Op-Ed: Who is Doing the Classroom Observations?Master teachers should be helping their colleagues to improve
On December 8, 2012, an arbitrator made a very important decision under the new TEACHNJ law.
As the author of the article points out, the significance of this case is that it is the first contested case under the new law that involves a teacher’s classroom performance. And the arbitrator ruled in favor of the teacher over the district.
in essence, the arbitrator ruled that the evidence presented by the district contradicted itself. Here is what he said:
“With reference to TEACHNJ . . . I find that the employee’s evaluation failed to adhere substantially to the evaluation process . . . much of the Board’s best evidence is internally and irreparably contradictory when it comes to the heart of the work of a teacher -- actual classroom instruction.”
The heart of this contradiction was the fact that the principal gave the teacher a numerical ranking