Roseanne McCosh is the teacher who co-wrote with me the petition to repeal the NYS teacher evaluation laws (see right side of the page). Most of us in NYS are rated based on insane criteria including student scores on assessments that were never designed to rate educators and observations that in NYC are based on the Danielson Framework which has been weaponized by too many administrators to make teacher lives miserable and stressful.
The petition was inspired by the comments from the ICEUFTBLOG. Some of our readers were surprised that so few teachers signed it initially as almost everyone hates the evaluation system. I thought it might take some time for the petition to gather steam but I also believe that as more people hear about the petition, more will sign it. Remember, ICEUFT is not a huge caucus. We have this blog and we meet a few times a year. "The little caucus that could" and our friends now has over 900 signatures on our petition in just a few week's time. We are pushing a goal of 1,000 where it starts to matter.
Roseanne has some very sound advice that she put in a comment and it is worth paying attention to:
58 UFT members in my school have signed the petition. Approximately 15 additional signatures from friends/family of our staff. My school started with a handful of signatures. We still keep reminding people to sign...in person and in emails. It's easy to get angry with teachers who don't take the time to do it but it's just as easy to give them frequent reminders to do it so it actually gets done.
At least 6 of the signatures from my school came from people who are not rated under Danielson/test scores. We asked them to sign as a show of support for those who are under it. Our delegate stood in the lobby one morning and handed out the info. Our Chapter Leader held a union meeting where we talked it up. I've sent email updates on the number of signatures.
People will step up---some just need nudging or nagging to get there. So let's all continue to nudge and nag. Roseanne McCosh
Keep up the fight dear readers. Our colleagues are very busy people who sometimes need to be reminded to act in their own interest. We can make a difference, particularly if we all help spread the word in schools that do not know about the petition or ICEUFT and keep nudging and nagging in our own schools.
AWESOM! Keep the push going.
ReplyDeleteThis current system of rating teachers is about as stupid and ridiculous of an evaluation system that can be devised. Shamefully, the government and the Department of Education felt compelled to put this into effect. On top of which principals and their staff have used this as an unfair way to judge lesson plans with forcing only their vision of what a lesson should entail. The more and more I use these methods, the less and less my students are actually creating actual learning and retain much less subject matter than the many years beforehand. My own evidence is able to support my stance. And to use that against me in a rating system is just absurd."
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