Educators Oppose Evaluation System

Hundreds of Long Island public school principals —including some from Long Beach — are challenging the state Education Department and criticizing new standards for evaluating educators.

The new rules went into effect in September as New York State worked to win federal money under the Race to the Top program, which the White House said is designed to promote  "innovation, reform, and excellence in America’s public schools."

Teachers and principals are evaluated, in part, on student performance on standardized tests. Teachers and principals receive a rating of 0-100 with 20 to 40 percent of their score coming from their students’ test performance.

“As building principals, we applaud efforts aimed towards excellence for all of our students,” they say on a new website. “We cannot, however, stand by while untested practices are put in place without any meaningful discussion or proven research.

“At first glance, using test scores might seem like a reasonable approach to accountability. As designed, however, these regulations carry unintended negative consequences for our schools and students that simply cannot be ignored.”

The website, which includes a copy of an open letter, lists several objections to the system, arguing that tax dollars are being diverted from schools to testing companies, trainers and outside vendors; that the emphasis on evaluations will damage children as schools put too much focus on test results, and that educational experts say there is no evidence that such a system improves students’ education.

Long Beach High School Principal Dr. Gaurav Passi said he and many other principals in the district signed the letter of support. “I think it’s worth noting that the principals’ group has never mobilized in this way before,” Passi said. “I think this speaks to the intensity of the concern surrounding the issue.”

The letter, written by Dr. Sean Feeney, principal of The Wheatley School in East Williston and president of the Nassau County High School Principals Association, and Carol Corbett Burris of South Side High School in Rockville Centre. In July, Burris sent a memo to U. S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in July, outlining her objections to poor evaluation systems.

The state Board of Regents approved the evaluation system in May.

“These evaluations will play a significant role in a wide array of employment decisions, including promotion, retention, tenure determinations, termination, and supplemental compensation, and will be a significant factor in teacher and principal professional development,” the state Education Department said at the time.

Passi said that he is concerned that the current legislation can have some serious unintended consequences, including an exaggerated emphasis on standardized tests. “This could result in more ‘skill and drill’ instruction rather than on discovery and learning,” he said.

Educators are rated on this basis, the department said.

• 20% — student growth on state assessments or a comparable measure of student achievement growth (increases to 25% upon implementation of a value-added growth model);
• 20% — locally-selected measures of student achievement that are determined to be rigorous and comparable across classrooms (decreases to 15% upon implementation of a value-added growth model); and
• 60% — other measures of teacher/principal effectiveness.