Apparently the mayor and the union in NYC did not reach a deal on teacher evaluation.
Too bad. VAM Is junk science. It should not be legislated or imposed anywhere.
Here is the UFT press release. Count on seeing the mayor blame the union for not accepting a lousy scheme that has no basis in evidence or experience.
STATEMENT BY UFT PRESIDENT MICHAEL MULGREW:
I am sorry to announce that I have notified Governor Cuomo and other state officials that — despite long nights of negotiation and a willingness on the part of teachers to meet the DOE halfway – the intransigence of the Bloomberg administration on key issues has made it impossible to reach agreement on a new teacher evaluation system.
It is particularly painful to make this announcement because last night our negotiators had reached agreement – but Mayor Bloomberg blew the deal up in the early hours today, and despite the involvement of state officials we could not put it back together.
Thousands of parents have gotten a lesson this week, as the Mayor’s “my way or the highway” approach has left thousands of schoolchildren stranded at curbs across the city by the school bus strike. That same stubborn attitude on the Mayor’s part now means that our schools will suffer a loss of millions of dollars in state aid.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Glad there is no deal. Wish the UFT didn’t make it about the mayor. Teacher evaluations were part of RTTT Dollars for data. I don’t know what the UFT wanted & didn’t get from the mayor. No deal is a good deal when you’re talking about sensitive information.
That would have been my #1 concern. Student records should not be linked (in a database) to teacher evaluations. That alone would have been a deal killer for me.
Under what conditions would the UFT have agreed to put students’ education records at risk?
I’m not trying to be anti-UFT. It’s a question.
As a delegate to the UFT I can tell you the NYC DOE actually agreed to sensible measures for implementation and adjudication of the evals. The Mayor flat rejected these proposals as well as rejecting the length of implementation (2 years) even though 90% of districts in New York State agreed to only one year. The Mayor never planned on agreeing to these evals and has become like Ahab hunting his white whale in [UFT President] Michael Mulgrew.
Are the evals a bad deal for teachers? Overall yes, but they would have provided for far more accountability from administrators seeking to dismiss “bad” teachers. They would have required that proof of ineffectiveness beyond the 20% dedicated to state test results.
The current system in NYC is arbitrary at best and benefits no one. The new evaluations were mandated by state law, and were at least a starting point for a better system in the future
“Are the evals a bad deal for teachers? Overall yes”
Then they should be scrapped, that is from the teachers point of view.
Things NYC got with a decade of Mayoral Control
1)closing of schools to make way for charter schools owned by entities the Mayor was doing business with.
2)poor judgement regarding the safety of children during weather emergencies.
3)Fudging of test scores
4)Learning network who bully administrators instead of helping them.
5)CATHY BLACK
6)yellow bus strike
7)no new teacher contract
8)constant attempts to circumvent the current contract
9)and KIBOSHONG a 250,000,000 dollar deal which he now threatens to slash the education budget to make up for it.
Good riddance to Bloomberg,
don’t let the door knob hit ya where the good lord split ya!
10. Joel Klein
11. Chris Cerf and his teacher evaluation plan
The Bloomberg administration has been a disaster for NYC children. What we can do to make up for that lost money is stop immediately the benchmark assessments, predictive assessments, acuity assessments, test prep workbooks, etc. That would save a ton and actually help the children.
Agree. US ED money has been for electronic records creation, management & warehousing. Not teaching. Not learning.
For whatever reason the UFT didn’t make a deal, I’m happy there will be a protective ripple effect. Gee, now what’s going to happen? NYC didn’t give up data for dollars.
Teachers will still teach.
Each year under Bloomberg has been worse than the previous. This is his lastand he has nothing to lose by being as evil as possible. When it comes to helping, his interests are : helping himself to more power and helping more money into his pockets.
12. Failed attempt to endorse (buy) mayoral control in Bridgeport, CT. Ouch!
Teachers in Seattle, Hawaii, California, Hamburg, NY…these are our heroes. We need to take a lesson from their play book. UFT – stay strong. Join the ranks of those who are fighting for what’s best for students AND teachers.
12.SESIS
Sorry
13.SESIS
not a UFT fan, but glad Mulgrew held fast (for now anyway) in the face of that sob Bloomberg
I wonder how the kids at SFER are handling this defeat?