NYSUT prez open to limited sharing of teacher evals

The head of the state teachers union says sharing teacher-evaluation data with the parents of students could be useful, but making the information public would be harmful.

The comments in a radio interview Friday by New York State United Teachers president Richard Iannuzzi were the first to signal he would accept a limited release of the evaluation findings.

But Iannuzzi said the information was only useful in the context of parent conferences with teachers and principals on how to help a student do better in school.

"In the context of that conversation, lots of information is valuable, some information is not, but if we're going to talk about sharing information, that's where the conversation should be," he said.

"The key to the evaluation law is improving teacher quality so that we can improve student performance," Iannuzzi told Syracuse radio station WCNY. A "mass release of teacher names and data," he said, "destroys the ability to improve teachers or to help students."

Earlier this year, the union agreed to a teacher evaluation regime, but the question over who has access to that information has yet to be resolved. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had threatened to cut off school aid if districts and unions didn't agree on an evaluation system.

Iannuzzi said that publishing individual teacher grades, as was done earlier this year in New York City, served no purpose except for "shock value."

Talks are continuing with legislators about who should have access to evaluations, he said.

"There's got to be a way to find a balance between teacher privacy and a need for parents to have enough information to improve their student's learning," Iannuzzi said.