Can you imagine the legislators of your state inventing a new way to evaluate their profession, without inviting any members of the profession to have a say?
Can you imagine the legislators telling the medical profession how to evaluate doctors, but not asking the advice of any doctors?
Let’s not talk about lawyers, because most of them are lawyers, and they wouldn’t dream of evaluating themselves.
Here it is: a new plan to evaluate teachers, but no one knows what it means. Of course, the writer of the article assumes that the teachers’ union is the main opposition to legislated evaluation. They forget that parents don’t want test scores to be the most important way to judge the quality of their child, their school and their teachers. They don’t want the school to give up the arts so there is more time for test prep. They don’t want Albany telling their principal how to decide which teachers are best. Legislators don’t credit them with caring about their children.
Newsflash to Albany: Parents love their children more than you do.

Our legislators aren’t going to do enough to stop Cuomo. It is up to the rest of us. We must starve the testing machine of the data it requires in order to actualize any of the proposed reforms. Parents must refuse the tests, districts must consider boycotting the tests as my own Comsewogue BOE will discuss Thursday night. BOE trustees must stand up! You can read more about my resolution and the role of the BOE on my blog at https://standupandrefuse.wordpress.com/2015/03/23/testing-resolution/
Here is the text of my resolution:
WHEREAS
The Board of Education of the Comsewogue Union Free School District has serious concerns about current and proposed New York State education policy. We believe as elected representatives of the Comsewogue community we have an obligation not only to provide our students with a sound, basic education, but to provide them with a supportive and encouraging environment in which they can develop at their own pace. This environment also seeks to support the dedicated educators of our schools, encouraging best practices and collaboration, as opposed to competition. The current funding and evaluation policies, as well as Governor Cuomo’s proposed reforms are contradictory to that intent.
Unless Governor Cuomo and the State Legislators establish a fair and equitable state aid funding formula which adequately provides funding for ALL school districts throughout the state so they can provide for the educational needs of every child in New York State
AND
Comply with the court ordered removal of the Gap Elimination Adjustment thereby providing school districts with the necessary funding already owed to them
AND
Unless Governor Cuomo and the State Legislators suspend the current teacher and administrator evaluation regulations using student test data for 20% of the total score
AND
Abandon Governor Cuomo’s proposal to expand the use of student test data to 50% for teacher and administrator evaluations
AND
Without these efforts, The Comsewogue Board of Education believes that New York State leadership is proceeding with policy that is detrimental to our students, faculty and administrators. These misguided funding and evaluation policies seek to further an agenda of blame and punishment, instead of support and development.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED
The Board of Education of the Comsewogue School District will seriously consider not administering the New York State standardized ELA and Math exams in grades 3-8, and the Science exam in grades 4 and 8.
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Test scores is not the way to evaluate teachers. But we can all admit we do need a better way to evaluate than we have right now. We all know “bad” teachers that are still in our school districts. What is the best way to evaluate? I think parents and students opinions should come into the equation in some way. They are the ones who really deal with the teachers every day.
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Lauren B, learn about the Peer Assistance and Review program in Montgomery County, Md. It does not involve test scores. It is much admired. It works.
Test scores don’t get rid of “bad” teachers. Test scores show which students are in your classroom.
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Why hasn’t PAR caught on more? It seems to be getting desired results and the economics make sense (doesn’t cost tons). Should we be pushing for this?
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Gawdalmighty, it’s time the legislators and the governor stop trying to play teacher and focus on what truly matters: FIX THE FUNDING PROBLEMS!!!
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You and Diane have identified the crux of the matter. What business does a state legislature have designing the framework of the teacher evaluation system? What makes them think that they are capable of designing a better system than people who actually have the experience? Falling back on student testing data as the gold standard for evaluating educators just shows their ignorance of what educators do.
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Control is the name of the game in Cuomo’s “reign of terror.”
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Cuomo forgets the leader of the Empire State is a governor, not an emperor.
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“What business does a state legislature have designing the framework of the teacher evaluation system?”
Well, considering that the vast majority of supes and principals, school boards, teachers and supposed “union” leaders don’t have the balls to stand up and say no to the nonsense, I guess the educators get what they deserve.
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29 years in NYSUT Duane and I have to agree with you. I’ve been saying the same thing for years. Ianuzzi sold us out in this last round of Race to the Top BS. Hopefully the new leadership is ready to rumble at this point, otherwise we are screwed. And there might not be a next time.
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Goodness. I used medicine as a metaphor for years. And the perception of the union as the protector of teachers is, as you and I know, is a sham.
The REALITY is that the media is OWNED by the VERY people who are destroying public education, and with 15,880 districts in 50 states, they already have the ‘battleground’ all to themselves.
The propaganda machine NEVER STOPS, with critters like Walker putting out nonsense which the media picks up and repeats as if to ‘balance’ the truth. In NYC today we have DeBlasio (in “The NY Times”, explaining why mayoral control is necessary)
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/nyregion/giuliani-and-de-blasio-form-unlikely-alliance-on-new-york-city-schools.html?emc=edit_th_20150324&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=50637717This can be a blessing or a curse for a mayor,”
Mr. Giuliani said. “I wish I had had control of the schools, because I really feel like I could have fixed them. I thought I could fix everything! I might have, I might not have. At least I would have tried.” Hee, hee, hahahahah!
and this is Giuliani talking about “honesty”>>> “Mr. Giuliani, who supported mayoral control during his time in City Hall, but was unable to persuade legislators to give it to him, said his support for Mr. de Blasio was “a matter of intellectual honesty.”
Now, that quote was really important to find its way onto the pages of this paper.
Then there is this ‘article’, also today:
What we need is major documentary or film like ‘Selma’, which SHOWS THE DESTRUCTION and the lies.
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AMEN!
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New York’s state government is clearly corrupted around education. The recent Nation exposé outlined how hedge fund billionaires got Cuomo to push testing & charter schools in 2010. Cuomo’s new proposals are even worse. The NY State Assembly is offering some pushback (good), but one wonders whether this pushback will be overcome with more money from billionaires.
Pols are very corruptible.
The article linked in the OP indicates that at least some Assembly members are not currently on board with the matrix thing.
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cross -posted at OEN with this comment (which has embedded link to this site in the comment).
No matter the evidence, Cuomo and NYS are determined to evaluate teachers to prove schools are failing so they can privatize them. Here is how parents feel: “Sixteen elementary school teachers in Framingham, Massachusetts, wrote an eloquent letter to parents explaining the damage that is done by high-stakes PARCC testing.”
And the utter nonsense and chaos is captured in this from the Diane Ravitch Blog where “Laura H. Chapman offered the following comments about Ohio’s shell game of assessment. Among other troublesome issues, Ohio will encourage “shared attribution” for evaluating teachers; that means that teachers who do not teach tested subjects will be assigned a rating based on the scores of students they do not teach.”
“In Ohio, the State Superintendent of Public instruction, Dr Ross, has a request in to Governor and the legislators to lighten the testing load. The “Testing Report and Recommendations” ( January 15, 2015) includes some cockamamie statements about the purposes of tests, along with some revealing stats.”
“The convoluted reasoning and ignorance about testing is amazing. The purpose of all tests, including tests administered for purposes of complying with teacher evaluation requirements, should be to measure what the educator is teaching and what students are learning. Student tests are not direct measures of what teachers are teaching. Many tests document what students have or have not learned beyond school. Compliance with legislative mandates means you can ignore undisputed facts and sound reasoning about testing.”
teachers and schools should use those instead of giving a pre-test.” (pp. 10-11).”
There is so much more. Click here https://dianeravitch.net/?s=testing+PARCC+ or put tests into the search field at the Ravitch blog.
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As I read the article I started to hear Sinatra singing, “Where are the clowns, send in the clowns, there ought to be clowns…” These people have no business being involved in teacher evaluation, it’s laughable. Well, at least it’s Sinatra I’ve got for an earworm….
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This comes to mind.
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Wow, love it.
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Ha!
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Fabulous, FLERP.
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If the dots represent Cuomo’s policy proposals, shouldn’t they be brown? As in, “if it’s brown, flush it down” ?
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TAGO!!
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Flerp – you got that right!
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I can’t even imagine lawmakers writing regulations for blue collar jobs without enlisting the opinions of those workers!
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If NYSUT isn’t planning on a lawsuit that will get an injunction and then get this junk science thrown out, then I’m not sure where my dues are going. Time to get the big guns loaded and ready to go.
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NYS seems to have plenty of money when it comes to fighting those lawsuits, sadly enough.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2015/03/8564552/state-spending-17-m-fight-school-funding-challenge
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In this case I believe it’s all or nothing. If it breaks the bank so be it. Money in the bank with no teachers left won’t help much.
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Welcome to my world, New York. I was told for the longest time that I should just buck up and resist by New York teachers when I talked about the birth of these reforms and the horrible fallout we live through here in Florida.
I’m sorry you are having to finally experience the horrors I’ve been living with for years. I was told it could never happen in the Northeast because of the strong unions.
I wish we had had more support in destroying this at its inception but the toothpaste is out of the tube, so to speak. The unions, professional organizations, academics, and teachers ceded the high ground to Jeb Bush and Bill Gates with little challenge, preferring a seat at the table and avoiding confrontation and unpleasantness.
And here we are, whining about how unfair and illogical it all is but no one is willing, still, to fight fire with fire.
We will never defeat them by logic or emotional appeal. We must fight and be willing to suffer. Until then they will keep up the attack.
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“Defies Measuement” from Peter Greene at Curmudgucation:
Well worth watching and sharing
Should be required watching for all NY politicians.
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Starting to look like it’s about time for civil disobedience. parents and public sector unions need to shut down NYS and take our state back from the hedge fund deformers
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The first step is promoting OPT OUT. They are worried–I am seeing lots of corporate media editorials telling parent it would be irresponsible to opt their children out. In truth, the moral imperative is that they keep their children home and forbid the school to retest their child. Do not feed the beast!
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Chicago Trib had a front page article today talking about the fate of some opt out kids . Some districts took it out on the kids and had them sitting for the entire test time doing nothing. A special ed student who was featured was forced to sit through his extended time. It really does make you wonder about the intelligence of some people, not to mention their ethics.
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Good point. A statewide one day strike would send a message, Taylor be damned, it’d be worth it. NYSUT are you listening?
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And again I ask why our union didn’t support Teachout and work so hard to throw her off the WFP ballot. She won all the upstate counties, but NY and LI pushed Cuomo to the top
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Agreed. Why? Maybe they thought Cuomo was bluffing. Big mistake. NYSUT needs to show it means business.
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