Jere Hochman is superintendent of the Bedford School District in New York state. I am adding his name to the highly elite honor roll of superintendents. Hochman understands that a school functions best as a community. He has created an evaluation system for teachers that will take the pressure away from “teaching to the test.” New York State requires that all districts judge teachers in this way: 20% based on state tests; 20% on measures devised by the district; 60% on observations. Some districts are allocating 40% of the state tests because they don’t have the money to buy new tests. Jere Hochman decided that the second 20% would be based on the ELA test and that the whole school would dedicate its efforts to promoting literacy.
Here is his explanation:
- It’s the right thing to do for all students: literacy everywhere
- We are not writing (1,000s of hours and dollars) “SLOs” for teachers/class that do not have a state test.
- It saves hundreds of hours of class time lost to testing, local test grading, and teacher pull out of classroom
- Teachers who do not have a state test will not have to use/give TWO “local” tests to measure growth and achievement (one SLO and one local assessment)
- It rallies the entire school around writing, reading, thinking, and speaking across the disciplines – and everyone teaches vocabulary.
- It means every teacher gets the same “points” on the school-wide goal which clusters the total score, taking the stress off of it.
- It lowers the parent scrutiny because a teacher’s “score” isn’t just about that one teacher.
- It gets us all focused on the foundation of everything no matter if it’s an Ivy-league bound kid or a non-English speaker: literacy!
- It reinforces the systemic approach to closing the achievement gap, raising all students instead of accusations of focusing more on “lower achieving kids”
- The union likes it (and teases me) because of all of the above and because they know I hate anything that is one-size-fits-all and they are getting pleasure out of this “union-like” approach of “one-size-fits all”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Who else would you have on your highly elite honor rolls of superintendents? Josh Starr of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland?
Oops, now I see your previous post…
Diane, is there a link to this? Was this in an interview or newspaper? Can I find it in print?
No, but I will find one.
Thank you. Wow. I’ve emailed the details to many with our plans. The district’s APPR plan is truly collaborative venture with the union. Here’s one article about the plan. http://bedford.patch.com/articles/bedford-central-s-teacher-evaluation-plan-nearly-complete Another article with quotes from union about our plan. We are waiting for the final approval from SED but plan is available for anyone to review. @jhstl
oops – other article link http://bedford.patch.com/articles/bedford-central-teachers-are-back-to-school-encouraged-get-involved
Thanks, Diane, for identifying superintendents with the courage and integrity to push back against the wrong-headed reformers. Do you have plans to post a Superintendent’s Honor Roll page somewhere? I’m guessing that you have plans to include such a list in your next book, and that could be an opportunity to help turn the tide. Let me know if you’d like to strategize. ~Gary
I want to honor the principals, superintendents, local school boards, and state board members who support public education. I’ll keep a running list.
Feel free to nominate worthy candidates.
Diane, I think it’s great that you’re trying to bring awareness to this very important topic. However, as a parent to 4 children in the Bedford Central School District under Jere Hochman, I can tell you first hand that this simply isn’t the case. Dr. Hochman is a masterful PR hound and knows how to say the right things in the public domain. In practice, however, he has done nothing to improve the state of affairs with regard to High Stakes Testing. The Board of Ed recently adopted language stating that they want NCLB repealed, but again, the schools continue on a path of Teaching to the Test. So much so that my 4th graders have taken countless 70 min practice Math and ELA tests in advance of the April test dates along with “test taking strategy” lessons, and constant barrage of multiple choice questions, correcting tests, etc. The kids are increasingly talking about hating school, as witnessed on a thread on Instagram and on the kids’ email. I encourage you to look into this matter more deeply, as Dr. Hochman does not deserve this honor you have bestowed upon him. Teachers at my elementary school are unhappy, as their days have been reduced to periods of study that are mandated by the principal, which don’t allow for any fun anymore. Authentic learning has gone the way of the Dodo, and Dr. Hochman responds to parent concerns with dismissive remarks, political soundbites, and zero action to make things better.
-Pam