Editorial: Wrong debate on teacher evals

We need to implement a meaningful evaluation system for teachers -- an accurate, trustworthy one that formally identifies the best educators, whose practices should be passed on to others; the so-so ones, who need help to get better; and the few truly abysmal ones, who need to find other work.

That's what deserves our energy. That's what will define our future.

Lately, though, the issue has been dominated by an argument over whether the ratings of public school teachers should be available to the public. The debate is a distraction from the real problems that make education reform so difficult, and the attention it's getting is, in some sense, emblematic of why progress is so hard to come by. The current battle in Albany -- over whether evaluations should be made public to everyone or only to parents -- is the kind of debate that could only happen between those angling to keep the support both of taxpayers and of teachers unions. There's no such thing as quasi-public knowledge. Anything 30 people know will soon be discovered by everyone else who's interested. What's more, the real issue isn't allowing parents to find out who the good and bad teachers are, because most of them know. They get plenty of information at the community pool, PTA meetings, at church and from online sites like ratemyteachers.com that spill all the dirt.

But the release of evaluation data became a statewide controversy when New York City released several years of reports on nearly 18,000 teachers in February. After an acrimonious and extended battle, the information was deemed public by the New York State Court of Appeals. Those reports -- even teacher evaluation proponents agree -- had a margin of error so high as to make them almost useless, but out they came.

This year, a teacher evaluation agreement was passed in Albany that applies statewide. Districts have until January 2013 to get their local unions to sign on via collective bargaining, and districts that fail will lose their 4 percent increase in state aid to schools.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has been aggressive in his desire to increase pressure on these local bargaining units to agree to the teacher evaluation system, even above and beyond holding funding increases hostage. His office has even created a website parents and taxpayers can use to easily track whether their district has signed off. He has no other choice, really. The education establishment has and will play hardball every step of the way to slow or stop these needed changes.

One key to the success of teacher evaluations is making certain the standardized testing we're soon supposed to be applying to teachers doesn't have a miserably high margin of error. Agreeing to publicize those scores may convince the teachers unions to protect their members by helping develop a great system, rather than fighting implementation. In the end, sunshine is the best disinfectant, and as much information about teacher performance as possible, including principal and peer ratings, should be made public.

The point isn't embarrassing teachers with a flawed standard. The point is doing everything possible to create an accurate standard, and using that to create schools that can better educate children.