WHO SHOULD GRADE TEACHERS? Cuomo battles with union and many educators over evaluations in New York schools

SUSAN WATTS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed a revamped teacher evaluation system to eliminate bad teachers — but there are plenty of hurdles.

You can’t teach Christine Fryer’s level of dedication.

The global history and geography teacher at The High School for Law Advocacy and Community Justice in Manhattan consistently works 12-hour days that only end when exhaustion sets in.

When she’s not instructing students she’s writing grant proposals for basic supplies like textbooks, or pleading for money on crowdfunding sites so she can buy flash cards and highlighters.

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“The issue is not really when the day starts, it's when it really ends,” said Fryer, 43. “The fact of the matter is that you could never stop working.”

The problem of evaluating teachers like Fryer has emerged as one of the hottest flashpoints in the battle over how to fix the public schools. Gov. Cuomo wants to increase the importance of standardized tests in teacher ratings but his proposal has been met with opposition from the teachers’ union and many educators.

During a speech last week in Rochester, Cuomo skewered the current rating system, in which nearly every teacher is rated effective or better despite the fact that fewer than 40% of students are considered ready for college.

“We now have a teacher evaluation system that came back — 99% of the teachers are doing great!” he said sarcastically. “Only 38% of the students are graduating at class-level, but 99% of teachers are doing well. It can't be — 99% of no class does extraordinary!”

The key to close the chasm between teacher ratings and student achievement, Cuomo said, is evaluations that are reliable. He has dismissed the current system as “baloney.”

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To that end, Cuomo has proposed two measures.

• 50% of teacher evaluations will be based on state tests, or, in the case of teachers in non-tested subjects, a measure that assesses one year of academic growth. The other half will rely on observations by an independent observer.
• Extending the probationary period for new teachers from three years to five before they are granted all the privileges and protections that come with tenure.

Cuomo’s new plan comes on the heels of his 2012 reform of the process used to fire teachers. His “expedited hearing process” was meant to speed up dismissal of bad educators — but superintendents have only successfully terminated an ineffective teacher once. That’s out of more than 150,000 eligible teachers statewide.

Cuomo’s new proposals are dismissed by the teachers union as a redux of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s education policies. Mayor de Blasio has since abandoned many of his predecessor’s reforms.

“When you hear someone talking about evaluations and getting rid of teachers, right away that's a non-starter,” said Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, which has been organizing rallies against Cuomo’s plan.

Cuomo’s evaluation plan has been met with skepticism from city Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, as well. Evaluations now count 40% towards a teacher’s assessment.

“Teacher evaluations should be no more than 30% of the test, but I want to be very clear: I do believe in the test,” Fariña said.

CHRISTIE M FARRIELLA FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina has viewed Gov. Cuomo’s reform plan with skepticism.

Cuomo’s plan is also fiercely opposed by many principals who say his proposals limit their ability to evaluate their own staffers.

Influential Brooklyn principal Elizabeth Phillips of Public School 321 said that school leaders should be allowed to rate their teachers, instead of relying on scores from tests.

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“Our staff and most of our parents are united in thinking the tests do not provide an accurate assessment,” said Phillips. “To judge teachers of kids based on tests that are so flawed is problematic.”

But a look at the numbers shows that across the city and state, public schools haven’t much luck firing incompetent educators.

In the 2012-13 and 2013-2014 school years only 774 out of roughly 56,000 tenured city teachers faced termination hearings.

STEPHANIE KEITH

Michael Mulgrew, president the UFT, says talking about "teacher evaluations and getting rid of teachers" is a "non-starter."

The state and Bedford Central School District in Westchester spent an extraordinary amount of resources to fire K-12 music teacher Ava Mazzella, who was hired in 1999 and granted tenure two years later.

She stands as that lone educator out of more than 150,000 in traditional public schools across the state who was fired for incompetence under the ironically named “expedited” process that is implemented after a teacher is rated “ineffective” two years in a row.

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The city only joined the system last year.

Mazzella’s long road to termination began in the 2011-12 school year, when she was given a job performance rating of “developing,” documents show.

TOMAS E. GASTON FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Christine Fryer works 12-hour days to get everything that her students need at The High School for Law Advocacy and Community Justice in Manhattan.

The next year she was worse, and received a rating of ineffective despite a teacher improvement plan designed by the Bedford Central School District. Observers reported she could not prepare a proper lesson plan, documents show.

A 52-page ruling dated Dec. 23, 2014 — three years after Mazzella’s first ineffective rating — amounted to her pink slip. She could not be reached for comment.

Evan Stone, CEO of Educators 4 Excellence, said the stakes couldn’t be higher for students as Cuomo embarks on his reforms of the evaluation system, which will be fundamental to rewarding good teachers and getting rid of bad ones.

"If we don't get this right this year, evaluations risk becoming a highly trumpeted and expensive reform that doesn't help teachers improve their practice and as a result, ultimately fades into irrelevance,” he said.

With Kenneth Lovett, Ginger Adams Otis

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/cuomo-pushes-rid-nyc-schools-bad-apples-article-1.2152723