After years of contentious debate and delay, a new teacher-evaluation plan was approved yesterday for New York City — which officials say will help weed out the worst teachers.
“The challenge is to bring the best teaching practices to every classroom in New York City. Today, we’ve moved a little closer to that goal,” said state Education Commissioner John King.
“The plan gives principals the tools they need to improve instruction in their schools. It will help struggling teachers and principals get better and help good teachers and principals become great.”
New York City’s 75,000 teachers will be classified in one of four categories — “highly effective,” “effective,” “developing” or “ineffective” — and an “ineffective” rating two years in a row is grounds for termination.
“It is easier to remove a teacher or principal who is ineffective,” King said. “Two ineffective ratings constitute a pattern that is substantial evidence of incompetence.”
But in a prepared statement, he cautioned, “New York is not going to fire its way to academic success.”
Key features of the plan, which has no expiration date but will be reviewed at the end of the 2016-17 school year, includes:
* 40 percent of a teacher’s grade will be based on her or his students’ performance.
Of that, 20 percent will be based on state exams in math and English in Grades 4-8 for some teachers. They will be judged based on how much their students improve compared to similar students around the state.
* For teachers who do not administer those exams, their student growth will be measured based on “student learning objectives,” in which teachers and principals set annual goals for each student.
* Another 20 percent of a teacher’s rating will be determined by other “school-based measures” — primarily tests — set by an eight-member school committee. The principal will select four panel members, and the teachers union will pick the other four.
* Next year, 60 percent of a teacher’s grade will come from in-class observations by principals, with at least one unannounced visit.
* After the 2014-15 school year, principal observations will account for 55 percent, and 5 percent will be based on student surveys of teachers in Grades 3-12. Currently, Syracuse is the only state school district that uses students to help evaluate teachers, though it is a national trend.
One Manhattan high-school teacher criticized the provision.
“I don’t think it’s fair,” she said. “I don’t think students are the best judge of who the best teacher is or what the best teachers do. Sometimes it’s a popularity contest. Sometimes unprofessional behavior can lead to the students liking a teacher more.”
* Teachers can appeal only ineffective ratings.
* Principal evaluations will be based on school scores and superintendent evaluations. Teachers will have no input.
United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew did not object to the new rating system or the crackdown on poor performers.
“New York City teachers will now have additional protections and opportunities to play a larger role in the development of the measures used to rate them,” he said.
“Our concern is that the Department of Education will not implement this properly. That’s why we asked for all the due-process pieces [in the plan] — and clearly the commissioner heard us.”
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott hailed the plan as a “sea change in evaluating all of our teachers.
“Our goal is to make sure we have strong teachers in front of the classroom,” he said. “This isn’t a ‘gotcha’ moment, going after our teachers. If they’re not effective, they shouldn’t be in the classroom.”
But Walcott pointed out that the previous stalemate between the city and the UFT “cost us $250 million” in state education aid. Gov. Cuomo ordered the state to impose the plan on New York City to avoid further losses.
The Post has repeatedly called for a tougher teacher-evaluation plan so that the weakest can be identified and quickly removed.
The new plan replaces the city’s long-standing system in which teachers were rated only “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.”
Last year, only 11 teachers were terminated for incompetence, and 39 resigned or retired after charges were brought.
Teachers rated satisfactory three years in a row qualified for tenure, after which it was more difficult to fire a teacher for alleged misconduct or incompetence.
Arthur Goldstein, an English teacher at Francis Lewis HS in Fresh Meadows, Queens, worries that test data will give a skewed picture of performance.
“There’s no validity to this method. It doesn’t show whether you’re a good teacher or a bad teacher,” he said.
Under pressure from Cuomo, the state Legislature revised the law this year to bar any expiration date on the evaluation system.
Mayor Bloomberg called the plan a “clear win for students.”
King’s plan can change if the city and the UFT reach a collective-bargaining agreement to tweak or replace it. The state would have to approve any changes.
This leaves it open to revision under Bloomberg’s successor.
Walcott bristled at the suggestion. “If the next mayor wants to undo this, they undo it their own peril. This is something to be built on and not to tear down.”