Teacher Performance Data

A New York state appeals court has ruled New York City should be aware of reports that the effect on their students' scores - with teachers in public schools teachers measure names.

In a teachers union strike in the city, the court ruled on Thursday that the names of the teachers were not included in six exemptions that protect personal privacy under the law. Media organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, had requested the data, the union filed a lawsuit to prevent its release.

"To balance the private interests at stake against the public interest in disclosure ... we conclude that the reports requested must be disclosed," the court wrote. "In fact, the concern of the information in the reports of a type that is of great interest to the public, ie, the competence of civil servants in the performance of their job duties."

The reports are issued about 12,000 teachers annually, covering teachers in fourth through eighth grade, students take English standardized math tests in the state. It tries to measure whether teachers help their students perform better than expected, based on a statistical model that incorporates a variety of factors, including how often the students were absent, their race and gender, class sizes and if they had been retained.

The city teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers, argued that the reports are based on faulty evidence and data is unreliable because the margin for error is so large. In a statement Thursday, UFT President Michael Mulgrew said the union was already in the appeals process