated, should not be used in isolation and were never intended to be made public. In addition, the DOE said, they include margins of error of up to 35 and 53 for math and English teachers, respectively.

The reports were part of a pilot program that began in 2007 and was abandoned in 2010.

“It was inaccurate and it was obtained under a written agreement … that it wouldn’t be released because it was a pilot program,” Mr. Moerdler said. 

The ratings are based on a complex formula that takes into account student progress on state tests from one year to the next, as well as student demographics.

The state tests they are based on have since been found faulty. 

When approached for interviews, some of the teachers leaving work from the Multiple Intelligence School, PS/MS 37 merely shook their heads and laughed bitterly about the release, while others expressed strong sentiments against it.