News, data and conversation
•
Legislators forestalled a repeat of the highly charged response to the release of individual teacher evaluations in February by striking a last-minute deal to limit the disclosure of teacher data in the future.
The deal, reached in the final days of the session in Albany, will allow parents to see the evaluations of their children’s current teachers, but the public will only be allowed to see evaluation information with teachers’ names redacted.
What do you think of this arrangement? Was it a fair compromise? And what impact do you think it will have on teacher accountability? Share your opinions here.
I agree with the MORE caucus, an organization of UFT members that opposes the recent evaluation deal because it is based on standardized testing results - they are saying that:
"This will create a poisonous environment within schools, creating suspicion and dividing parents and teachers who are natural allies in the struggle for better schools for our students."
Check out http://morecaucusnyc.org/2012... for more details...
Here in Los Angeles Unified, individual teachers' names and "Value Added" evaluations are published through the LA Times each year. Here's the problem: All teachers are hired and subject to being fired under the same contract, but only teachers of grades 3-5 get their names published. (K-1 don't do Standardized Testing and 2nd grade is used as a baseline). Is that fair?
As a semi retired professor and former high school teacher, I was always led to believe that teacher or employee evaluations was a personnel matter and as such was not part of the open records and a opinion from any source would right or wrong could destroy a otherwise great career. There so many variables in the teaching process that pure statistical numbers can be misleading. This is not an answer to improving teaching or building confidence in any system.
Schoolbook is a site dedicated to news, data and conversation about schools in New York City.
Tell us what’s going on in your school. You can e-mail us with your tips or documents, or call 646-801-9698 and leave a voice message.
Join the Public Insight Network and help our journalists cover education in the city. Your stories and insights can help us create relevant and distinctive reporting. Join more than 100,000 people and become a trusted source.
