A Florida Teacher Wrongfully Terminated? Alleged (Mis)Uses of Value-Added Model (VAM) Estimates for High-Stakes Teacher Evaluation Decisions

Until recently, legal challenges to using value-added models (VAMs) throughout the United States (US) for high-stakes teacher evaluative decisions (e.g., merit pay, tenure, and termination) were unsuccessful, especially in the state of Florida. Hence, prior and still, multiple teachers throughout Florida have been terminated or involuntarily transferred out of their teaching positions. One Florida teacher’s case is of particular interest, in that this teacher continues to fight to be re-positioned into his/her post, arguing that the VAM estimates used against him/her were reliable, albeit invalid and biased. The purpose of this case study, accordingly, was to explore this unique and complicated case, to help the Court, and others, discern and determine whether this termination decision was empirically and legally justified. Research-policy-practice implications, via the Court, are also discussed.