As most teachers are having their Initial Planning Conference for this year with their assistant principals and many teachers were rated Effective last year, you should be entitled to only have to put up with two informal (15 minutes or more) observations this school year as a minimum. That's sufficient for the state and most sane administrators.
Observations can be a complete waste of time and except for newer teachers who need the feeback, observations rarely provide anything but a kind of going through the motions' dance routine where everyone plays the game. Since Advance came in as the new evaluation system in 2013, most teachers who are tenured do not have to put up with a full period formal observation with a pre-observation conference with the assistant principal unless they want one. That has changed for this school year.
The DOE has decided that all teachers who were rated Effective last year were less than effective the prior 2019-2020 school year. That was the year during the height of the pandemic in NY when the school year was interrupted in March and the teacher evaluation system was properly waived for the year as the system went to remote learning. Now as yet another punishment for tenured teachers, the DOE is adding a formal observation as a requirement for this year.
Let's look at the actual contractual language from the Memorandum of Agreement to see how the DOE is working around the spirit of the Contract by literally following the Contract. Please note that the current Contract that was agreed to by the UFT and DOE was settled in 2018 and still has not been reduced to a written Agreement three years later. All I have a link to is an MOA. The UFT and DOE had plenty of time before the pandemic to agree on language and put it out in writing in a Contract but apparently, they both had better things to do like harassing or not protecting teachers. I digress. Back to the main point, here is the language on observations for effective teachers with tenure:
Teachers that completed probation who received Effective as their final APPR rating in the previous year and in the year before that received a Highly Effective Effective and/or Satisfactory shall have a minimum of two observations that are used for evaluative purposes.
So the DOE is saying that the "year before" is 2019-20 so every teacher was less than effective or satisfactory that year when nobody was rated because of the COVID pandemic. That is a BS interpretation. No other way to put it. Tenured teachers rated effective and their assistant principals have a new burden of two extra meetings (pre and post-observation conferences) and a mandated full period observation.
This is my guess on how this happened:
DOE administrator calls Mike Sill: Effective tenured teachers should get one formal and three informal observations because nobody received a rating in the year before which was 2019-20
Sill response: That doesn't sound right so maybe you can cut it down to a formal and an informal so we can claim another retreat is a great union victory?
DOE administrator: Okay.
The UFT advice from one district representative is that although this violates the intent of the Contract, choose to have the formal observation in the spring as by then maybe we can resolve this.
Translation: If Mulgrew can suck up to probable new Mayor Eric Adams enough, perhaps we can persuade Adams to change this policy in January and go back to two informal's.
The UFT could be telling teachers that we don't accept this policy and we will fight it at the State Education Commissioner's level or at the Public Employees Relations Board as no teacher had a chance to be rated in 2019-20 so the 2018-19 ratings should stand as the "year before" because that was the previous full school year. No teacher or assistant principal should be sanctioned with extra work because of pandemic conditions they could not prevent. My guess is the Council of Supervisors and Administrators might be okay with our objection as I don't believe most assistant principals want to be burdened with formal observations for effective, tenured teachers. The State accepts teacher ratings with two informal observations
Anyway, we warned back in 2018 that the way the DOE and UFT wording for the reduction in observations was inadequate.
A minimum of two observations for some teachers is a gain. It is better than this year’s minimum of four (informal) observations. However, it only impacts tenured people who are rated highly effective the prior year or effective the past two years. The teachers who need relief are the people rated ineffective who will now have a minimum of one additional observation for a total of five and many of the probationary teachers who are drowning in work. Their observations remain unchanged at a minimum of four. How about a maximum number of observations like they have in Buffalo and many other districts in NYS? How about agreeing with the DOE to jointly go up to Albany to attempt to enact legislation to rid New York of the whole stupid evaluation system where teachers are rated based on scores on invalid-unreliable student assessments and classroom observations from the awful cookie cutter Danielson Framework?
39 comments:
It's been a constant during my 30+ years in a number of city schools that the uft rep was always the worst, most incompetent teacher in the school. Friends and colleagues from other schools always said the same.
Teachers that know what they're doing, prepare lessons and conduct themselves professionally dont care if there are 50 observations a year.
It's only the real losers who crow about observations.
So James, who many years did you serve as uft rep in your school?
Don't forget this is just the minimal observations a principal can do. I know the principal of Flushing High School is subjecting his staff to 5 informals and 1 formal observation regardless of tenure status or previous ratings.
And we are going to the Supreme Court!
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/09/30/nyc-teachers-covid-vaccine-mandate-supreme-court/
The DOE has a very bad organizational culture. We all know this.
Hopefully, when Eric Adams becomes mayor, he will wipe all of these crappy administrators and superintendents off the NY city payroll.
They are doing this shit now to teachers because they are paranoid and incompetent.
They are scared of their unknown future. They won't have de Bozo to cover up for their incompetence.
Does this mean Dwarka from Bryant High School gets away with the worst teacher evaluation ratings in Queens high schools again this year?
lol SOTOMAYOR, so glad a spanish women is going to pull the pug to her spanish and black communities for the mandate, fitting.
Nevee thought say this, need BLM to help with this insane mandate!
The DOE central is populated with administrators like Justin Stark, a herd of perverts and many, many boy wonders. As soon as January 1st, they will be receiving their termination notices.
These folks at DOE central administration are now being diagnosed with nocturnal enuresis from their anticipated stress.
You can't feel sorry enough for them. They made their own beds and now they are wetting their bedsheets.
Here is another news story about the criminal mismanagement of the NY city schools:
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-eric-goldstein-arrest-public-school-food-20210929-d6ohl3e7fvbd5i3ypcwgytud6u-story.html
The Goldstein crime also speaks to the widespread racketeering that is pervasive to the
NY city public school central administration.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-eric-goldstein-arrest-public-school-food-20210929-d6ohl3e7fvbd5i3ypcwgytud6u-story.html
There are so many sickening stories of criminal mismanagement during the 20 years of mayoral
control by Bloomberg and de Blasio. The DOE has very poor administrative oversight over its many corrupt administrators.
PARENTS CALLUNG FOR TO KEEP KIDS HOME TOMORROW.CAN SEEM TO LiNK IT.
International strike for school safety.
#parentstrike2021
#schoolstrike2021
I KNOW IT DOESNT GO WITH THIS POST.JUST WANTED IT TO BE SEEN AS IT IS FOR FRIDAY.
Anyone who gets a negative year-end evaluation should hire a lawyer. How are they evaluating teachers in a pandemic instructional environment. Was anyone ever trained in pandemic pedagogy, where students are supposed to be 3 feet apart, where classroom discussion is often muted by masks, air conditioners, and open windows??? Teachers are also burdened with the additional work of providing materials for kids on quarantine as well as in-person. Many are tasked with teaching an extra class or assigned daily coverages due to massive teacher absenteeism, quarantines or unexpected OTC enrollment. All the teachers are also jeopardizing their health even with vaccines by going to work every day. There are many breakthrough infections. Was any administrator ever "normed" in performing observations in this environment? This is ridiculous!
The next step, the attack on remaining veteran teachers who may grumble when consistently asked to work for free. All the initiatives and team building, professional learning initiatives, more and more and more duplicative forms to be filled out and uploaded into SESIS. The live individual data collection followed by entering in digital format to create pretty bar graphs.
Our newer members fall over themselves to work for free, not yet seasoned enough to realize there is no monetary compensation attached to kudos until one day they wake up and say, "Hey wait a minute! I have a family who is being ignored or is suppose to be first but really is second in my life." "I need to rethink my priorities, What am I doing here?, I don't have the time to take my daughter to dance class because of this extra work."
That day will come.
Just the opposite of my experience. UFT Chapter Leaders are usually excellent teachers and extraordinary caring people.
They make every effort to serve their colleagues and see that their colleagues are treated professionly and fairly.
They spend many hours of their own time in order to make their schools a place where teachers want to teach, and parents want their children to learn.
THANK YOU Chapter Leaders
They are elected by their staffs who recognize their caring and skills.
Miles, You don't know what you're talking about. Yesterday, I picked up my daughter from middle school. She and her friend told me the teacher covering the science class called Kara's name and in front of the entire class after finding out that I was Kara's father said that Kara's dad was her APUS history teacher and I made it so she enjoyed history.
Even the principal or two that hated me acknowledged I was a good teacher.
Many of my chapter leader colleagues were also respected as teachers.
This may have been one of the most misinformed comments ever here and that says a lot.
Miles is an asshole.
It's barely worth responding to a troll like Miles. Since I've been in the system, and that's 25 -plus years, I have faced all sorts of incompetent here-today-gone-tomorrow admins who resorted to using observations as a punitive measure or as a thinly -veiled threat to the staff. Maybe Miles was lucky to not encounter the APs that I had observing me, who included among their criticisms over the years such horrific pedagogical missteps as... My HW was placed on the left side instead of the right side of the blackboard (stop traffic) ....My safety windows were open beyond 4 inches in early September on a 94-degree day---YES one came in to measure DURING an observation...My choice of grouping students by 4's was ineffective and I should have chosen threes or fives...OH and that I was "fostering a pro-slavery mindset" because I chose as our first read Anthony Burns (Virginia Hamilton) If you're not aware, this is historical fiction about a fugitive slave during the time of the Missouri Compromise. My AP had that time had no clue which CENTURY the novel was set in. Why should they come to my room beyond what is in the contract? I know I'm a great teacher. I have 25 years of student and parental feedback. I've yet to encounter an admin who has bettered my teaching, and frankly, most aren't fit to manage ANYONE. I don't want them in my room because they waste my time over nonsense. Nothing good comes of observations for veterans, anyway. Nothing. Period. But you go ahead and brag about all your great observations in candyland. Enjoy.
It's been a constant during my 30+ years in a three city schools that the administrators were always the worst, most incompetent teachers in the school. None of the administrators in my school could teach a decent lesson. My current principal never taught any classes at all. This is so ironic considering the title principal comes from principal teacher. Bloomberg made it possible to become a principal without ever being a teacher.
I would agree that 25+ years ago observations served some purpose, at least to new teachers. I found them helpful at the time. In the current DOE schools, observations are often political, manipulative, serve as retribution, and are often conducted by people who were incompetent as teachers. The purpose of current observations is not to help teachers but to "get" them.
Two of the six UFT chapter leaders I have worked with have been very good. They knew the contract inside and out. They held meetings at school once a month to keep us informed. These two were early on in my teaching career. The other four only took the job because nobody else wanted it and they get perks from the principal.
I hope Eric Adams does expose the corruption at the DOE, cleans house, and puts an end to the money pit. Anyone from the DeBlasio and Bloomberg administration, regardless of title and experience, should be sent packing; fired or retired. I am sure there are some flowers among the weeds, but the abundance of weeds makes it too hard to distinguish.
Let me explain why this is horse shit: Last year our admins required observations in our elementary school. I videotaped mine in the classroom. It was rated effective by my admin and placed in my file. That means I should have the usual 2 informal observations this year. However, just like everybody else, I have one formal and one informal. Fuck the DOE and Fuck Mulgrew for not fighting this.
Censorship James running at 11--must be some scary stuff.
Move over, Google, FB, etc...
Evryone complained when we had 4 observations or more.. So the uft fought the city and changed the contract. The no rating plus a rating scenario was only suppose to be used for teachers who were out on leave or didn't teach a class that year, then the following year they started teaching again. It made sense, they should have a formal observation to see if they are back in the swing of things and doing the right thing. Do you think anyone knew a pandemic was coming and ratings were canceled? The city is just using the contract that was agreed. It's not like the doe is going to say. Ok. OK. Disregard that agreement and do what you want. They are saying, that's what we agreed to, you need to abide by it. It seems like no matter what, everyone doesn't like observations. It's crazy. So before it was too many, now it's less, but let's complain that you need to do one formal.. And let's be honest, even if it takes more time. You have more control over what they can evaluate you on and is better than an informal. How about let's find something else to complain about instead of 2 observations this year? Great!
POTUS says this is a pandemic of the unvaxxed.
Data from England show 63% of Delta deaths in last 7.5 months were fully vaxxed.
Why won’t CDC share US data with the American people?
What is the justification of mandates and refusal to recognize natural immunity?
The vaccinated are older people. They are of high risk to begin with. That is why many vaccinated die.
A right comparison should be made between vaccinated and unvaccinated within each age group.
Then we shall know the truth.
Vax is not a miracle cure.. but... If everyone had gotten vaxxed, we would be in much better place.
The five CLs in my school since 1989 were all excellent teachers. I was one of them, but you can trust me on the other 4.
Another uft failure...Observations. But pay dues.
And on the safety front...
98% vaxXed Israel hospitals also filled with the vaxx according to their health minister.
& yet they keep doubling down on forcing vaccines.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabitants/
US is way worse than Israel when it comes to deaths per million from COVID. Stop with antivax nondense
Link is just informational without much bias. Hope censor lets it be through for teachers being threatened with homelessness.
https://www.aol.com/york-teachers-ask-supreme-court-210100731.html
A group of teachers is challenging the city order, saying thousands of public school employees will be forced out of work if it remains in effect.
It is not the teachers' faults that we were unrated two years ago. They are punishing teachers for a decision that was made on the state and city level that we had no input on.
I had my observation in the fall of 2019 (prior to the shutdown) and it was solid. As we all know, nobody had an official one that spring. Then they announced ratings were suspended. NYC teachers had nothing to do with that.
Can the union ever draw a line in the sand? Ever?
Before any supervisor conducts any conduct formal observation—they should be required to demonstrate a model full period model lesson for those teachers they are going to observe—It can be put on a phone/ipad video for review and discussion as part of a pre-observation conference —so that a classroom teacher recognizes the expectations of an effective classroom or what an effective lesson sounds like and looks like—assuming there are any supervisors these days that are capable of delivering an effective classroom lesson demonstration.
Miles,
I had the experience of watching James teach. He is truly a master teacher. He was also an excellent chapter leader. You are hiding behind your screen and taking cheap shots. Thirty years plus you claim you taught. Did you treat your students with the same imperious and dour attitude? Maybe you should start your own blog. You are misguided and have a reductive view of issues that appear to be too complex for you. I feel sorry for the thirty years worth of students that had to endure your insufferable attitude. However, you did actually tech something. You taught them how not to be like you.
11:11: Good idea. I asked to see model lessons from our school all the time, but it never happened. Instead they showed us ideal schools and ideal classrooms where kids were rehearsed.
I NEVER HEARD OF A 'LESS THAN EFFECTIVE' RATING ONLY DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE HIGHLY EFFECTIVE. PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TERMINOLOGY IS IT FACT OR AN OPINION WORD????
Developing is less than effective. There is also ineffective. Check the Danielson rubric.
SORRY I LEFT OUT INEFFECTIVE AND DEVELOPING
THAT BEING SAID WHERE IS THE THE TERM "LESS THAN EFFECTIVE" WRITTEN IN DANIELSON FRAMEWORK. i CHECKED AS YOU SUGGESTED
I made up the term less than effective because contractually you had to have an oveall rating other than highly effective, effective or satisfactory two years ago to be eligible for the two observation minimum this year.
Because of the pandemic nobody could be rated effective in 2019-20.
tHANKS FOR THE CLARIFICATION ON TERMS I AGREE WITH YOUR ASSESMENT IT IS MORE HELPFUL ON THIS BLOG IF WE ANSWER EACHOTHERS QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS RATHER THAN JUST RANT THANKS AGAIN
If effective two years in a row, there is no need for a formal observation according to the contract. By making this new requirement for a formal observation for everyone rated effective last year who has tenure, the DOE is saying every teacher rated effective last year was not effective in 2019-20, the year that there were no ratings because evaluations were waived by Cuomo. Many, I should say most, already had effective observations in the fall of 2019 so the DOE even had data for that year. This requirement for a mandated formal for this year is just sticking it to the teachers and APs.
From the livemint article:
"Vaccination provides a second sieve underneath the first, to prevent people from dying. This time, because we haven’t vaccinated everyone, it’s the holes in the sieve that are of different sizes. For older people who’ve had both doses, the holes are smaller, so many ball-bearings are stopped. The vaccines will save many of those who would previously have died."
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