Letter: Teacher evaluation and Common Core

I have to take issue with the simplistic approach to the state's teacher evaluation process ["Albany makes its deals," Editorial, June 22]. I say this as one who has been a strong supporter of the Common Core standards, as well as a member of the National Board for Professional Teaching Practices, which works toward more rigorous and meaningful evaluations for teachers and administrators.

I have argued for more than three years that the evaluations need to be very rigorous. However, the use of student test scores for 20 to 40 percent of a teacher's score, on a very suspect state evaluation instrument, undermines the very accountability we should be looking for. Even the Gates Foundation supports a temporary halt to evaluating teachers based on Common Core tests.

Every part of the implementation of the Common Core was lumped together by critics of one piece or another, with the result that the Common Core itself is under increasing attack. It would be a shame to lose these standards because of sloppy and rushed implementation, which then becomes an excuse for extinction.

The use of test scores to evaluate 18 percent of teachers -- those whose classes require Common Core tests -- has become a blemish on the backside of progress.

Roger Tilles, Great Neck

Editor's note: The writer has served as Long Island's representative on the New York State Board of Regents since 2005.