A statistical model used to evaluate the effectiveness of teachers in New York was “arbitrary” and “capricious” as it was applied to a fourth-grade teacher on Long Island in the 2013-14 school year, a state judge ruled.
The “value-added model,” or VAM, appeared to contain built-in biases against teachers like Sheri Lederman of the Great Neck district on Long Island, who have small classrooms populated mainly by high-performing students, Acting Albany Supreme Court Justice Roger McDonough wrote in Lederman v. King, 5443-2014.
