A state Supreme Court Judge last week ruled that a Great Neck teacher has legal standing to sue the state Education Department over its teacher evaluation system, which rated her “ineffective” on a portion pertaining to student exam performance.
Acting state Supreme Court Justice Roger McDonough ruled that Sheri Lederman, a fourth grade teacher at E.M. Baker School of 18 years, showed she suffered injury after receiving a 1 out of 20 on the “student growth” portion of the state’s three-pronged teacher assessment for 2013-14, according to court documents filed on May 28. In the 2012-13 year, she received a 14 out of 20 score.
“The drastic, statistically significant drop in a component that makes up 20 percent of petitioner’s 100 point annual rating strikes the court as adequate to constitute an injury in fact,” McDonough wrote. “Additionally, respondents have not established that said injury in fact is either incapable or unworthy of judicial resolution.”
The state Education Department argued that Lederman didn’t have standing to sue because she wasn’t harmed by the rating. The state said Lederman was the only one who could publicize her score, as it is confidential, and that her overall “effective” rating would not adversely affect her employment.
Lederman argues that her one-point growth score did negatively impact her, reducing her Annual Professional Performance Review rating from “highly effective” to “effective,” hurting her reputation among certain parents and her relationship with her employer. She also argued that her low score demoralized her as a professional.
Lederman, a Jericho resident, said she is happy that she will have the opportunity to have her voice heard.
“I’m happy it has moved at least to a point where we can argue the merits of this scenario,” Lederman said. “Up until this time we’ve been prevented from even having a voice in this because the state Education Department wanted to block this from even going to court.”
She said the state Education Department has a “take what you get mentality” when it comes to teacher evaluations.
The lawsuit was filed last year in Albany through her husband Bruce Lederman’s Manhattan firm D’Agostino, Levine, Landesman & Lederman, LLP. It names state education Commissioner John B. King Jr., Assistant Commissioner Candace H. Shyer and the department’s Office of State Assessment as defendants.
Bruce Lederman said a hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 12 in Albany.
“It is my hope that out of that day we will get some of the information we’ve been looking for from the state Education Department in terms of what information they used, what data specifically they used to formulate scores for the teachers, because our contention is the whole model is faulty,” Sheri Lederman said.
Jeanne Beattie, spokesperson for the state Education Department, said the department does not comment on pending litigation.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo drew the ire of parents, educators and administrators with his proposal to base 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation on standardized test scores, instead of the prior 20 percent base, saying current subjective evaluations let poor teachers skate by. The state would also use test scores to identify failing schools under his proposal.
But Cuomo dropped the 50 percent idea due to the backlash during state budget negotiations, and instead deferred to the state Education Department to establish revised evaluation criteria, which will still incorporate test scores in some fashion — tests most administrators call deeply flawed.
State teacher evaluations are based on student performance on standardized tests, a series of locally set assessments and a variety of other benchmarks, including classroom observations.
According to the lawsuit, 72.2 percent of Lederman’s students in 2013-14 met or exceeded state standards in math and 61.1 percent met or exceeded standards in English, about twice the state average for fourth graders. They scored slightly higher in English and slightly lower in math the previous year.
Great Neck Superintendent of Schools Thomas Dolan and E.M. Baker School principal Sharon Fougner have submitted affidavits in support of Lederman.
In his affidavit, Dolan wrote Lederman’s record as an educator is “flawless,” and that the district has not received an explanation for her score from Albany.
