Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New York State Education Commissioner John King, and New York State United Teachers President Richard C. Iannuzzi today announced a groundbreaking agreement on a new statewide evaluation system that will make New York State a national leader in holding teachers accountable for student achievement.I'm betting "not".
The agreement gives significant guidance to local school districts for the implementation of a teacher evaluation system that is based on multiple measures of performance including student achievement and rigorous classroom observations. The agreement follows through on the state's commitment to put in place a real and effective teacher evaluation system as a condition of the $700 million granted through the federal Race to the Top program. link
Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
I would bet a buck with you but as I say I was born on a Sunday, not last Sunday.
ReplyDeleteI'm betting you're right.
ReplyDeleteSince human nature hasn't changed recently the union's on board because this is deal isn't really going to be much of a problem for the membership.
Of course the real problem is that while such a system might, at least theoretically, give teachers a professional stake in the quality of education, it doesn't do anything to put the careers of any other education professionals on the line.
If the principal or superintendent don't have a distinct and unequivocal stake in student attainment they don't have any incentive to ensure that good teachers are retained and lousy teachers booted.
I sometimes wonder why unions don't push that idea as part of the political deals that go into teacher accountability laws?
As long as it's teacher performance evaluations and not student evaluations on single tests for which the kids have no stakes, then I am OK with it. Any teacher should be.
ReplyDelete