What Can Cuomo Actually Do To Schools And Teachers?

I want to ask you out there a few questions about what you think Cuomo can get away with doing to schools and teachers.

But first, let's recap what he has promised to do:

He has called the public school system a "monopoly" which he plans to "break".

He has said he likes charters (and we know they like him too - they have donated millions to him) and wants to promote charter growth.

He has said his APPR teacher evaluation system is the best in the nation, but nonetheless feels it can be "strengthened" by rigging it so that more teachers are rated ineffective or developing.

He says he will push for performance pay for teachers.

Randi Weingarten called one of these threats "campaign rhetoric," but since Cuomo keeps repeating them and has now said education reform will be a centerpiece of his second term, we have to assume none of this stuff is "rhetoric" anymore.

These are threats.

Okay, so there's the summary of where we stand with this.

Now here are my questions:

Will he try and carry out his "break the monopoly" threat statewide or just in certain districts where he can get away with it?

NYSED Commissioner King and Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch engendered a lot of ill-will during their "Common Core Is Swell Tour" earlier in the year in places like Long Island, Westchester and Rockland Counties.

Does Cuomo really try and "break" the school system in these places too  or is it just Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, New York City, et al. where he tries to charterize entire districts?

As for APPR teacher evaluations, how does he make a system that superintendents in the Lower Hudson Valley have already declared a disaster any worse?

A veteran teacher, well-respected by parents, colleagues and administrators, is suing for what she says is an unfair rating caused by NYSED's value added growth measurement based upon her students' test scores.

Cuomo told parents in a campaign ad he would protect their children from "over-testing."

Does he push for more high stakes tests as part of APPR in order to punish teachers even though that risks alienating parents?

Does he not push for more tests but instead push for the testing component in APPR to go from 20% local measurements/20% state measurements to 40% state measurements instead?

While that seems like a sneaky way for Cuomo to stick it to teachers without sticking it to children, the reality is, any time consequences based upon test scores are added to teacher ratings, children are negatively affected by the pressure that change adds to the system.

So any changes he looks to make to APPR around the testing component are dicey for him, particularly after the education ad he ran claiming he's looking out for the kids in the state.

What else does he do to go after teachers?

Does he look to revise the 3020a procedures?

Does he go after tenure?

Does he become the 100% embodiment of Scott Walker in NY instead of just a 75% embodiment on him?

As for performance pay, he's already given the "carrots" in the form of state grants for merit pay.

Is there a "stick" he can use on us to force merit pay?

He's a big fan of tying state aid to new mandates.

Can he somehow use state aid to force "performance pay"?

I was talking with a colleague today and these were questions that came up in our discussion as we tried to figure out just what the "education reform centerpiece" of the second Cuomo term is going to be.

My colleague and I both think he will look to eliminate the charter cap completely, allowing for unfettered charter growth in NYC and other urban areas, while leaving wealthier districts essentially alone.

But after that, we were unsure what he does.

Its difficult to take a bludgeon to teachers and schools without taking it to students too.

If Cuomo goes too far with his bludgeoning, he risks a serious political backlash from parents (as has happened with Common Core.)

So, while Cuomo is undoubtedly talking tough now, it remains to be seen how much of that tough talk gets turned into action.

What say you?

What do you think he'll try and get away with?

They're Going To Make It Up

Diane Ravitch, blogging about this Aaron Pallas post, notes that New York State plans to use these new, more difficult Common Core tests that 4th-8th graders are taking starting today to evaluate teachers and schools even though these test scores cannot be used to make fair comparisons to the tests from last year.

For teachers, this means there is no baseline score last year that the state can use this year to see if they have "added value" to their students test scores.

How will the NYSED and the Regents handle this problem?

Simple - they'll make up the trend between the baseline score on last year's tests and the scores from this years tests (which are expected to plummet 20%-30% since the material has been elevated by three grade levels.)

They'll issue some claptrap about how they did it, how the comparison is fair and objective and scientific and all that.

But essentially they will make it up.

And then they will evaluate teachers with this "score" and apply the new APPR evaluation system to them and declare some of these teachers "ineffective."

They'll also evaluate schools with these scores and declare some of these schools "failing."

They are less likely to want to hold students back or harm students in any way with these scores because parents will fight that.

But you can bet the scores are going to be used as a bludgeon against teachers and schools.

And the reality is, the scores will be made up.

Really - pulled straight from the nether regions of the NYSED and the Board of Regents.