Carol Burris: Teacher Evaluation Results Were Politically Motivated

From Newsday:

Long Island school administrators cast doubt on the merit and usefulness of data released Tuesday by the state Department of Education on teacher and principal performance.

Some veteran educators questioned the timing of the announcement about job evaluations, saying it was politically motivated. Districts had earlier received their own results.

Carol Burris, principal of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, said it was state Education Commissioner John B. King Jr.'s way to push back against the teachers union and its opposition to elements of the system, which for the first time links student achievement to educator ratings.

"It's a made-up metric," she said. "It's not objective. I find it repugnant that the evaluation of professional educators can be used as a political football."

I think there is no doubt that SED and the Regents were happy the ratings were as high as they were so they could use this as pushback against Common Core critics and their reform agenda opponents.

That said, they can always rig the system differently in the future to ratchet up the low ratings and I have little doubt they will do that if the nespaper editorial boards and reform groups get their way.

More on that later.