TEST AND PUNISH ACCOUNTABILITY ALIVE AND WELL IN NYS

This week's Chapter Leader newsletter from the UFT provides details as to how teachers will be rated this year. Only teachers who had a Common Core grade 3-8 test as part of their Measures of Student Learning portion of their rating will see a change. For everyone else, it is the same split of 60% observations and 40% test scores as last year. Schools will also continue to be rated based on the Common Core grade 3-8 exams.

High school teachers will still be using the 60-40 split for this year that includes the Regents exams. This contradicts somewhat the NYSUT interpretation of the four year so called moratorium where they said the Regents exams based on growth models should not be used in our evaluations for four years.

Has the UFT quietly negotiated to put the Regents growth scores back in behind the scenes?

Some teachers will like this as it lessens the impact of the principal's observations on teacher ratings but some who work in challenging situations where the scores can sink us will not be happy. Anyone who believes using the Regents exams that were never designed for the purpose of judging teachers to rate us cannot be pleased.

Bottom line is that with the high school Regents still counting for high school teacher performance reviews as well as school ratings and scores on the Common Core grade 3-8 tests still being used for school accountability, test and punish education continues to flourish in New York State.

Here is a link to our analysis from January.

Below in its entirety is what the UFT says in the current weekly Chapter Leader Newsletter on ratings. Please note this is only for this school year. For 2016-17, the 50% test scores-50% observation evaluation system goes into effect.*

How teacher ratings will be calculated this school year

Acting on the recommendation of the governor’s Common Core Task Force, the Board of Regents earlier this year adopted a regulation that guarantees that the grade 3–8 English language arts and math state assessments will not be used as part of teachers’ evaluations this year and the next three school years. There is no change for high school teachers. Teachers who have grade 3–8 math or ELA assessments as part of their Measures of Student Learning will receive a Transition Rating that excludes grade 3–8 ELA and math state assessments for the 2015–16 school year. Where this rule results in a teacher having no remaining assessments to use in his or her Measures of Student Learning portion of the rating, the teacher’s Transition Rating will be based entirely on his or her observation scores. State-provided growth scores will continue to be computed for advisory purposes only, and an Overall Rating will continue to be provided to teachers based on such growth scores. Through 2019, however, only the Transition Rating will be used for purposes of employment decisions. Grade 3–8 test scores will still be used for schoolwide accountability measures, such as measuring progress in schools designated by the state as priority or focus schools. For more information on evaluation, see the teacher evaluation page of the UFT website.

*For the person who always comments on whether the observation from outside the school will be part of next year's system and if the minimum number of observations will be 2 in future, I don't know. As soon as there is information, I will pass it along. However, I would not bet on the UFT and Carmen Farina negotiating a system with fewer observations if it is left up to local districts.