Why I Signed: Principals' Objections to the New Evaluation System
Nov. 28, 2011, 4:30 p.m.
Principals who object to the new state system to evaluate teachers and principals based on student testing have begun circulating a petition against it. In his On Education column in The New York Times Monday, Michael Winerip reported that more than 650 principals from around the state — 18 from New York City schools — had signed.
Here, a few of the principals who signed give their reasons.
John C. Hughes, The Hunts Point School
Not only does this “reform” fail to address the numerous issues that plague our schools and its students, there is no evidence that it has any potential to be effective. Constant manipulation of statistics, incessant pillorying of teachers and administrators, and fomenting of conflict between various factions are not educational strategies; they are political ones. The ultimate result, intentional or not, will be a two-tiered system of public education. One will service higher-performing students whose parents have the skills and perseverance to get them