Top New York lawmakers are pushing for an overhaul of the state’s controversial teacher evaluation system, which would eliminate the current law’s focus on rating teachers based on standardized tests.
A bill introduced in the Assembly on Thursday would prohibit the state from requiring districts to use grades 3-8 math and English test scores or Regents exams in teacher evaluations. Instead of championing one statewide evaluation system, the bill would allow local districts to craft their own teacher rating systems.
The bill would mark a dramatic about-face for New York on an issue that has galvanized protests, helped fuel one of the country’s largest testing boycott movements, and affects more than 70,000 teachers in New York City alone.
“The Assembly Majority has heard the concerns of New York’s educators and parents and we know that teachers’ performance and that of New York’s students may not be truly reflected in test scores,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said in a statement. “Students learn in a variety of ways and this bill reflects that reality.”
The state’s teachers union has been pushing for immediate action on the teacher evaluation law all session, but lawmakers had so far been silent on the issue. Cynthia Nixon, who is challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic primary, came out in favor of immediately repealing the current teacher evaluation law earlier on Thursday, though lawmakers and union officials say they had been working on the bill long before her announcement.
The legislation has some important starpower behind it: It’s being sponsored by Heastie and Education Committee Chair Cathy Nolan. In Heastie’s statement about the bill, he noted that it comes after conversations with lawmakers, educators and the governor. A spokesman for Cuomo suggested that the governor is interested in tackling teacher evaluations this year but did not expressly support or oppose the bill.
“We have been working the Legislature and education community for months to address this issue and would like to reach a resolution this session,” said Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi.
If Cuomo supports this or similar legislation, it would mark a major reversal for the governor, who led the charge to create a new teacher evaluation system in 2015 that allowed half of a teacher’s rating to be based on test scores. Since then, one in five families boycotted state tests in protest of a host of state educational policy changes, including teacher evaluations.
In the wake of the law’s passage, Cuomo appointed a task force to review the state learning standards, and members called for a pause on the use of test scores in teacher evaluations. The state’s Board of Regents soon passed a moratorium on the use of grades 3-8 math and English testing being used in teacher ratings until 2019.
But as the moratorium comes to an end, state officials have started to grapple with the lightning rod subject again. Members of the state’s education policymaking body favored a slow, deliberate process with teams of experts and educators.
The state’s teachers union, which has pushed for quicker action, expressed excitement about the bill.
“We thank Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Education Chairwoman Cathy Nolan for listening to parents and educators and introducing a bill that would ensure that students and teachers are once again valued as more than a test score,” said NYSUT President Andy Pallotta in a statement.
The head of New York City’s teachers union praised the measure and suggested that Nixon’s teacher evaluation comments earlier in the day were not driving support for the bill.
“We are happy to hear of any and all support for a measure to limit the problems of standardized tests. But let the record be clear: we have been working with legislators and the executive branch for months to reform New York State’s obsession with and misuse of standardized tests,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. “Ms. Nixon’s 11th hour public statement on the bill – while it may score political points – won’t help it get enacted.”