New York to Evaluate Teachers With New System [View all]

The New York State education commissioner broke a long and acrimonious impasse on Saturday by imposing a new evaluation system that would rate New York City teachers in part on their students’ test scores and streamline the disciplinary process.

The new system, announced after three hectic days of meetings, testimony and arbitration that involved the Bloomberg administration and the teachers’ union, finally brought New York City into compliance with state law — the last district in the state to do so.

“It’s time. The students have waited too long,” said the commissioner, John B. King Jr., adding that the new plan would “help improve teaching and learning and give New York City students a much better opportunity to graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in college and their careers.”

In something of a compromise, Mr. King’s plan would make New York City — with more than 1.1 million public school students, 75,000 teachers and 1,700 schools — the only district in the state that would leave a significant part of the implementation of the evaluations up to individual schools, with teachers perhaps having the chance to weigh in with administrators on how they are rated.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/nyregion/new-evaluation-system-for-new-york-teachers.html