Carol Burris, principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, New York, doesn’t think much of Governor Cuomo’s proposal for teachers to be evaluated by drop-by outsiders. The Governor made this part of his education package of “reforms.” His original proposal, which has been handed over to the State Education Department (or the Board of Regents) was to have test scores count for 50% of each teacher’s evaluation, to have 35% determined by an “independent evaluator,” and only 15% based on the principal’s judgment. Who would these outside evaluators be? How much would they be paid? What would it cost? How many would be hired to review the work of every teacher in the state? How much time would they spend with each teacher? This is the kind of idea that would be dreamed up only by someone who never was a principal or a teacher.
Here is what Burris says:
The folks up in Albany are showing once again that they never met a bad idea they didn’t like. The idea that teaching would improve if only “outsiders” came in to do observations is absurd.
When confronted with the costs of this half-baked scheme, legislators suggested that money could be saved by “swapping” administrators among districts to do observations. Can you imagine the consequences of putting this idea in place?
Schools would not function as principals are put on the road to observe teachers in other schools, leaving their own students and teachers without support when a crisis occurs. In rural New York, schools may be an hour or more apart. If the outside observations stay within the district, we would have elementary principals observing physics classes, and high school principals observing pre-k.
Observations would become little more than a check list hastily done by someone who has no vested interest in helping the teacher improve. One might imagine a cadre of “hired guns” who excel in writing harsh observations being brought in to a school to get a teacher who is respected in the building principal but not by a district office or a Board of Education.
This scheme makes one thing crystal clear–Cuomo despises teachers and the principals who support them. Let’s see if the legislature goes along or stands up for our public schools and the children they serve.
Our local Friendly’s had a waitress whom everyone loved. She was a real presence in the place and a draw. The company sent a “quality” inspector unannounced to the restaurant whose major concern was time. This waitress did not serve the evaluator his meal in the designated time, and she was fired from above despite local outcry, including letters to the papers. A year or two passed. The restaurant closed. This is the way schools and teachers will be judged? A “highly effective” teacher from another district can simply note something with no background knowledge or understanding. But it won’t matter anyway, because the state test scores will finish off teachers. The outside evaluator is just the nail in the coffin.
Yes.
This is all an attempt to render control away form locals and give it to government and its corporate profiteering cronies.
It is our fault, we who have chosen to not have too much to do with politics and we who have chosen not to fight to eliminate poverty and redistribute wealth.
It is sad. But we are still evolving, we Americans, and we have yet to really decide and come to consensus what it really means to be a democracy.
These are the hard lessons to be learned, but in generations to come, there will still be great hope. This dark cycle has not run its course, but it has begun finally o heat up and undergo shifts in public awareness.
Thank you. All I can say is I hope that waitress found work at a much better place. But will that insane evaluation follow her. And if it does, who pays attention to that garbage? Think about this, colleagues.
Carol Burris’ thoughts are my concerns exactly. Is there any other profession where an outsider comes into the workplace, observes and is part of the decision making process?
Who will these people be? Will they be educators? Again, what will all this cost the taxpayer?
As stated,it can be no more than a checklist with a “GOTCHA” agenda!
Actually that’s exactly what has happened and is happening in healthcare. Doctors are healthcare professionals areobserved and evaluated by representatives from insurance companies or management consulting firms who follow business models and insist on efficiency and what they deem “best practices”. Let me tell you, the doctors don’t feel that these “best practices” are those which are medically indicated. Oh , and compassion and bedside manner count for naught.
Often teachable moments in class are nuanced and based on the relationships that have been formed in the classroom, the community, and bonded by joint experiences. When I have had great success with students it has been largely due to the quality of my relationship with them and the rapport we have. These things are not easily quantifiable or observable by outsiders. In antiquity teaching by the old dead Greeks was based on relationships. Why do we wish to dehumanize ourselves and refuse to recognize that that is what we are doing? Outsiders by their very presence change the dynamics of a classroom. They do not have the knowledge to do anything other than check a checklist and make comments when they are not aware of the dynamic relationships in the school. The observations should be left to the principals that are in the community and the schools.
Carol Burris et al,
Trust me when I say it’s a done deal. I have a state portal into this that I don’t care to reveal in this forum. Both houses will pass this just to get money infused into their cash starved and uncertain LEAs and/or to please their corporate sponsors.
Just accept it, work with it, and see how it plays out. The worst is not over, nor has it yet come. But maybe not everything we anticipate will come true either . . . .
We won’t know completely until we live through this.
“…and think of England”?
You are mentioning England because?
Old advice given to Victorian brides for their wedding night.
Something tells me a typical nuptial night was not as horrifying as the reform movement.
Hiyoooo!
Yes, but the point is that the so-called reformers know best, and it’s for your own good.
The following 2 articles give some idea about what the new teacher evaluation plan might look like.
1. The “independent evaluator” could be a principal, administrator or highly effective teacher from another school or district, a retired educator or a college professor. Ok, so if it is a highly effective teacher or principal, will he/she be paid? This isn’t part of a teacher’s required duties.
2. The Common Core ELA and Math tests in grades 3-8 will be required for the evaluation system.
3. I love this one,”The matrix model, which would include student performance on state exams as well as observations but differs from the current model in that it is not based on percentages.” (What does that mean?) And, “Wagner said the “Matrix” model MIGHT NOT actually lead to a more varied distribution of educators across the scale of “ineffective,” “developing,” etc.”
So, what are they doing here? Let’s face it. They have NO CLUE! It’s a mess.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2015/03/8565167/details-begin-emerge-new-teacher-evaluation-system
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2015/03/8565148/state-ed-aid-increase-tied-new-evaluation-plans
Sounds like the fumbling and bumbling at our Statehouse in Ohio. They keep passing laws to fix laws. It has become such a clown show, you just kinda shake your head and ignore.
We shouldn’t worry about outside evaluators being “highly effective” teachers — I don’t think Cuomo wants the new system to find anyone who is “highly effective” anyway.
Cuomo will have these indie evaluators hired through Craig’s list and offer them minimum wage. In fact, they probably won’t even have to show up or prove they can read or write. They get paid if they turn in the evaluation and check all the right boxes. If they don’t check the right boxes, they get tossed off the list.
The matrix has you Neo…..follow the white rabbit.
This is education by BOXOLOGY. Those in charge have no clue except to check off the boxes of insane tasks completed to INSURE our young a college and workforce ready with their eyes always on the goal in kindergarten. This most insane, developmentally and pedagogically mindset is hurting our young. But the 1% want you and your children as their slaves. Critical thinking? Oh…CLOSE Reading (whatever that means) is now the FAD being pushed by Coleman.
I’m thinking districts could hire some bright Ivy League retirees from that well known organization EFA (Evaluators For America).
C’mon…even if they have no education experience, a quick 5 hour course should be able to solve that, and the chance just to be in the presence of a real Ivy Leaguer…that’s the stuff dreams are made of!
Sarcasm off.
Sad to say, but I don’t think that is sarcasm. It’s probably about to become reality.
I think if they start this new wave of outside evaluators it will create yet another layer to education that is anything but educating. “How can I be in education without actually educating anyone?” hmmm. Then there will be studies about what influences the outside evaluators. . .are they persuaded by the clothes the teachers wear? Are they partial to short hair, or long? Do they like thin teachers, or fat teachers? Do they prefer young teachers or old teachers?
We just keep getting farther and farther away from the school house to figure out the school house.
Enough.
we should just build empty school houses with a sign out front that says “Dare to enter and teach.”
and let’s hold U.S. elections in other countries. We clearly need outside voters to choose our leaders for us.
Outside money is already deciding our country’s elections. “Citizens United”, by the Supremes guaranteed the right of money in elections over people.
“We just keep getting farther and farther away from the school house to figure out the school house.”
TAGO!
Don’t count on outside evaluators being experts in the fields they are to evaluate, when the plan is that their influence will carry an oversized weight. Today, all levels of education have been infiltrated by non- educators. I’ve been teaching in social science and education departments at various colleges for decades and a lot of the education departments are not run by formally trained educators anymore. They have also hired so many people to teach who are non-educators that I’ve had students in my classes comment that they are finally glad to have a teacher who is a real professional educator. That does not put me in good stead. I have had a lot more “annual” evaluations each year from non-educators than you would find in private companies, where “annual” typically means once a year, which have steadily declined while feedback from students has not.
I would not be surprised if corporate “reformers” have created some kind of clandestine Evaluate for America they can tap into, in order to aid them in the business plan to deprofessionalize teaching.
Evaluate for America – I love it!
Yup, I was thinking Pearson is pushing EdTPA and now they could have a profit division for outside evaluations.
Can you even begin to think how crazy this would be? Today, I had 2 fights on the playground, one of my girls suffered a breakup with her boyfriend at lunch, and I couldn’t find one of my students because she was hiding in the bathroom because she got into trouble in Music class. An outside evaluator would have NO IDEA what the teachers of that school building go through. I’m sure that the evaluator would not even care, because teachers have simply become a number on a scale.
The reality is that no one is going to go into this battered profession. My principal knows what I go through, and he knows that I try very, very hard at my job. He sees the midnight oil going in my classroom. He also knows everything about the children we serve. I would be horrified to be evaluated by someone who didn’t know anything about me and the students we serve. The bottom line is that they are trying very hard to take away the power from the local boards and the community. It is scary. Everyone in the community knows who the good teachers are. They do not want to lose their good teachers because they are not scoring well on a ridiculous rubric and impossible evaluation model.
I write this from my desk, because I can’t go home. I have so much more paperwork to do.
But you need to go home. Every one needs to rest and feel refreshed if they are going to be successful in their work.
You are not in this fight alone.
It takes so long for teachers to properly train administrators.
TAGO!
Not to mention those adminimals are a stubborn, ignorant bunch.
A girl in my district committed suicide. A girl in my school has attempted suicide at least twice. Last year, yet another girl was talking about suicide. If I were to have even a small part in preserving my students’ lives, I would be eternally grateful. Measure that Pearson.
One of my students, several years ago. Then taught the sibling. I still see the face and wonder. The Reformers could care less. Just adjustments to spreadsheets to them.
It is my understanding that the governor did not attend public schools Judging from the quality of his ideas, I believe the schools he attended should definitely be closed.
My colleague, Adam Urbanski, often says that no one is smart enough to come up with an evaluation system worse than the APPR system we have in New York now. After this, he’ll have to eat some crow.
I’ve got it. If everyone in NY prepares a test and keeps it in the drawer, we can just use that for the day when the drive by observer comes in! How can you not be effective you are testing!
P.S. “Evaluators for America” was really funny! Ha..Ha..Ha..Ha.. It feels good to laugh! I’m under a lot of stress these days…..
Here is the next generation of the drive-by evaluation, not entirely a fantasy. Others on this blog can do a better version.
Cuomo requires all students and teachers to sign off on a document that allows them to be videoed in the classroom.
A hired hand takes a 5 minute digital video sample of your teaching. The camera is rigged to time-stamp the segment as early in the lesson, mid-lesson, or end of lesson.
The “observation” of about 12 teachers can happen in one hour, by a person who knows nothing about teaching.
Cut that to 3 minutes for about 20 teachers in one hour.
Calculate how many teachers are employed in NY schools and you have two sets of figures on potential costs for (underemployed) videographers and thus a data-driven basis for estimating the best method of data-gathering.
Choose the cheapest–3 minute videos for every teacher–with plenty of evidence, little interruption to teaching, and some bells and whistles for “random sampling.”
Upload these video’s to Karlotta Spanielson’s observation shop for “trainings” in speed ratings by persons who will look for only three of Spanielson’s critical attributes of great teaching at one of three “intervals of instruction:” (1) the beginning of a lesson, or (2) the middle of a lesson, or (3) near the end of a lesson.
Every rater is assigned just one of these special “intervals of instruction.” They do not need much training because grade-levels do not matter and subjects taught do not matter.
Good teaching is the same everywhere. Karlotta Spanielson’s “evidence-based speed rating system” is the fourth generation of a scheme field-tested for years and recently aligned with the Common Core.
The videos are rated by only three rubrics with three levels of performance scoring. Top teachers get a maximum of 9 points.
Then up-load all scores to India (or best compeitor for the contract) for reports filled with astounding metrics that correlate successful beginnings, middles, and ends of lessons with test scores. The new metric BME is born and teachers became known as effective of not on each of these “critical components of a lesson”–the beginnings, the middles, and the ends.
And, statisticians have discovered that there are low correlations among these lesson components and test scores. So….a whole new field of research is evolving, testing whether slow-motion versions of each 3 minute segment will offer up the real clues to segment-by-segment success in teaching–meaning the ability to produce high test scores. The results will become the basis for evidence-based professional development and hard-wired into policies in no time.
Not entirely facitious. Videos snippets are used in teacher preparation exit tests, and they were used in the infamous Measures of Effective Teaching Project directed by Harvard economists and funded by Bill Gates.
They want us to upload videos in Newark. I refused to sign the media release. Why would I want my ass posted who knows where?
Mandating the developmentally inappropriate common core along with the poorly done time eating PARCC testing….and now saying that teachers will be evaluated by “drive by” strangers. I still can’t believe it. Nothing should surprise me anymore though.
I am a teacher in Albany and I hate Cuomo. He is an idiot.. Just a vindictive rat but we will get him
Helen,
Please tell how you really feel and don’t hide behind any smokescreens. 🙂
Reading all this reminds of a line from Rod Serling’s masterpiece “The Obsolete Man”. “Logic is an enemy, and truth is a menace.”
This video vision, while infuriating, sure beats “strangers” coming to elementary classrooms. Can you imagine how children will respond to “strangers” in the room, espe cially when they’ve been taught to not trust strangers? Clearly, the one who invented this diabolical twist did not have children in mind at all. Or human beings. Or education. Recently, I’ve read about Vichy France and the brave resisters, who sometimes were forced to billet Nazis. Who knew New York-elected politicians would channel Mid-20th century Germans and bring this vision to Amerika? Next up? Observers who are colleagues and true believers in the wonder of the core. They will be “out to get” those teachers who think knowledge, not skills, is what matters. Equip Rubrics for all. Enforced lesson plan formats for all. No longer will those modules be “voluntary.” Teachers, you are looking at your destiny. And Cuomo and Tisch and Wagner “will make you perfect.”
Let’s see…will the independent observers have to meet a quota – a certain percentage of teachers who are “highly effective,” “effective,” and so on? If the mountains of paperwork they will surely have to submit to whomever show that they are giving out too many “highly effectives,” what will happen then?? Will Big Brother rescind their “independent observer” privileges?
The bar will be set high for ineffectives. The goal is to fire as many teachers as possible.
Yes they will have to meet a quota. The percentages of teachers falling within each category will be pre-determined, and when the actual numbers don’t work out that way, even more taxpayer dollars meant for students will be wasted on consultants to “calibrate” and “re-calibrate” the evaluators ad nauseum until they get those numbers.
This stack ranking system is often cited as one of the main contributing factors to Microsoft’s decline in the industry because it forced employees to be competitive rather than collaborative which led to the back stabbing of each other and the ass kissing of managers (evaluators) and ultimately low morale.
It is widely known in the business world that this system of evaluation will make your company the leader in the Race to the Bottom, especially in industries where collaboration and teamwork are the keys to success (like education.)
Keep on connecting those dots.
That’s what worries me. I could see swapping teachers from a neighboring district to evaluate and we’d all evaluate each other well. Then the state would come around and say, “You didn’t fail enough teachers!”
I would not be surprised if there was a quota with the evaluations, or at least an “unofficial” one.
Who would these outside evaluators be?
The answer is obvious. They would be corporate reformers and/or work for a Hedge fund billionaire.
Maybe we should just wear body cams and post everything on Reddit. The public can vote on teacher performances. Can’t be any worse.
Sadly, I would prefer that.
I’ll have to break our my ties from the 70’s. That’ll get me some votes.
Are we in NY now Wisconsin or Arizona??
North Korea.
Given the underlying assumption is that teachers are not professionals, not too bright, most importantly, clogs on the assembly floor, interchangeable. As long as the factory model prevails, as it does in so many of the “deformers” solutions, this will be the only evaluation model that “works”; the only one that fits the factory floor. No problem with outside evaluators since the teachers must all be the same, they all follow the same scripts. Besides they won’t be in the classroom long enough to see the difference, but they will certainly be efficient.
If we could just get these pesky teachers out of the way, then real learning could take place.
The current APPR write ups are a nightmare for administrators, but Albany must not feel that the principal has enough on their plate. One can always do more – when properly motivated (by negatives such as low school ratings and/or dismissals).
In The Buffalo Public Schools they have Drive Bys. A group of administrations (4 or 5) arrive from downtown and randomly observe various teachers. They nit pick even the best educators (I’ve caught more than one exemplary teacher crying in the faculty lounge after being grilled by these so called “experts”). Is your objective on the board.? Did you read it aloud with the class while pointing to it? Are you teaching the lesson which is posted on your weekly schedule hanging outside the door? Don’t review, better reteach the concept because the observers were not there for the first lesson and cannot figure out what the kids learned the day before.
Don’t blink – here is a model which might be coming to a school near you.
Ellen #ThoseWhoCanTeachThoseWhoCannotObserve
The independent evaluator is ridiculous. So, the governor is saying that principals do not know how to evaluate their own teachers. Then what is the point of paying the principal? Would we allow a doctor who is employed by one hospital to be evaluated by supervisors from other hospitals? This is a waste of time, energy and money that could be going directly to the schools instead of paying back favors by creating nonsense positions.
I don’t think these independent evaluators will be trained educators. Instead of an outside educator evaluating teachers, they will probably be economists, an auto mechanic, lawyers and people who work for the testing industry, for Pearson.
I wouldn’t be superseded if Cuomo hired homeless people to be the evaluators and then have the gall of bragging that he is reducing unemployment among homeless in New York State.
Lloyd, Lloyd, Lloyd please don’t be such a cynic. They’ll be “Professional Evaluators” hired via craigslist just like the people that score the constructed responses on tests are “Professional Scorers”.
It’ll all be total B.S., oops I mean they’ll all have a B.S. They’ll be well compensated. They’ll get at least 4 dollars an hour above the federal minimum wage.
Can you guarantee that $4 an hour above federal minimum wage or is that one of the promises that Cuomo keeps making and then breaking after he get whats he wants?
What’s the Cuomo broken promises score now—I’ve lost count?
LOL
The devil is in the details. Here is some language from the bill voted upon yesterday:
A new teacher evaluation system will be based on two components: student performance on state exams and observations. It will be based on the same scale as the current system: “ineffective,” “developing,” “effective” and “highly effective.”
The component that’s based on student performance on state exams includes a mandatory state test and an optional one.
Educators who teach English and math to third through eighth graders will be evaluated based partially on the federally required state tests in those grades and subjects. Similarly, those who teach high school classes that culminate in Regents exams will be evaluated based on those state tests.
Teachers won’t be evaluated based on students’ absolute performance; rather, the state will develop “growth scores” based on the exams that measure how much students improve from one year to the next. In the past, the state has weighted these scores for some factors, like in the cases of teachers whose students live in poverty, have disabilities or speak English as a second language, for example.
Teachers whose courses don’t end in state exams will be evaluated based on “student learning objectives,” or expectations of what students will learn in a year, which will be developed by the state.
Districts may also choose to include an optional second “state-designed” standardized test, according to the bill.
The budget describes the following as eligible options for the second test: “state tests or assessments developed or designed by the state education department, or that the state education department purchased or acquired from another state; an institution of higher education; or a commercial or not-for-profit entity.” Tests designed or acquired by local school districts may be used if they are approved by the state.
For the observation component of the evaluation, there will be two required observations and one optional one.
The required observations will be performed by a principal or administrator and an “independent” evaluator, who can be a principal or administrator from another school within the district or another district.
Districts will have the option to also include an additional observation performed by an educator’s peer within or outside the school or district, as long as the peer has been rated “effective” or “highly effective.”
The State Education Department “shall determine the weights and scoring ranges” and “set parameters for appropriate targets for student growth” for the required and optional components and subcomponents of the rating system.
However, there are certain rules prescribed in law that determine the overall scores that teachers can receive depending on their scores on the two components.
For example, if teachers earn an “ineffective” rating based on student performance on the required state test, they may not earn “effective” or “highly effective” overall, according to the bill.
If teachers use both the required and optional tests, and their combined score based on student performance on the tests is “ineffective,” they must be rated “ineffective” overall.
Teachers who are rated “ineffective” on the observation category may not get “effective” or “highly effective” ratings overall.
Districts may no longer consider the following in determining educators’ evaluations: lesson plans, student portfolios (with some exceptions) and student or parent feedback surveys.
Districts must negotiate the optional components of the evaluations with their local unions, submit their plans and obtain state approval by Nov. 15, or they will lose an increase in state aid, according to the bill.
“No school district shall be eligible for an apportionment of general support for public schools from the funds appropriated for the 2015-2016 school year and any year thereafter in excess of the amount apportioned to such school district in the respective base year unless such school district has submitted documentation that has been approved by the commissioner by November fifteenth, two thousand fifteen,” the bill says.
The bill says students may not be instructed by two “ineffective” teachers in consecutive years. If that requirement is “impracticable,” districts may apply for a waiver from the state.
TEACHER TENURE:
Before teachers and principals may be offered tenure, they’ll serve a probationary period of four years, instead of the current three years, and they must earn “effective” or “highly effective” ratings for three of the four years. Educators who earn an “ineffective” rating during the fourth year may not be offered tenure, but they may be offered an additional probationary year.
Teachers who have received tenure in another school district who weren’t fired for poor performance will serve a three-year probationary period.
Teachers who have successfully held substitute teaching positions at the school for two years will serve a two-year probationary period.
Educators may be fired at any time during their probationary periods.
TEACHER DISCIPLINE:
Teachers or principals who earn two consecutive “ineffective” ratings may be brought up on charges of incompetence by their schools boards and would have to provide “clear and convincing evidence” in order to avoid being fired. The decision must be made within 90 days of the charges being initiated.
Educators who earn three consecutive “ineffective” ratings must be brought up on charges of incompetence and could argue only “fraud” as a defense. “Fraud” includes mistaken identity. The decision must be made within 30 days.
“The employee may be suspended pending a hearing on the charges and the final determination thereof, and such suspension shall be with pay,” the bill says.
Disciplinary hearings will be conducted by a single hearing officer.
When teachers are brought up on misconduct charges of physical or sexual abuse of students, they may be suspended without pay pending an expedited hearing.
RECEIVERSHIP:
Schools whose performance falls in the lowest 5 percent in the state for three consecutive years will be designated “failing schools” under the budget. Schools with 10 years of low performance will be called “persistently failing schools.” Special act school districts, which serve students with severe behavioral problems, are exempted.
“Persistently failing schools” will have one year to implement “a comprehensive education plan … that includes rigorous performance metrics and goals,” which has to be approved by the state. “Failing schools” will have two years.
When the one-year or two-year periods expire, the education department will conduct a performance review of the schools. If the schools show “demonstrable improvement” based on their turnaround plans, they will remain under local control, and their performance will continue to be reviewed annually.
If the schools do not improve, a receiver will be appointed for a period of no more than three years to “manage and operate all aspects of the school and to develop and implement a school intervention plan.” The district has the ability to choose the receiver, subject to state approval. If a district does not choose a receiver within 60 days, the state appoints one.
“The independent receiver may be non-profit entity, another school district, or an individual,” according to the bill language.
The receiver “shall have the power to supersede any decision, policy or regulation … that in the sole judgment of the receiver conflicts with the school intervention plan.”
The receiver will be able to “replace teachers and administrators” and “abolish the positions of all members of the teaching and administrative and supervisory staff assigned to the failing or persistently failing school and terminate the employment of any building principal assigned to such a school, and require such staff members to reapply for their positions in the school if they so choose.”
When teacher or principal positions are abolished, the current teachers or principals with the lowest rating on their most recent performance evaluations will be fired. Seniority will be considered in case of a tie.
When teachers and principals reapply for their jobs, a staffing committee will determine whether the applicants are qualified. “The receiver shall have full discretion regarding hiring decisions but must fill at least fifty percent of the newly defined positions with the most senior former school staff who are determined by the staffing committee to be qualified.”
Those who are not rehired “shall not have any right to bump or displace any other person employed by the district, but shall be placed on a preferred eligibility list.”
Here’s what the bill says about collective bargaining when schools are under receivership: “In order to maximize the rapid achievement of students at the applicable school, the receiver may request that the collective bargaining unit or units representing teachers and administrators and the receiver, on behalf of the board of education, negotiate a receivership agreement that modifies the applicable collective bargaining agreement or agreements with respect to any failing schools in receivership.
“The receivership agreement may address the following subjects: the length of the school day; the length of the school year; professional development for teachers and administrators; class size; and changes to the programs, assignments, and teaching conditions in the school in receivership,” the bill says. “The receivership agreement shall not provide for any reduction in compensation unless there shall also be a proportionate reduction in hours and shall provide for a proportionate increase in compensation where the length of the school day or school year is extended. The receivership agreement shall not alter the remaining terms of the existing/underlying collective bargaining agreement which shall remain in effect.”
The receiver will be able to “order the conversion of a school in receivership that has been designated as failing or persistently failing … into a charter school.”
The receiver will also be able to increase salaries of current or prospective teachers and administrators, extend the school day or year and add full-day kindergarten and pre-kindergarten classes, in the case of elementary schools.
The receiver will have the authority to reallocate resources within the school’s existing budget and review proposed budgets before they’re presented to voters for approval. The receiver will be a non-voting member of the school board.
The intervention plan must include introducing community services into the school, such as medical and mental heath care, substance abuse screening, language instruction, mentoring and greater access to career and technical education and workforce development services for students and their families.
After the initial period of receivership, subject to a performance review, the state may renew receivership for a period of up to three years, terminate the contract with the receiver and hire another one, or elevate the schools out of the “failing” or “persistently failing” categories.
TEACHER CERTIFICATION:
Teachers and administrators with lifetime certification must register with the state every five years.
Applicants for registration must complete 100 hours of continuing education or professional development every five years. “The department shall issue rigorous standards for courses, programs and activities that shall qualify as continuing teacher and leader education,” according to the bill.
Principals or teachers who perform observations for the purpose of the state’s teacher evaluation system may count those hours toward the total.
If educators don’t complete the state-approved professional development, they will not be able to maintain certification.
TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS:
The budget will establish new admission requirements for graduate schools of education in New York as well as scholarships for high-achieving students who attend graduate schools and commit to teaching in the state for five years.
Graduate schools of education will be required to “adopt rigorous selection criteria geared to predicting a candidate’s academic success in its program,” including a cumulative 3.0 grade point average during an applicant’s undergraduate career and a minimum score on the Graduate Record Examination or an equivalent entrance exam.
Up to 15 percent of an incoming class may be exempted from the selection criteria “based on a student’s demonstration of potential to positively contribute to the teaching profession or other extenuating circumstances.”
If more than half of students that satisfactorily complete a graduate school’s education program fail state certification exams for three consecutive years, the state will suspend the program.
Full scholarships will be available for students who attend full-time, two-year graduate programs in education at public universities who “achieved academic excellence” as a resident student at an undergraduate college in New York. The recipient would have to sign a contract agreeing to teach or serve in an educational leadership position in a New York public school for five years.
The scholarship would be applied at the end of each term, and if a recipient did not successfully complete the program or ultimately teach in the state for five years, the award would be converted into a student loan.
Up to 500 awards may be given annually.
Robert –
That was a scary story.
I’m so glad I’m retired.
Where are they going to get an influx of teachers to replace the ones who will be stampeding out the door as soon as they reach retirement age (if not before)?
Who in their right mind would want to enter the teaching profession or become a principal? Especially in a poor, urban or rural district.
You may set your standards high, but what are you going to do for personnel when nobody can meet your criteria?
5% of the school will fail every year. That is written “in stone”. So even if they improve, they are still doomed.
Robert, I’m going to have nightmares tonight. Thanks a lot.
Ellen #PoleVaultersNeeded-HeightNotNegotiable
Read the posting and many of the comments on this thread and then consider these two excerpts from W. Edwards Deming from decades ago re worst management practices:
p. 18: “Management by walking around is hardly ever effective either. The reason is that someone in management, walking around, has little idea about what questions to ask, and usually does not pause long enough at any spot to get the right answer.”
p. 171: “To learn about factory floor problems, for example, you have to talk to people—and I don’t mean by just walking around. Somebody once described good management as management by walking around. Well, it helps to walk around a bit, but you do not learn about the real problems that way.”
[THE ESSENTIAL DEMING: LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES FROM THE FATHER OF QUALITY, 2013, Joyce N. Orsini, ed.]
Expressed in different terms but he is describing, in part, what is being discussed here.
😎
“Schools would not function as principals are put on the road to observe teachers in other schools,. . . ”
I’ve yet to see in twenty years that schools did “not function” when principals were out. Actually, Most never even notice.
Now, when the secretaries and/or nurse is out, then there is trouble!!d
So true, Duane. You could always breathe easier when the principal was at a meeting or took a day off.
Ellen #AlwaysMadeFriendsWithTheOfficeStaff
Why is it that we don’t have Principals and administrators like Carol Burris here in NYC?
Baaaaaaaaa……….
How do these legislators think that half of a teacher’s evaluation coming from students’ test scores is a good thing? After all of the research and findings, after all of the complaints not just from teachers, but other education administration? I could understand it being 5 or 10 percent, but 50?! Why not have other teachers evaluating teachers, and getting student input and parental input?