This letter was sent to the blog as part of a comment:
Dear Governor Cuomo,
I have a problem and I hope you can help. Last week, my child decided to stay up all night and binge watch Gossip Girls on Netflix instead of studying. As a result, she failed a test she had the next day. I’m struggling with exactly how to word the letter of complaint to her teacher, because clearly, this is his fault. Were he an “effective” educator, she would have made a different choice. Where did he go wrong? How can I make him understand that he needs to do a little better if he wants to keep his job?
The above might be funny if it weren’t so close to the absolutely appalling plan you have proposed for evaluating teachers. You can’t be serious. I have to believe you know it’s a terrible plan as well, or you wouldn’t feel like you had to hold school districts’ funding hostage in order to get it passed.
I am a parent, a school board member, a taxpayer, and a registered Democrat. (I’m ashamed to say I even voted for you, twice.) I’m also a product of NYC Public Schools, and even without standardized testing, the Common Core and APPR, I managed to be the first person in my family to attend college.
You’re missing an important part about kids in your plan: they are not widgets. You can’t standardize them. I have three children, and they’re all different. They all make different choices. I don’t care how they perform on your tests. I care that they remain intellectually curious, that they are confident problem solvers and that they spend their days with teachers who have the freedom to academically challenge them while honoring their differences. Is it possible that you and Regent Tisch really don’t see how you’re ruining that for them and for all the children of New York State? Our teachers need more freedom, not less. Our districts need more flexibility, and more funding – not less.
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a Q&A session with our local legislators and was asked what alternative I would propose to the APPR if I disliked it so much. Here’s my answer: LEAVE US ALONE. Our district, like many others across the state, is the best judge of our teachers, our students, and the education we provide. If you feel like you want to help, let me suggest you appropriately fund our districts and put an end to the Gap Elimination Adjustment. You might want to take a look at the real issue impacting education in this state: educational inequality. My son has 18 children in his 5th grade class. In a similar classroom less than 3 miles away, there are 32. Do something about that. Maybe then I could feel proud to have voted for you.
Today, I’m rating you ineffective.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Soggs
New Hartford School Board Member, Parent, Voter and Taxpayer
New Hartford Central School District
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Unfortunately, those wielding political/financial power in the United States are rarely held accountable for their crimes or mistakes. Over the last 15 years, we have seen this on display in both the electoral and legal spheres. George W. Bush, for example, was reelected in 2004 and escaped legal consequences for highly dubious policies/practices (e.g., torture and various violations of international law). Also, we must not forget about the 2008 bailout of major financial institutions, and the subsequent dearth of prosecutions.
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Oh, Andrew!
PLEASE don’t give up hope even though you have gargantuan mommy and daddy issues. I know you didn’t get all the love you wanted or needed, but daddy was only out working fervently to further his career and provide for you. Don’t take it the wrong way. He did not mean to compete with you and deflate you.
You’re such a big boy, now.
Just look at yourself as someone who could be the following . . . It could be a new you in any of four shades of effectiveness.
Andrew Cuomo, its a new day, a new dawn, and a new beginning:
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Mr Cuomo…you have claimed to be an advocate for children, but I too, as a parent and educator here in New York, must rate you as “ineffective” also, for you have not only abandoned our children.
You have sold out not only our children, but our teachers and public schools as well, the tools that our children have been able to excel with for many generations. Historically, New York has been among the states that have always been at the forefront in leading our nation in academia.
Our nation and state have always faced difficult times, and we have endured. But your destructive policies that you seek to implement as you make your periodic withdrawals from the “First Statewide Billionaire Bank of New York, N.A.”, will have calamitous repercussions for our students.
I appeal to you as one human being to another, one father to another, and as an educator and mentor to students in New York City, to immediately abandon the reforms you are pushing.
And to ask yourself the following question: How many children, parents, and public educators lives must you destroy, and at what cost?
The people of New York elected you because they believed in a promise…you had the ability to follow in the footsteps of a great governor, your father…but it’s not too late.
Be an advocate for all of our children, all of our families, and our public school system…only then would you be able to claim the greatness that embodies a true champion of the people.
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You send forth a plea to the better nature of this Man (Cuomo)? Do you honestly think that he has a better nature, or that he even cares?
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He is angry because the education unions did not support him in his elections, so now it’s revenge time.
He is raiding NYSTRS pensions by having the adjustment amounts (that must be filled by law if the funds dip below a certain threshold) paid for by BORROWING the money at 3% to 5% interest. If in ten years from now, the pension system and districts cannot pay it back, then the pension will be either reduced to retirees (future and current) or eliminated, citing basic bankruptcy or inability to pay, which is now legal, despite contract law tenets and the NY State Constitution.
Cuomo is creating a pension crisis when none exits, as NYSTRS has always been healthily funded.
Deranged is as deranged does . . . .
Poor Andrew. He is so consumed with mommy and dadd anger that he has no clue how he channels it into the politician he has become.
He is Chris Christie’s separated-at-birth evil twin brother . . . .
They are both the Menendez brothers (Erik and Lyle) out to murder the middle and working class so they can get more money . . .
What a sick man . . . . .
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Gov. Christie and Cami Anderson are in violation
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This is disturbingly real
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He’s really broken new ground for Democrats in the anti-public school campaign, though.
He is quite literally worse for public schools than John Kasich, and that is saying something. Kasich does nothing to benefit or support public schools, but he’s not actively opposed to their continued existence.
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You got what you voted for. The only way to stop the madness is to vote for someone else. New York democrats could have voted for Zephr Teachout during the primary but they didn’t. Now we all live to see Cuomo destroy education and the careers of good teachers. We made our bed…..
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The following letter is part of an online petition opposing Cuomo’s proposed changes. Please sign! https://www.change.org/p/andrew-cuomo-dean-skelos-carl-heastie-do-not-approve-the-proposed-changes-to-teacher-evaluation-2
Dear Governor Cuomo,
Long ago, people believed that the world was flat. It took innovation and critical thinking to determine that it was actually round. For some reason, you insist that teaching and learning are flat. To you, they exist on a one-dimensional piece of paper with test questions and scores. In actuality, teaching and learning are holistic, dynamic, and rotating constantly. Teaching and learning consist of living, breathing, growing human beings with feelings, creative minds, and a need for interaction. You are attempting to depersonalize a process that is deeply interpersonal. Only a dynamic, multidimensional measure can capture the true depth and essence of teaching and learning.
Your proposed changes to teacher evaluation are not founded on research or logic; they are founded on misconceptions, just like the misconception that the world was flat. We see through these misconceptions. We are administrators, veteran teachers, new teachers, teaching candidates, parents, and concerned citizens, and we are strongly opposed to your proposed changes for the following reasons:
Your proposal: Base 50% of teacher evaluations on state assessment scores.
Our concerns:
• According to the American Statistical Association, variation among teachers only accounts for 1-14% of variation in student test scores; more influential factors include student and family background, poverty, curriculum, motivation, and other unmeasured factors.
• Scores can change dramatically depending on the statistical methods used to calculate the Value-Added Model; teachers have jumped from developing to highly effective (and vice versa) one year to the next with little explanation other than the makeup of their student population.
• Teachers with consistently high-performing students who have little room for growth on tests can get, and have gotten, poor ratings even though students’ scores are high.
• According to the American Education Research Association, teachers with high-needs populations (special education students and ELLs) are consistently at a disadvantage despite controls in the Value-Added Model because their students are on different learning trajectories and don’t always show growth at the same rate.
• The Value-Added Model doesn’t account for various tiers of special education in its controls, only self-contained vs. mainstream.
• 80% of teachers do not teach state tested grades or subjects. How can we make their evaluations comparable without adding more state tests?
Your proposal: Eliminate all local assessment measures, currently worth 20%.
Our concerns:
• This eliminates opportunities for dynamic and creative performance assessments that better capture the whole child.
Your proposal: Base 50% of evaluations on observations, with 35% conducted by an outside evaluator.
Our concerns:
• Leaving only 15% of teachers’ evaluations to the local administrators that know teachers best is a dangerous attempt to depersonalize and standardize teaching.
• Paying for outside evaluators will be a burden to district budgets.
Your proposal: Require 5 consecutive effective ratings before consideration for tenure. Fire teachers after two ineffective ratings in an expedited manner. Rate teachers no higher than “developing” overall if found “ineffective” in raising test scores, regardless of observation ratings.
Our concerns:
• This would inextricably link tenure to state test scores.
• Teachers may feel more compelled to teach to the test as a matter of job security. This takes the joy and excitement out of teaching and learning.
• Schools may further narrow curriculum and cut programs that are not tested. Art, music, gym, etc. are extremely important for well-rounded development.
• Teachers may be hesitant to work with student teachers for fear it will take away from the focus on test prep
These proposed changes place teachers and students under attack. We agree that students must show growth and teachers must be held accountable, but this is not the way to accomplish that. We implore you to rethink your plan.
Sincerely,
Concerned Citizens
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Elizabeth Soggs’ letter to Cuomo is by far my favorite of this whole depressing budget season. Too bad he probably hasn’t read it.
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Wow. What an amazing, articulate, cogent and compelling letter.
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BAM! Love it and might use it as a template!
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Dear Mr. Cuomo: I am very sympathetic to all these people and their concerns. I too was a high school teacher in the Western New York area. Fortunately for me, I was proactive regarding all of this and now my only concern is for my colleagues who still teach in NY State. You see, I retired a little bit early, and moved to Florida right away!! It is amazing how my money goes about 30% further just by living out of New York State.
Now you claim that New York State is “Open For Business?” Why would any smart business want to relocate to New York State. Personally, I just couldn’t take any more of the corruption and liberal policies that you espouse. You see, I am one of those people you proclaimed, “Have No Place In New York State!” The real problem I see sir, is that so many people are going to follow in the same footsteps. Pretty soon, you aren’t going to have any real working people to pay for all your spending!
My new mantra is “New York State- A Nice Place to Be From!”
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