Hochul signs bill revising state's teacher evaluation system
Governor Kathy Hochul delivers remarks at the Latino Pastoral Action Center and Sanctuary. Credit: Don Pollard Office of Governor Kathy Hochul
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday signed into law a bill that revamps the state’s teacher evaluation system, giving more control to local districts and eliminating the requirement that students' test scores be used to assess instructors.
The measure, supported by several stakeholder groups statewide, scraps the current requirement that student test scores be used to evaluate teacher performance.
The new process allows representatives of the local school district to negotiate with the local teachers union to craft a method of review. Their agreements will develop a process to rate educators on a 1-4 scale, with 4 being the highest, on multiple measures and provide support for teachers rated 1 and 2. Parents would receive the most recent score of their child's teacher each year.
Melinda Person, president of New York State United Teachers, said the new method will fix an onerous process of evaluating a teacher's performance, 14 years after the system was enacted.
“Today 700,000 NYSUT members are celebrating a victory that will transform classrooms across New York,” Person said. “After more than a decadelong fight, the state is finally returning teacher and principal evaluations to local control.”
Person said the new system does away with a “punitive, test-focused mode” while embracing educators' creativity and growth.
“This is about restoring the daily joy of teaching and learning, and it is about evaluating our educators like the professionals they are,” she said.
In 2010, lawmakers approved basing teachers' ratings on students' achievement on state English and math standardized tests as well as on classroom tests and supervisor evaluations.
In 2019, lawmakers approved ending the mandate tying teacher evaluations to students’ scores on standardized tests under the process known as the Annual Professional Performance Review. But even supporters acknowledged at the time that it didn’t completely unlink exams and evaluations; it left 50% of a teacher’s appraisal to some measure of student performance.
These most recent changes were prompted in large part by massive student boycotts of state tests that swept across the state and remain strong on Long Island to this day.
The new system was opposed by Ken Girardin, research director for the Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative think tank. He had said the proponents of the new system never provided evidence that the former process was too tough on or unfair to teachers.
Robert Lowry, deputy director for advocacy, research and communications for the New York State Council of School Superintendents, said the old system had more negatives than positives.
“The major education groups got together and worked on this for over a year. It will be better for schools, for educators and ultimately for students,” Lowry said.