After months of uncertainty, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has waived requirements for teacher and principal evaluations for this school year.
State law mandates school and district leaders assess teachers and principals using the so-called Annual Professional Performance Reviews, or APPR. The evaluations, which include classroom observations and student performance data, can influence tenure decisions and trigger firings.
In an executive order issued Sunday, Cuomo will not require the reviews for the 2019-2020 academic year, since the coronavirus pandemic has kept school buildings closed across the state. The order also allows districts to grant tenure to educators who have met all other requirements for it and have been evaluated in the past, but have not been reviewed this school year. Under the order, districts can also choose to postpone tenure decisions for another year.
The part of the waiver that covers teacher and principal ratings:
Section 3012(d) of the Education Law and Subpart 30-3 of Title 8 of the NYCRR, to the extent necessary to exempt school districts from completing annual professional performance reviews of classroom teachers and building principals during the 2019-20 school year without withholding any apportionment of funds for the general support of public schools for which a school district is otherwise entitled;
The tenure part:
Sections §§2509, 2573, 3012 and 3014 of the Education Law, to the extent necessary to allow a board of education or the trustees of a common school district, only upon specific agreement, to appoint on tenure those classroom teachers and building principals recommended by the superintendent of schools who are in the final year of the probationary period, have received the previous requisite annual professional performance review ratings pursuant to §3012-d of the education law and would have been in their discretion qualified for appointment on tenure based upon past performance, notwithstanding that their annual professional performance review had not been completed and they had not received the necessary effectiveness rating for the 2019-20 school year, or to allow such board of education or trustees of a common school district to extend such determination for an additional year.
Please don't ask about personnel who aren't covered under 3012(d).
We figured Cuomo would leave the ratings out there hanging until the last minute. A little uncertainty for all of us. Well, in the end, this is good news.
Update: For those who are the worrying kind I pose this question:
If everyone is not rated for this school year, then does that mean for next year all teachers have to have a minimum of four observations as per contract for someone who receives no rating the prior year? The state law says two is the minimum number of observations but the UFT negotiators have always given tons of loopholes for the DOE to drive a truck through on the observation issue and many other issues as well.
10 Evaluation (Page 17, Paragraph 6):
Teachers that completed probation who received no rating the prior year or a rating other than any listed above shall receive one (1) formal and three (3) informal observations.
16 comments:
Your observations from the first half of the school year I assume are still on advance. Next year is going to be an issue too if we can't effectively do group work. It will be funny if we go back to being teacher oriented and test scores all go up.
Which of these is true? This is from the uft fb page. To get the 2% per year, 40% for 20 years...Do you have to complete the 20th year of be in the 20th year? If you resign during your 20th year?
You have to complete your 20th year (start 21st) in order to have 20 years in.
or
Last time. Once you Hit..not finish..20 yrs. Is when your pension is calculated at a higher rate. Anything else you state on this is Wrong!! Call the UFT on Monday and ask for a pension consultant to clarify
I think you have to finish 20. Call TRS, they will tell you for sure or UFT.
You have to complete the number of years to get the longevity raises so the same would be true for retirement.
Thanks mulgrew. Did anyone else see the email from Mulgrew that says if you recommend summer school you have to put 7-12 comments in from STARS?
What am I going to say for all of that? After doesn't meet standards and did no work, I have exhausted of all of my comments
Promotion guidance for remote learning and promotion portfolios
June 8, 2020 News Stories
The DOE issued the following guidance on June 5.
Below you will find clarification on the promotion process for students with standard promotion criteria for grades 3–8. The promotion portfolios are adapted for remote learning, with revised guidance for identifying and scoring student work samples. As in prior years, schools should only complete promotion portfolios for those students with standard promotion criteria who are being considered for retention because they have not demonstrated sufficient progress toward meeting New York State Learning Standards in ELA and mathematics. Schools should note the following expectations:
Portfolios must only be prepared for those students being considered for retention in June. Once it is decided that a student will be retained in June, they must participate in summer school and their progress will be re-assessed in August to make a final promotion decision.
Schools must not prepare portfolios for students who are recommended for summer school but not being considered for retention. Any student can be recommended for summer school based on academic need (see page 3 of the promotion guide).
Portfolios must include authentic, existing work samples. Schools should not prepare new tasks, assessments, or work products for the purposes of promotion portfolios.
If there are insufficient work samples to assemble a portfolio for a student, the student may not be retained. If the school has other evidence to indicate that the student would benefit from summer school based on academic need, the school should recommend the student for summer school. See page 7 of the promotion guide for information about mandating and recommending students for summer school
Grade fraud?
"If there are insufficient work samples to assemble a portfolio for a student, the student may not be retained."
So this means that if a student did no work before Coronavirus, and continued to do no work now, they can't be retained in their current grade??
mmulgrew@uft.org
jhinds@uft.org
msill@uft.org
lbarr@uft.org
Anybody get a response?
Spring break comp?
Fraud grading?
Anything else?
Randi Weingarten
@rweingarten
COVID is not going away and its affects will last for well after it does. Families need these crucial supports extended.
FROM RANDI
Open in September?
Under normal circumstances I would recommend that anyone who is close to retirement go to the UFT for a pension consultation but you can't do that, so, as James says, call UFT or TRS.
To determine your calculation at 20 years you need to find out your **Total Service Credit**. This is easy enough to find on your ABS or Annual Benefits Statement available by signing into your account at the TRS webpage.
**Total Service Credit** includes memberships service plus other services.
Good Luck,
Shelley
I emailed the UFT on ATR ratings. Let’s see if I get an answer. You just can’t trust the doe. Ever.
@5:37 AM - Please report back on that. Would be good to know what the response is.
As an ATR, I asked the union the same thing. No reply.
I get the feeling that when certain questions are asked to the UFT, they act as if they were hoping that nobody would come up with the question.
I can’t see how any ATR could be given a U this year, but this is the doe so who knows
Probationary teachers will have to have had their first 3 years rated E or HE. If they received even one D or I in their first three years, then they can't get tenure this year (even if they would have likely earned a good rating this year).
From NYS tenure rules:
"A teacher seeking tenure would need to attain an effective or highly effective rating for at least three of the four years. These ratings do not need to be consecutive. A teacher rated ineffective in the fourth year cannot receive tenure at that time."
Probationary teachers will have to have had their first 3 years rated E or HE. If they received even one D or I in their first three years, then they can't get tenure this year (even if they would have likely earned a good rating this year).
From NYS tenure rules:
"A teacher seeking tenure would need to attain an effective or highly effective rating for at least three of the four years. These ratings do not need to be consecutive. A teacher rated ineffective in the fourth year cannot receive tenure at that time."
So can teachers who were up for tenure, effective for the past three years, and no attendance or disciplinary action on file be discontinued this school year with no reasoning or rating sheet as to why?
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