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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The Rochester teachers union is suing the state and school district over state-mandated performance reviews.
The Rochester Teachers Association says New York's Board of Regents, state Education Department and district didn't account for Rochester's nearly 90 percent student poverty rate when it graded teachers last year. The lawsuit says that since poorer kids do worse on the state tests used in performance evaluations, the process was unfair.
About a third of the teachers in the upstate district were rated "developing" or "ineffective," compared to 5 percent statewide.
State officials have said that the teacher evaluation formula accounts for wealth differences by measuring student growth on tests against similarly situated students.
An education department spokesman, citing policy, declined comment on the lawsuit.
Teachers receiving two consecutive "ineffective" ratings can be fired.
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