Local Principals Join Opposition of New Evaluation System

Hundreds of Long Island public school principals, including principals in the Shoreham-Wading River and Miller Place School Districts, are challenging the State Education Department and criticizing new standards for evaluating educators.

The new rules went into effect in September as New York State worked to win federal money under the Race to the Top program, which the White House said is designed to promote  "innovation, reform, and excellence in America’s public schools."

Teachers and principals are evaluated, in part, on student performance on standardized tests.

“As building principals, we applaud efforts aimed towards excellence for all of our students. We cannot, however, stand by while untested practices are put in place without any meaningful discussion or proven research,” they say on a new website.

 “At first glance, using test scores might seem like a reasonable approach to accountability. As designed, however, these regulations carry unintended negative consequences for our schools and students that simply cannot be ignored,” the principals say.

SWR High School principal Dan Holtzman, Principal Matthew Clark and Catherine Honeyman are among the local principals to sign the letter.

Holtzman says he endorses an evaluation process, but stresses that it needs to be one that "is beneficial to the education process."

"The current format is not conducive to ensuring student growth, college and career readiness," he said. "This is not thoughtful nor possible given that no parameters or guidance have been provided."

Teachers and principals receive a rating of 0-100 with 20 to 40 percent of their score coming from their students’ test performance.

The website, which includes a copy of an open letter, lists several objections to the system, arguing that tax dollars are being diverted from schools to testing companies, trainers and outside vendors; that the emphasis on evaluations will damage children as schools put too much focus on test results, and  that educational experts say there is no evidence that such a system improves students’ education.

The state Board of Regents approved the evaluation system in May. “These evaluations will play a significant role in a wide array of employment decisions, including promotion, retention, tenure determinations, termination, and supplemental compensation, and will be a significant factor in teacher and principal professional development,” the state Education Department said at the time.

Miller Place Board of Education member Mike Unger spoke in support of evaluations.

"I am in favor of strong, relevant and meaningful evaluations for all employees. Engineers, accountants, sales staff, IT professionals as well as teachers need to know how they are doing and when they need to improve," Unger said. "We need to notify the best performing teachers and help those lagging behind.

"Without a strong system that allows for change, there is no need for a system. The hard part is the exact math of the new system and NYS will make that decision, not us. I trust they will do what is in the best interest of the student, the teacher and the taxpayer."

Educators are rated on this basis, the department said.

• 20% -- student growth on state assessments or a comparable measure of student achievement growth (increases to 25% upon implementation of a value-added growth model);
• 20% -- locally-selected measures of student achievement that are determined to be rigorous and comparable across classrooms (decreases to 15% upon implementation of a value-added growth model); and
• 60% -- other measures of teacher/principal effectiveness.