Praise, caution over teacher evaluation plan
Shown in this Nov. 24, 2009 file photo, Jeffrey Rozran, a career educator who spent nearly four decades as an English teacher on Long Island and was a vocal leader of the teachers' union in Syosset, died on April 7, 2012. He was 65.
Newsday's obituary for Jeffrey Rozran
Credit: Howard Schnapp
Tying teacher evaluations to students' performance on state and local tests may improve education and foster better teaching in Long Island classrooms, some local educators and administrators said Tuesday.
"We have a responsibility to the public. We have a responsibility to our children to make sure all of our teachers do a more than adequate job," said Glen Cove Superintendent Laurence W. Aronstein.
But others cautioned that the proposed evaluations will lead teachers to "teach to the test."
Several local administrators applauded the teacher evaluation system announced Tuesday by state education and union officials. Jeff Rozran, a Syosset High School English teacher, president of the Syosset teachers' union and a director of the New York State United Teachers union, said overall "it is a reasoned approach that will help teachers overcome their fears of an accountability program that actually is in the best interest of children."
And Fred Gorman, one of the founders of Long Islanders for Educational Reform, said he is cautiously optimistic. "Now they are talking about bringing in accountability to bring in money because they realize how many teachers are going to end up losing their jobs if they don't," Gorman said.
William Floyd School District Superintendent Paul Casciano said evaluations should consider academic growth. "If a teacher's class has a pattern of scoring lower and there is nothing noticeably different, then it should be a concern," he said.
There were other concerns.
"I don't know how an evaluation deals with a district that has a tremendous [student] turnover," said Joe Hogan, president of the Brentwood Teachers' Association.
Parent Andy Matz, of Melville, and son, Rob, 14, have concerns. Teachers "will be solely focused on tests and won't work on challenging students," said Rob Matz, a ninth-grader.
Hofstra University education professor Alan Singer called the proposal a "paper reform." "This is based on the idea the problem is teachers," Singer said. "In reality, the problem is social inequality and economic inequality, and no one wants to talk about that."
