Knowledge is power, Cerf tells NPR

Yesterday, Margot Adler reported on New York’s new Teacher Data Reports for Morning Edition:

“The whole notion of having standards and assessments is a good notion,” United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten says, but “you’re never going to be able to create a comfort level with data if people see it as ‘gotcha!'”

Deputy Chancellor Chris Cerf insists that the reports won’t be used for “traditional personnel reasons.”

But the New York Times reports that a principal can ask an interviewee to see his or her report, though the candidate need not provide it.

And what happens when the state’s two-year moratorium on using data for personnel decisions is up?

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