Setting the Record Straight: New York’s Teacher and Principal Evaluation Law
By Richard Iannuzzi, President, New York State United Teachers
The ink hadn’t dried on the agreement between NYSUT and the State Education Department before the press, blogs, e-mails and airwaves were filled with diatribes on what the new law does and does not do. While there were a lot of comments and reactions that understood the dynamics (see Sean Corcoran at the NYT School Book blog and Leo Casey at Edwize.org ), many misstated the outcome and some were just outright wrong (see Carol Burris, author of the “principals’ letter” in The Washington Post: Answer Sheet blog by Valerie Strauss).
As a party to the agreement (I was personally at the table throughout the negotiations), NYSUT sought to maintain principles that are good for students and fair to teachers. We believe we succeeded. This agreement creates a thoughtful, collaborative framework that allows teachers, principals and parents to develop a majority of the evaluation measures through conversation and