Lawsuit Would Force California To Adopt Student-Based Educator Evaluations

The Los Angeles Times (11/1, Blume) reports, "A group of parents and education advocates is preparing to sue the Los Angeles school district, demanding that it follow an arcane 40-year-old law that requires all California school systems to link teacher and principal evaluations to student performance." The piece describes the lawsuit as an attempt to break a stalemate between teachers' unions and Los Angeles Superintendent John Deasy over teacher performance reviews. "Although the lawsuit would be technically filed against L.A. Unified, its underlying target is the teachers union, which has fought efforts to make student test scores any part of evaluations. United Teachers Los Angeles leaders say tests scores are too unreliable and narrowly focused to use for high-stakes personnel decisions."