New York is one of a handful of states often of (dis)honrable mention on this blog (see for example here, here, and here), given its state Schools Chancellor Merryl Tisch, with the support and prodding of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, have continuously pushed to have teacher-level growth scores count for up to 50% of teachers’ total evaluation scores.
But now, it looks like there is something for which we all, and especially those in New York, might be thankful.
As per an article published yesterday in The New York Times, Governor “Cuomo, in Shift, Is Said to Back Reducing Test Scores’ Role in Teacher Reviews.” Thankful we should be for teachers who expressed their frustrations with the state’s policy movements, who were apparently heard. And thankful we should be for the parents who opted out last year in protest throughout New York, as it looks like their collective efforts also worked to reverse this state trend. “More than 200,000 of the nearly 1.2 million students [16.7%] expected to take the annual reading and math tests [in New York] did not sit for them in 2015.”
“Now, facing a parents’ revolt against testing, the state is poised to change course and reduce the role of test scores in evaluations. And according to two people involved in making state education policy, [Governor] Cuomo has been quietly pushing for a reduction, even to zero. That would represent an about-face from January, when the governor called for test scores to determine 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation.”
It looks like a task force is to make recommendations to Governor Cuomo before his 2016 State of the State speech in January, with recommendations potentially including the “decoupling test scores from [teacher] evaluations or putting in place some kind of moratorium on teacher evaluations.”
As per Diane Ravitch’s post on this breaking story, “Cuomo may not only reduce the role of testing in teacher evaluation, but eliminate it altogether.” However, we might also be cautiously thankful, and critically aware, as “[t]his may be a hoax, a temporary moratorium intended to deflate the Opt Out Movement and cause it to disappear. Do not rest until the law is changed to delink testing and teacher-principal evaluations.” Rather, “Let’s remain watchful and wait to see what happens. In the meanwhile, this is [certainly] reason for joy on the day [of] Thanksgiving.”
