Preparing for evaluations on the fly

A video called "Airplane" that is posted on a state Education Department website developed a new fan base in recent weeks among Long Island educators.

The tongue-in-cheek video, posted by an upstate blogger, purports to show a half-built jet airliner in flight as construction workers cling to its fuselage and attach metal plates. Inside the plane, passengers struggle to keep magazines, napkins and plastic cups from blowing away.

To some school officials on the Island and elsewhere, the idea of building a plane in midflight is an apt metaphor for the task they themselves face: preparing for job evaluations of teachers and principals, based on complex test-score calculations that won't be ready until late spring.

Originally, "Airplane" was produced as a commercial for a private firm looking for a humorous way to demonstrate its ability to fix customers' problems on the run.

"Everybody laughed, including me," said J. Philip Perna, superintendent of Montauk schools, who watched the video at a recent BOCES training session. "But the more I thought about it, I thought it's too bad we're in this situation. It seems like we're being asked to carry out something the state is making up as it goes along."

State officials readily acknowledge the task won't be easy. But they contend the potential rewards are great. Albany's agreement to establish a new evaluation system was a key to winning nearly $700 million in federal "Race to the Top" money. Much of the money will be used to support more rigorous, national curriculum standards in English and math.

Victor Jaccorino, an English department chairman in the Hewlett-Woodmere district, is one of the region's top trainers involved in the initiative. He is conducting a series of daylong sessions at BOCES centers, where he talks about the need for stronger English standards and shows "Airplane" to underscore the point that worthwhile endeavors sometimes require haste.

"Rather than wait until we're perfect, we need to get started, because we want to do better than we've been doing," Jaccorino said.