School districts across New York are striving to meet the requirements of the state’s new teacher evaluation system, that requires all teachers to get a score and rating come next summer. Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.
The Annual Professional Perfromance Review or APPR entails evaluating teachers based on student's test scores as an avenue toward improving public education. School Boards and districts are concerned that directives for the evaluations that have come out of Albany are unclear - and they worry about the effects of assessments on students
With a January deadline looming, 400 districts have yet to submit plans, subject to collective bargaining with unions.
The APPR grades teachers on a 100 point scale ranging from highly effective (91-100); to ineffective (0-64). Evaluations must be based 20-25 percent on students’ progress on state tests or other measures, 15-20 percent on how students do on locally chosen measures, and 60 percent on classroom observations.
Many districts are grappling with measuring student progress this year so they can assess the 80 percent of teachers whose students do not take standardized tests.
Harry Phillips is a member of the New York State Board of Regents... he sympathizes with those districts that have had little time to deal with the tedious process of getting their evaluation systems up and running. Phillips says teachers are discouraged by the rating system.
State officials are confident that the kinks in the system will, in time, be worked out, and that the APPR plan will eventually accomplish the Education Department's goal of creating a better class experience for students.
