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The teachers union and the city are heading back to court today, for the second round in an ongoing battle over the public release of teacher ratings.

Last December, a state judge ruled that that the city could release controversial teacher evaluations. Today, the union seeks to reverse that decision in Appellate Court.

The stakes are high for the city, which could use the release of teacher ratings as a key engine for galvanizing public support in favor of doing away with seniority layoffs. But the union, which wants to maintain “last in, first out” layoff rules, says that the evaluations are too inaccurate to be used for such high-stakes decisions.

The “value-added” evaluations, which grade teachers by comparing their students’ test scores to forecasted scores, were created as an internal assessment, designed to help teachers gauge their own performance. But the Department of Education announced it would release the ratings publicly after several news organizations filed Freedom of Information Law requests for them. This decision prompted a UFT lawsuit. (more…)