Cuomo: Teacher Evaluations Due for More Changes

Revisions to New York’s teacher evaluation system may be on the agenda for Gov. Andrew Cuomo in next year’s legislative session, assuming he wins reelection.

Speaking to reporters at Power Plug Inc. in Latham, Cuomo said that more needs to be done to fix the current state teacher evaluation system.

“We have a basic teacher evaluation system which people have accepted at risk of losing their funding—which is the only way we got them to accept the teacher evaluations in the first place—and there’s a lot more to do to make those evaluations meaningful and strong and relevant,” Cuomo said.

The system again came under fire from student advocacy groups when the 2012-13 teacher evaluations released in August found that 94 percent of teachers were rated either “effective” or “highly effective,” while only 31 percent of students grades 3-8 statewide were proficient in English Language Arts and math, based on state tests.

During the 2014 legislative session, the New York State United Teachers union and the Assembly backed a full moratorium on the teacher evaluations. Cuomo opposed the move, and instead agreed to a compromise that delayed a requirement that 20 percent of the teacher evaluations be tied to student performance on state tests, which are aligned with the controversial Common Core standards.

“Any part of the teacher evaluation system that finds zero percent of teachers to be ineffective, when less than a third of students are on grade level, raises serious questions,” Jenny Sedlis, executive director of StudentsFirstNY said in a statement in August.

Statewide, the teacher evaluations found only 1 percent of teachers were rated “ineffective” and 5 percent of teachers rated “developing.” Cuomo, while not elaborating on any specific policy revisions, stressed the need for change in the current education system.

The governor also seemed to say that school funding could be based on performance, although a spokesman said he was speaking more narrowly about competitive grants.

“We’re now saying to the public education system, ‘You have to perform and you’re not just going to get funded for process, you’re going to get funded for performance.’ That is a big deal and that is a big shift,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo assailed the current budget process as well, in which school officials come to Albany each year to lobby for more money.

“We’ve gotten to a point where were spending more money per student than any other state in the nation and we’re in the middle of the pack,” he said. “And the whole culture of education in Albany is more money, more money, more money.”