LI schools prepare for teacher eval system

Long Island's public schools are struggling to prepare for potentially the most sweeping national and state reforms in decades -- especially a job-evaluation system that for the first time will rate teachers based in part on their students' test performance.

New York, like several other states, is under intense pressure to have an evaluation system in place as quickly as possible. New York's pledge to do this was a key to its winning nearly $700 million in federal Race to the Top school-improvement money last year. Failure to meet deadlines could prompt the Obama administration to withhold funds.

The state Education Department plans to send its portion of the new teacher rating system to school districts across the Island and the state by June 15. The initial ratings will include teachers of English Language Arts and math in grades 4-8 and their principals -- about 52,000 educators statewide, including 7,000 on Long Island.

A lawsuit and collective bargaining negotiations at the local level are complicating the system's full implementation.

Other coming reforms, in curriculums and multi-state testing, focus on increased emphasis to better prepare students for college and for careers in a global marketplace.

"At no time in my career have I seen so many high-stakes things in the air at exactly the same time," said John Bierwirth, the superintendent of Herricks schools with more than 40 years as a educator, mostly on the Island.

"The parallel I would draw is I see a lot of kids signing up for more courses than they should. And I tell them, 'You can probably take most of these courses simultaneously, but you probably can't take all of them simultaneously and do well,' " said Bierworth, who is a member of a state-appointed advisory task force on teacher evaluations.

Rigorous standards sought

The backdrop to the current push is a national drive that includes establishment of so-called Common Core curriculum standards and multi-state tests, to be accomplished within the next four years. That initiative, sponsored by the National Governors Association, is an effort to encourage states to adopt curriculum standards that are more uniformly rigorous. So far, New York and 43 other states have adopted the approach.

In New York, education officials point to recent test data as indicating that more than 60 percent of high-school graduates statewide, and nearly 50 percent on Long Island, lack English and math skills that are pivotal to success in college.

"The research tells us that if, in fact, you want to increase student achievement, you have to make sure you have a highly effective teacher for those kids," said Ken Slentz, the deputy state education commissioner in charge of elementary and secondary schooling. "If we want to make sure every kid has a highly effective teacher, then we're going in the right direction now."

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is among top officials who have pushed for more meaningful evaluations and for a fairer way of determining which teachers are laid off in times of economic stress, especially in New York City. That position resonates with many parents and taxpayers.

Chester E. Finn Jr., president of the Fordham Institute, a Washington think-tank, who was an education official in the Reagan administration, agrees that student test scores are essential to teacher evaluations, along with other criteria such as sophisticated classroom observations. To ignore test scores, Finn said, is akin to ignoring gas-mileage statistics in evaluating automobiles.

In these first evaluations, the state will award teachers between zero and 20 points, depending on how much their students improve on state tests. That state rating will comprise 20 percent of a teacher's overall evaluation. The other 80 percent will be decided at the local district level, based on locally selected tests, classroom observations and other criteria.

After the initial set of evaluations, more teachers and principals will be rated in subsequent years -- even as the state phases in other new requirements, such as more rigorous academic guidelines and tests geared to global standards.

Ultimately, the new evaluations are expected to cover about 250,000 teachers and other professional school workers statewide, with some 35,000 of those on the Island. Eventually, a teacher who is rated "ineffective" two years running will face the possibility of being fired after expedited hearings.

Relatively few teachers in Long Island districts are likely to find their jobs jeopardized by poor evaluations this school year, because the full system will not be in place. Even with the state pushing teacher evaluations forward, educators find themselves largely hamstrung by complicating factors -- collective bargaining negotiations at the local level, and a pending lawsuit that affects districts statewide.

Under the state law enacted in May 2010, districts are to create evaluation systems as employee contracts are renegotiated, a description that currently applies to 39 districts on the Island. Of those, most have not negotiated any details of the evaluation process with their teacher unions.

In addition, creation of evaluation procedures in local districts is being slowed by a lawsuit filed last summer by the state teachers' union that is weaving its way through state courts. New York State United Teachers contends the Education Department is trying to base up to 40 percent of an individual's evaluation on state test scores, larger than the 20 percent that the union says the law allows.

Other aspects of the school-reform push are happening rapidly, at what many local educators regard as a pell-mell pace. In recent weeks, hundreds of local school officials have attended regional BOCES training sessions to learn more about the upcoming teacher evaluations and new multi-state curriculums that New York plans to phase in over the next four years.

Test dates shifted

In another sign of urgency, the state Education Department recently shifted the date for the next round of testing for all students in grades 3-8, moving it to April from May. That means students will begin to take the state standardized tests on April 17, one day after most of the Island's students return from spring break.

State Education Commissioner John B. King, acknowledging the change will cause "increased stress" in schools, said the earlier testing schedule is essential if the state is to collect scores and issue ratings for the affected teachers in grades 4-8.

Alexandra White, a veteran fifth-grade teacher in Jericho, said she likes the idea of revamped job evaluations that would help her and her colleagues "fine-tune" their skills. But she questioned rushing students into state tests on the back end of spring break.

"It's not educationally sound when you do something like that," she said. "When you're an adult, and you come back to work from vacation, you need to catch up with your e-mails and get back in your routine. And it's the same for kids. They need time to decompress, talk to peers about what they did over spring break and get back into their routine -- rather than jumping into a test. Especially when they're being asked to do their best work."Many of the Island's school and union leaders, while balking at the state's insistence on speed, insist they are not opposed to tougher evaluations or higher academic standards. What they question is whether anyone -- the state, teachers or students -- can be well-served by an evaluation system that is rushed into place.

"We do not have a plan in the Middle Country school district," superintendent Roberta Gerold said of teacher evaluations. "And we are going to make sure the program we have in place is a response to student instructional needs, and not to outside political pressure such as what's resulted from the state's desperate actions to obtain Race to the Top funds."

Richard Iannuzzi, a former Central Islip teacher who heads the state teachers' union, said New York State United Teachers is "committed to the process" but believes more time is needed before instituting evaluations.

"We had asked that the first year be a pilot year so we could figure out how to deal with the unanswered questions," Iannuzzi said.

Evaluations questioned

Other educators question using student scores on state tests to rate teachers.

"There are concerns that the tests themselves -- if they are to be the basis for evaluating teachers -- were not necessarily designed to be used for that kind of high-stakes decision-making," said Jane Ashdown, dean of Adelphi University's Ruth S. Ammon School of Education.

While details of the testing component still must be worked out, state education staffers said a formula will be used in comparing individual teachers to peers that will take into account factors such as whether classes include students with disabilities.

Local school leaders also question the costs of preparing for the evaluation process. Some Race to the Top money will be available to help districts with planning and training. But nearly 74 percent of New York State's share is going to New York City. Only 2.3 percent comes to the Island -- an amount local educators describe as wholly inadequate.

Lorna Lewis, superintendent of East Williston schools, wrote state legislators saying the materials necessary for evaluations of teachers and principals can cost thousands of dollars. In addition, she said, it will cost money to train principals and teachers for the new system.

"What we have not planned for is the enormous financial burden that the new legislation has imposed on each of our districts," wrote Lewis, who chairs a curriculum committee for the New York State Council of School Superintendents. "I am sure there were good intentions for enacting this legislation, but it is now a runaway train and we cannot afford it."

Finn, of the Fordham Institute, disagreed with those who say too many reforms are being pushed through too fast.

"If the system were hunky-dory today and everyone was happy with the results, this might not be the time to tinker with the system," he said. "But there is extensive evidence that the system is broken and needs a fix."

The performance review:

The new state-mandated teacher evaluation system, officially called the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR), is expected eventually to affect about 35,000 teachers and principals on Long Island and 250,000 statewide.

Phased-in ratings For 2011-12, evaluations are limited to educators in grades 4-8 who teach English Language Arts and mathematics, and their principals. In 2012-13, the evaluations would be expanded to include all other teachers and their principals.

Agreement on process Specifics of the evaluation process will be established in local districts as employee unions negotiate collective bargaining agreements. On Long Island, 39 districts currently have expired teacher contracts and must renegotiate. However, because of a pending court case challenging the evaluations, union representatives say many school districts probably will insert language in their contracts that allows for devising an evaluation process at a later time.

Evaluation categories: Teachers would be rated in four categories: highly effective, effective, developing and ineffective. Those rated "ineffective" two consecutive years may be cited for incompetence and fired, after expedited hearings.

Evaluation scale: Educators would be evaluated on a 100-point scale with this breakdown:

Twenty percent based on student growth on state exams, where applicable, or other comparable local exams;

another 20 percent based on local measures of student achievement determined through collective bargaining. This could include data from state tests, but the question of exactly how to accomplish this is the subject of the pending court case;

and 60 percent based on evidence of teacher effectiveness based on the other criteria, such as classroom observation, also determined through collective bargaining.