Why Is The Independent Observer Still In The Regents Teacher Evaluation Plan?

Board of Regents pulled a Friday evening document dump and released their proposed teacher evaluation plan.

Skimming through it, it remains a muddled mess, though the independent observation is now down to as little as 10% of the overall rating:

The statewide minimum standard would be two observations (one principal/supervisor; one independent) with the frequency and duration determined locally.

In addition to the above, short walkthrough observations are permissible.

Observations may exceed these minimum standards and any additional observations may be included in the overall observation score, as determined locally.

At least one observation must be unannounced .

The percentage for the principal/supervisor observation shall be established locally, but must be at least 80%;

The percentage for the independent observation shall be established locally, but must be at least 10%;

The percentage for the optional peer observation shall be established locally within these constraints.

What's the point of having to expend all the time, energy and resources on independent observers if the independent observation is only 10%?

I'll tell you what the point is.

Cuomo decided there will be independent observations and by golly, there are going to be independent observations!

We will have none of this in-house observation inflation that has obviously occurred over the past couple of years with APPR - except that, given that the outside observer can be worth as little as 10%, little will actually change from previous years.

In fact, if I'm reading this correctly, there can be two observations under this new system with the in-house one worth 90% and the outside one worth 10%.

Sure, there can be more observations, but the minimum is two, with one in-house (worth up to 90%) and one outside observer (worth as little as 10%).

So essentially, the in-house observation is the whole ballgame when it comes to observations.

Again I ask, what's the point of outside observers if they're only worth 10%?

Not that I want the outside observations at all, but I do like to point out the horse hockey in the system and here is a prime example of it.

More on the evaluation plan later.

Mulgrew: I Support Common Core

From Schoolbook:

At Tuesday's hearing before the state Senate's Standing Committee on Education, city teachers union president Michael Mulgrew said he supports the goals of the Common Core, which emphasize more critical thinking and writing.

"But the roll-out has been horrible," he said, referring to what he called a lack of curriculum materials and teacher preparation. Mulgrew said the state should have created a curriculum before the new tests were introduced this year. He also said the state should wait at least another year before evaluating teachers with these new exams.

Under the new teacher evaluation system, which has befuddled teachers, student performance on state exams counts for 20 percent of a teacher's rating. But because the exams don't start until third grade, and Mulgrew said some elementary schools have had to create brand-new "bubble test" assessments for their youngest students.

"A lot of children in kindergarten can't hold a number two pencil so I don't know how they're going to do on that test," he said.

The presumption seems to be that the Common Core implementation will get better after a couple of years and then it will be okay to tie teacher evaluations to the scores.

But the truth is, the standards are flawed, especially for the younger grades, the evaluation system is flawed (especially the testing component), the data tracking is Orwellian and the testing will not decrease so long as the evaluation system basing teacher ratings on tests stays in place.

So Mulgrew can say all he wants about the problems with implementation, blah blah blah.

Nothing will get better about the Common Core in a couple of years.

The standards need to be scrapped, we need to start the whole process over and everybody who was involved in developing, imposing and implementing the current reforms needs to be kept as far away from the re-do process as possible.

We'll see if hundreds of thousands of irate parents can force this kind of change across the state.

As for Mulgrew's undying devotion to the  Common Core, a line from the hospital scene with Captain McCluskey in The Godfather comes to mind:

"How much is the Turk paying you to set up my father, Captain?"

The UFT Evaluation Team Sends An Email To UFT Members

Dunno if you got this in your email box from Mikey Mulgrew and the "UFT Evaluation Team," but it arrived in my in-box this morning:

Teachers across the city are facing significant challenges caused by the Department of Education's poor implementation of the new evaluation and development system. To resolve these problems, the UFT introduced an online inquiry form for members to inform us of their concerns. The information you gave on these forms has been used in resolving many issues at the school level and as the basis for filing 17 union-initiated grievances over the DOE's implementation.

Now, the UFT is moving to the next phase.

A new online form went live on Monday, Oct. 28, to provide a formal way to address issues you may be facing with implementation of the evaluation system. We're calling it the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) complaint form. You need to be logged into the UFT website to access the form.

Go to the form » 

Here is how it works: When you become aware of an issue that you believe violates your rights under the new evaluation system, you have up to five school days to fill out this complaint form online and give copies to your principal and your chapter leader. A copy of your completed form will be automatically forwarded by the computer system to your district representative. That will trigger a formal resolution and review process in which UFT staff will work with you, your school and DOE central to address the issue.

Remember that you have only up to five school days after you become aware of any issue to fill out the complaint form online and give a copy to your principal.

You can find the link to the complaint form in the teacher evaluation section of the UFT website.

This formal enforcement process is in place because the UFT insisted on it during arbitration. And, we were successful in having the commissioner include this in his order. The complaints filed through this process will serve as a guide to the changes we want while we negotiate our contract.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact your borough office with any questions.

In solidarity,

The UFT Evaluation Team

Wow - what a joke.

 You have five days to file a complaint if you become aware of an issue that violates your rights under the new evaluation system.

To be frank, you have very few rights under the new evaluation system to begin with, but if you find that one of those few rights is being violated, don't delay in getting that complaint over to the crack squad over at the UFT Evaluation Team.

There, don't you feel better about the new evaluation system already?

I'm sure the crack squad at the UFT Evaluation Team will make all the problems going away.

Except for the problems with VAM, and the insanity of using 22 competencies from the Danielson rubric for classroom observations and evaluations, the tons of extra documentation you have to do in order to prove you're not incompetent under the new system, the extra work associated with the performance assessments, the fact that you might be graded in your evaluation on test scores of students you don't teach in a subject you're not licensed in.

You see, those problems are built into the system and you have no right to do anything about those.

The crack squad at the UFT agreed to all of that garbage as part of the APPR agreement and the Race to the Top sign off.

So the UFT Evaluation Team complaint form is just another bunch of UFT jive mant to fool you into thinking the leadership is doing something to protect you when they are one of the main reasons you, your job and your professional reputation are in jeopardy.

They helped develop this system, they signed off on it and they have defended it from critics like Diane Ravitch and Carol Burris.

This is their baby as much as it is Cuomo's, Tisch's and King's.

MORE, on the other hand, has this saying: There is no right way to evaluate teachers by test scores.

See the difference?