New York State Releases Localized Teacher Evaluations (NY Times - August 28, 2014) #Harlem/#HarlemEd: Teachers College, Columbia University, The Campaign for Educational Equity EXCERPT: New York City teachers were not included in the evaluations because the city and the teachers’ union could not reach an agreement in time on how the evaluations would be formulated. The city will be included in the next batch of evaluations. During the 2012-13 school year, 31 percent of students statewide were proficient in reading and math, based on statewide tests. In New York City, 30 percent of third- through eighth-grade students passed tests in math and 26 percent passed tests in English. But that school year was the first time the statewide tests were aligned with the more rigorous curricular standards known as Common Core, and student test scores dropped sharply statewide. The previous year, under an easier test, 55 percent of students passed proficiency tests in reading and 65 percent passed in math. The switch to Common Core did not seem to have the same effect on teacher evaluations. Many experts, however, strongly cautioned against drawing a straight line between student test performance and teacher effectiveness, especially in schools filled with many students struggling with difficulties outside the classroom, including poverty, crime and a lack of support. “These kids live a life where their best friend may have been murdered last week, or a horrible abusive incident may have happened at home the night before the test,” said Michael A. Rebell, a professor at Teachers College at Columbia University. “You’ve got to look at class size; you’ve got to look at resources in a school,” Mr. Rebell said. “If you have 40 kids in a classroom with all kinds of problems and they have no services, then a great teacher can’t do much.” Under the new system, the teacher ratings are based on three elements. Sixty percent of the rating is based on metrics like classroom observation, agreed upon at the local level through collective bargaining; 20 percent is based on another set of locally determined standards; and the final 20 percent is based on statewide tests for fourth through eighth graders, or a measure deemed comparable by the district for other grades. State officials said for 80 percent of New York’s teachers, only locally determined metrics were used. “There’s a lot of variety in approaches across the state,” said John B. King Jr., the state education commissioner. “So it will be important for parents and communities to look at the specifics of how the evaluations are working in their district.” While the state component was overwhelmingly positive — only 13 percent of educators were said to be ineffective or in need of improvement to meet professional standards — they were more strict than the other metrics. In some districts, not a single teacher was found to be ineffective. And statewide, the locally determined measure that accounted for 60 percent of teacher ratings found fewer than 600 teachers were ineffective, a statistical percentage of zero.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 02:22:27 +0000
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