State Education Commissioner John King Jr. released a statement this afternoon on the state’s new teacher- and principal-evaluation system, which takes effect for many teachers in the upcoming school year. New York State United Teachers, which represents 98 percent of all public-school teachers in New York, is suing the state over aspects of the new system. There was a hearing on the lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Albany today.
One of NYSUT’s primary objection is the Board of Regents is allowing school districts to use student performance and growth on state assessments for up to 40 percent of the evaluation, which means a teacher could be rated “ineffective” based on one test. The statute states that 20 percent should be based on state tests and 20 percent on locally based measures of achievement. The Education Department’s regulations permit districts to base up to 40 percent on the state tests.
NYSUT has other issues with the regulations, saying they violate collective-bargaining rights. The union claims the regulations “illegally” address appeals procedures for ineffective teachers; mandate how much of an evaluation is based on classroom observations; and authorize districts to use independent evaluators. They “incorrectly assert” that evaluations should be a factor in making tenure decisions, according to NYSUT.
This is King’s statement:
“Our goal all along has been to make sure every child gets the best education possible. Sound, comprehensive teacher evaluations will help ensure every classroom has a great teacher leading the way to that goal. That’s exactly what our regulations create—a comprehensive, fair teacher evaluation process.
“New York is in a ‘Race to the Top’ on behalf of our students; the longer we go without a process for evaluating educators, the longer that race will take us.
“It’s not appropriate to comment about on-going litigation, but we’re confident our regulations will be upheld by the court.”
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