Dive Brief:
- A new graphic from Education Week explores the numerous legal challenges sparked by the rollout of new methods for evaluating teachers since 2012.
- In total, the graphic spotlights 14 court cases brought by unions or teachers in seven states, with some states facing as many as three lawsuits.
- The graphic also draws attention to several suits in progress that have escaped wider attention, particularly in New Mexico, where an aggressive eval rollout has prompted a handful of legal reactions.
Dive Insight:
One notable insight from EdWeek’s overview is the fact that most of the current legal challenges to new teacher evaluations remain unresolved. Just five of the 14 cases have made their way through the court systems, and not one has been resolved in favor of the unions or teachers, even as they progressed through multiple levels of the judicial system.
For example, a Florida suit brought by the state's teacher union alleged that those who didn’t teach tested subjects were being unfairly judged since their evaluations include school-wide growth numbers. It made its way through the state court system to the U.S. Court of Appeals, where the judges ruled in favor of the state. The union opted not to appeal to the Supreme Court.