Cuomo's "Fix" For APPR Teacher Evaluation Is No Fix At All

Under Cuomo's reported "fix" for his APPR teacher evaluation system that holds teachers accountable for tests that don't count for students, teachers will still receive low ratings - there will just be a "safety net" on the forced firings:

Under a proposal that Gov. Cuomo is supporting in the legislature, the state would generate two scores for low-rated teachers and principals whose evaluations are based on Common Core-aligned state tests, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations. Teachers rated “developing” or “ineffective” and whose evaluation is based on those state test scores would be eligible for the second score.

That new score would only be used for personnel decisions like termination and would be based on the other parts of a teacher’s evaluation, like principal observations or student scores on other assessments.

The two-tiered evaluation system would be in effect for this school year and the 2014-15 school year, the sources said.

So if you get dinged "ineffective" or "developing" because of the test score component that rates you on tests that don't count for students but do count for teachers, you'll still be in the books as a "bad" teacher - they just won't make "personnel decisions" (i.e., firing your ass) based solely on the 20% test score component.

Well, actually they're not supposed to be able to do that anyway - under the multiple measures jive the UFT, the NYSUT and Cuomo claim make up APPR, teachers have to be rated "ineffective" on both the state and the local test measures to be automatically rated "ineffective" and set up for firing (if it happens for two years in a row.)

Or the whole score has to come up "ineffective" after the 20% state test component, the 20% local test component and the 60% "subjective" measures are all added together.

So I'm not exactly sure what Cuomo's fix is fixing.

Common Core tests do not count for students, but under Cuomo's fix, they are still going to count for teachers and if you are rated "ineffective" or "developing" as a result of the CCSS test component, that rating will still stand.

In a double irony, despite Cuomo's fix not really fixing anything with the APPR/CCSS test problem, the Obama USDOE is threatening to strip New York of nearly $300 million in Race to the Top money if New York makes any changes to APPR at all.

Herein lies the perfect emblem to corporate education reform in the Obama Era - teachers being held accountable for tests that don't count for students, state politicians claiming they're fixing that problem when they're really not fixing that problem and the Obama administration threatening the state for watering down the deforms anyway.