Dear Governor Cuomo,

Long ago, people believed that the world was flat. It took innovation and critical thinking to determine that it was actually round. For some reason, you insist that teaching and learning are flat. To you, they exist on a one-dimensional piece of paper with test questions and scores. In actuality, teaching and learning are holistic, dynamic, and rotating constantly. Teaching and learning consist of living, breathing, growing human beings with feelings, creative minds, and a need for interaction. You are attempting to depersonalize a process that is deeply interpersonal. Only a dynamic, multidimensional measure can capture the true depth and essence of teaching and learning.

Your proposed changes to teacher evaluation are not founded on research or logic; they are founded on misconceptions, just like the misconception that the world was flat. We see through these misconceptions. We are administrators, veteran teachers, new teachers, teaching candidates, parents, and concerned citizens, and we are strongly opposed to your proposed changes for the following reasons:

 

Your proposal: Base 50% of teacher evaluations on state assessment scores.

Our concerns:

•       According to the American Statistical Association, variation among teachers only accounts for 1-14% of variation in student test scores; more influential factors include student and family background, poverty, curriculum, motivation, and other unmeasured factors.

•       Scores can change dramatically depending on the statistical methods used to calculate the Value-Added Model; teachers have jumped from developing to highly effective (and vice versa) one year to the next with little explanation other than the makeup of their student population.

•       Teachers with consistently high-performing students who have little room for growth on tests can get, and have gotten, poor ratings even though students’ scores are high.

•       According to the American Education Research Association, teachers with high-needs populations (special education students and ELLs) are consistently at a disadvantage despite controls in the Value-Added Model because their students are on different learning trajectories and don’t always show growth at the same rate.

•       The Value-Added Model doesn’t account for various tiers of special education in its controls, only self-contained vs. mainstream.

•       80% of teachers do not teach state tested grades or subjects. How can we make their evaluations comparable without adding more state tests?

 

Your proposal: Eliminate all local assessment measures, currently worth 20%.

 Our concerns:

·      This eliminates opportunities for dynamic and creative performance assessments that better capture the whole child.

 

Your proposal: Base 50% of evaluations on observations, with 35% conducted by an outside evaluator.

Our concerns:

·      Leaving only 15% of teachers’ evaluations to the local administrators that know teachers best is a dangerous attempt to depersonalize and standardize teaching.

·      Paying for outside evaluators will be a burden to district budgets.

 

Your proposal: Require 5 consecutive effective ratings before consideration for tenure. Fire teachers after two ineffective ratings in an expedited manner. Rate teachers no higher than “developing” overall if found “ineffective” in raising test scores, regardless of observation ratings.

Our concerns:

•       This would inextricably link tenure to state test scores.

•       Teachers may feel more compelled to teach to the test as a matter of job security. This takes the joy and excitement out of teaching and learning.

•       Schools may further narrow curriculum and cut programs that are not tested. Art, music, gym, etc. are extremely important for well-rounded development.

•       Teachers may be hesitant to work with student teachers for fear it will take away from the focus on test prep

 

These proposed changes place teachers and students under attack. We agree that students must show growth and teachers must be held accountable, but this is not the way to accomplish that. We implore you to rethink your plan.

 

Sincerely,

Concerned Citizens