Workplace Issues today: Teacher’s unions agree to new evaluation system
New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) have agreed to a new teacher evaluation system, aimed at increasing the state’s chances in receiving Race to the Top funds. The new system would rate teachers on a 100-point scale, with part of the rating coming from improvement on state tests. A representative of the state union said that the concept of changing the teacher evaluation system was never off of the table, but that they wanted a system that was not only based on test scores. In 2008, the state Legislature banned using test scores to evaluate teachers, which had been the case in New York City since 2007. Mayor Bloomberg has announced that when that law expires this year he will tie test scores to teacher tenure for New York City teachers, an announcement that has upset the UFT, which represents New York City teachers. The new system agreed on by both NYSUT and the UFT is expected to pass as long as the unions support it.
See “Agreement Will Alter Teacher Evaluations,” by Jennifer Medina, The New York Times, May 11 2010 (SD)
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