NYS Teacher Evaluation: Common Core Disconnection

NYS Teacher Evaluation: Common Core Disconnection by Bernard Gassaway

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has apparently reneged on a pledge he made in his 2015 State of the State Address. After calling the current NYS teacher evaluation system “baloney,” he vowed to toughen it by connecting student test scores to teacher evaluations. After nearly a year of receiving a political pummeling from parents, teachers and unions, he is now retreating from his pronounced position.

Cuomo’s Common Core panel has called for a two-year extension on tying testing results to a teacher evaluation system until 2018-2019. This delay will likely delay any appreciable learning and teaching opportunities for students and teachers. Perhaps Cuomo should retreat from using student test scores in teacher evaluations; but, should he delay all changes until 2018-2019?

A delay in revamping the teacher evaluation system would be a disservice to New York’s teachers, principals and students. Absent an effective evaluation system, teachers in too many cases will continue to believe their performance is proficient or highly effective. Teachers should not be blamed for developing a misguided perception of performance, given the lack of a sound evaluation system. Also, it is unfair to expect school leaders to measure teacher performance when they do not have a system that enable them to fairly and accurately measure teacher performance. Without an effective evaluation system, students suffer when ineffective teachers are not evaluated. It is difficult to convince teachers that they need professional development. It is also difficult to remove them if they refuse to accept needed help.

Cuomo’s major blunder was attempting to tie student Common Core testing results to teacher evaluations. He gave the teachers’ unions a gift. He started a fight without sufficient weaponry. In response, the teachers’ unions unleashed a powerful assault on Cuomo’s proposed policy. In hindsight, this was a relatively easy win for unions because everyone knows that standardized tests are flawed. Educators have known this for decades. However, it only became intolerable when Cuomo attempted to connect flawed testing results to teacher evaluations. Apparently, Cuomo’s distinguished Common Core panel agrees.

The teachers’ unions should be applauded for fighting the good fight. It is hard to argue with a winning strategy. The unions have successfully fought off any flawed attempts to strengthen teacher accountability. Unions are able to rely on an ill-prepared NYS department of education officials that lack vision and courage.

One might ask, “Where are the NYS department of education officials (including NYS Board of Regents) vis-à-vis teacher evaluation?” Cuomo’s appointment of a panel to advise him on Common Core and teacher evaluation was a strong vote of no confidence to state education officials.

Interestingly, state education officials appear to take a back seat to Cuomo’s failed leadership on education. This amounts to years of tough talk and poor results. In other words, nothing has or will change—the status quo will continue.

Here’s what we know. Without a valid and reliable teacher evaluation system, teacher practice may not improve significantly. The biggest losers in not having an effective teacher evaluation system are the students. The common core to any learning community is effective teaching.

As Cuomo prepares for his 2016 State of the State Address, he should acknowledge that education is the largest crack in his leadership armor. He also should acknowledge that his failure to lead in the area of education contributes to the decades of school failure that he reportedly abhors. In short, Cuomo is as much of the problem as the teachers and principals he so freely criticizes. Cuomo must stop passing the buck. It must stop at his desk. He should not give another speech of broken and unfulfilled promises.

Bernard Gassaway

Former NYC principal and superintendent

www.bernardgassaway.com

bgassaway1@gmail.com

@Drgassaway (twitter)

© December 2015