Good schools already have evaluation plans

The New York State Board of Regents has approved a new plan for evaluating teachers and principals ["More emphasis on scores," News, May 17]. Referred to as the Annual Professional Performance Review, it will allegedly hold educators more accountable for student results. However, the excitement over New York State winning $696.6 million in federal Race to the Top money last year to fund this initiative and add charter schools is quickly fading as key policy-makers embrace some ill-conceived ideas.

Most school districts with good student results already have a worthy system in place for evaluating their teachers and principals. In fact, the State Education Department and Board of Regents should look to these districts for guidance. Does anyone really think that we have not used test results in the past when evaluating staff? Will the publishing of staff ratings lead to better teaching, or divisiveness among parents to find the "best" teacher for their child? And what will the Regents' plan do to less economically able communities that continue to be browbeaten by test score results?

Those of us in school leadership positions have for years discontinued employment of teachers and principals who were not meeting expectations, particularly before granting tenure. We also repeatedly requested that laws be changed, to no avail, that allow for a quicker and less costly process for terminating the employment of tenured educators not meeting performance expectations.

If implemented in its current form, this new Regents' plan will simply be a major distraction for our schools. Perhaps state officials should ask for a waiver from the federal government and request more time to implement a well-thought-out plan, and even try to pilot it in two or three school districts first, to determine how it would work. Or maybe they should return the $700 million, and let us do what we have done best over many years: provide rich student learning experiences without interference from both the federal and state governments.

Richard Marsh, Valley Stream

Editor's note: The writer is the superintendent of the Valley Stream Central High School District and the former superintendent of the Bethpage Union Free School District.