Readers asked me to post the names of the legislators in the Democratic-controlled State Assembly who voted for and against the New York state budget, which contains one of the worst–maybe THE worst–educator evaluations systems in the nation. It clearly was not created by anyone who ever worked in a school. It clearly was intended to demonize and demoralize teachers and principals. It even includes a provision that teachers will be evaluated by independent persons, recruited from outside their own school, who do a drop-by visit, not only undermining the authority of the principal but asserting the claim that a brief observation by a stranger is a good measure of teacher quality. The system is heavily weighted towards test scores, which has been refuted by the American Statistical Association. In New York, under the new approach, 50% of teachers’ evaluations will be based on test scores; the ASA says that the variance in test scores attributable to teachers is 1-14%.

 

So for the benefit of those who want to know, I am reproducing the chart of votes in the Assembly, developed by New York BATs and the New York State Allies for Public Education, a coalition of 50 parent and teachers groups:

 

 

wallofshame