NYSUT Statement on Teacher Evaluation Legislation

Source: NYSUT Media Relations
ALBANY, N.Y. April 26, 2018 — New York State United Teachers President Andy Pallotta issued the following statement on legislation introduced today that would fix New York’s broken teacher evaluation system:

“Fixing New York’s broken teacher evaluation system is long overdue. Parents and teachers are rightly angry and frustrated. The misuse of standardized tests and the state’s over-reliance on testing continue to plague the learning climate in our classrooms. There are far better ways to evaluate educators than to use mystery math and algorithms that spit out invalid ‘growth scores’ while subjecting kids to exhausting fill-in-the-bubble tests that aren’t particularly useful or accurate.

“This new legislation would prohibit the mandated use of state tests — including Regents exams and grades 3-8 ELA and math tests — in individual teacher evaluations. School districts and their teacher unions would be able to design their own effective and fair evaluation systems that help teachers to grow professionally while meeting the unique needs of their own communities. Local control is the best way to restore the trust and confidence of parents and teachers and help restore respect for the teaching profession.

“We thank Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Education Chairwoman Cathy Nolan for listening to parents and educators and introducing a bill that would ensure that students and teachers are once again valued as more than a test score. We look forward to working with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Senate to reduce the testing burden and enact this fairer evaluation system before the end of the legislative session.”

Judge Calls Evaluation of N.Y. Teacher ‘ARBITRARY’ and ‘CAPRICIOUS’ in Case Against John King

 
Read some of the press on the huge win by Sheri Lederman!!

Educational Crossroads Forum

On Tuesday January 5, 2016 a large group of parents, teachers, administrators and school board members attended a forum entitled “Educational Crossroad…Where Do We Go From Here?” at the Saxton Middle School in Patchogue. PMCT President, Beth Warnken started the night off with an inspiring introduction to the forum. Speakers included Dr. Steven Cohen, Superintendent of Shoreham-Wading River Schools, Mrs. Lori Koerner, Educator, Administrator and Professor of Special Education, Dr. David Ferrin, Psychologist, CPSE Chair, Director, All About Kids and Dr. Michael Hynes, Superintendent, Patchogue-Medford Schools. They spoke at length about the damage Common Core and High Stakes Testing has done to public education and to the children attending out schools. The stress of testing is hurting out kids because of the emphasis on good scores being more important than understanding. Producing good scores has become more important than cultivating the mind of our students. Common Core is one size fits all and children cannot be standardized. Of special concern are our youngest students who are doing grill and drill work instead of having time to play. Play is the language of a children’s cognitive development. PLAY IS LEARNING. There is also a great concern that we will not have enough highly qualified teachers in the future as the teacher training programs have seen a tremendous decrease in enrollment this year. The speakers stressed that all of us must become vocal, informed and involved. We must keep the love of learning flowing from elementary to high school.

Video Stream can be seen here – http://www.mevee.com/s/sHEHRel4th

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PMCT Exec Board Members all “Red For Ed” – Kerri Simeone, Syndee Zegel, Beth Warnken, Kevin Toolan and Lynda Nowicki

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Speakers – Dr. David Ferrin, Mrs. Lori Koerner, Mrs. Beth Warnken, Dr. Steven Cohen and Dr. Michael Hynes

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Brian O’Neil and Chris Angelora

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Educational Crossroads…Where do We go From Here? – Tuesday January 5th – 7:00PM

Please put this important event on your calendars.  Screen Shot 2016-01-01 at 11.26.43 AM

Please visit the links below to see recently published items written by Dr. Hynes: